The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-22
least 326 factories and public build

least 326 factories and public build ings were smashed.
 The force of this and concurrent assaults in the fall of 1943 proved more than the Nazi high command could endure. In an effort to slave off the deluge, they changed the entire makeup of their air force, abandoning construction of bombers to concentrate on fighter planes.
 But the switch gave them no su- periority even in fighters. For, as the Allied high command crystal ized its plans for the invasion of western Europe, it gave it air forces a new assignment. Their major target no longer was Ger many's industrial economy. Their first and indispensable aim now became the elimination of the Luft- waffle in the air and the factories, replacement depots and repair sta tions that supported it on the ground.
 The Eighth Air Force struck the first blow in the new offensive on Jan. II, 1914, with simultaneous as- saults on Oschersleben, Brunswick, Haberstadt, Bielfeld and Meppen- all connected with aircraft produc- tion. Damage was heavy to all tar gets and 152 German fighters were destroyed in the air.
 Knockout Plane Plants
 That was just the beginning. The next month, the Forts" and their escorts scored a victory that was to affect materially the whole course of the war thereafter. In five days furious flying beginning Feb. 20, they blasted 16 major Mes serschmidt, Junkers and Heinkel plants. Four were knocked out completely, nine were damaged crit ically and three suffered moderate harm. At least 38l fighters were de- stroyed in the air and 167 on the ground.
 After this setback, the Luftwaffe was reluctant to hit back save un- der the most favorable conditions. But more often than not, it had no choice. Hitting Key German cen- ters almost daily, the big U. s. bomber formations again and again imposed air battles of immense pro- portions on the defenders.
 The cost of the battles was high to the Allies, but they broke the Luftwaffe's back. In one week, near ly 600 enemy fighters were de- stroyed. German plane production, once estimated at 5000 planes a month, was reported down to one- fourth that figure. The Luftwaffe' $ strength in the air was reckoned at one-fifth that of four years earlier compared to the Allied strength.
 The final stage of the Allied pre- invasion offensive opened early in 1914. Festung Europa was to be soft ened for the final blow. Bombs were to become the vanguard of invasion. The targets were Hitler's sprawling outer ring of coastal de- lenses and the major troop and sup ply centers within.
 All Europe Blasted
 The entire weight of the four Allied air commands operating from Britain - the U. s. 9th and 9th Air Forces and the RAF bomb- CT command and 2nd tactical air force - were hurled into the as- sault. The U. s. 18th Air Force winged up from Italian fields to help with strikes on vital targets in the Balkans, Germany and southern France. Early in June, the 9th Air Force began shuttle raids from Britain and Italy to bases in Russia to bring all parts of the Nazi empire within easy reach of Allied planes.
 The results beggared statistics. Sirens shriewed night and day from Denmark to the Mediterran- can week after week. All Europe shook hour after hour under a cres- cendo of explosives raining to earth in the fiercest sustained aerial off, fensive the world had ever seen. During one four-week period, the Allied aircraft unloaded almost 85,- 900 tons of bombs-enough to fill 20 100-car freight trains. Railroads, supply depots, airdromes, bridges, river traffic and radar installations were smashed to bits throughout Hitler's domain. The climax came at the end of May, when within sim gle day, 5000 British based aircraft blasted the continent with 5000 tons of bombs.
 By the time D-day arrived. the Allied purpose was achieved to an extent surpassing the worst Nazi fear. Enemy communications were a shambles. Transportation was reported virtually at a standstill. Coastal supplements were ser- iously preached in many key areas.
 Plenty of strategic and tactical objectives still remained ahead, but as the invading armies closed in on the continent, one thing was abundantly clear. The roof and at least one wall of Hitler's Fortress were as near collapse as concentrat- ed air power could ever bring them. From the Alps to the Baltic, from the Channel to Berlin, Allied air