Operating under the dictates of the January Casablanca directive, each respective air force executed operations in accordance with their existing doctrines. The intent was to destroy both German morale and war-making capabilities through a sustained aerial assault. While the USAAF remained committed to hitting specific targets within a confined area during the day, their RAF counterparts operated at night and struck large swaths of the German urban landscape.
However, these initial results were lukewarm as losses in both aircrews and aircraft mounted. By attacking these targets, air planners hoped for a two-pronged effect: curb Luftwaffe fighter production while creating a ball bearing shortage, resulting in a wholesale industrial collapse. The plan was more than just a strike on two locations; it was to be a sequenced assault using two air divisions operating in concert. The two divisions were to take off, form, and fly toward their designated targets separated by a minute interval.
By launching two separate raids on the same morning, planners expected to split Luftwaffe aerial defenses, thereby reducing attacks on either bomber force. In addition to the dual strike methodology, one of the bomber formations would not return to England on its usual trek. Instead, the bombers hitting Regensburg would divert on a southerly course over the Alps and fly to the newly liberated areas of North Africa. In addition to the dual strikes, diversion raids from medium bombers and fighters were also planned, to draw further attention away from the larger inbound formations.
This mission profile was replete with danger. It called for an aerial battle that was approximately 1, miles long and five miles above the earth. At that altitude, subzero temperatures and a lack of oxygen were a constant concern for crews flying in unpressurized aircraft. Hypoxia and frostbite were constant companions as the bomber crews fought both the Luftwaffe and the elements.
Unlike their ground counterparts, who could find shelter in a fighting position or a prepared bunker, airmen flew in thin, uninsulated, aluminum fuselages with little armor against German 88 mm Flak guns and 20 mm cannons.
