German Bombers of World War II

This is the longest piece of writing that I've ever written....ENJOY!


It's a calm, quiet day on May 21, 1940. A little boy on the beach listens to the beating of waves and the excited rippling of water. Then, in the dead calm, a noise is heard. What is it? It gets louder, louder, and then, a huge screeching noise. Other people, grown-ups, are yelling. BOOM! Bright light flashes as explosions light up the sandy beach. People are screaming, lights flash for brief moments, and then calm. The noise fades out leaving only the moaning of the dying and the sight of the dead. The once bustling town is in ruins when the German troops finally come in. Nobody left alive has the strength or resources to resist.

Many towns, such as this one, have experienced such devastation. What caused it? Airplanes - in particular, bombers. As I was reading a book on World War II, I read that bombers were a very essential part of World War II. I said to myself, "Why is that? What, besides the ability to fly, could have made these metal monsters so formidable?" I knew that bombers were used in both sides of the war and I knew that the Germans were eventually repulsed. But what part did they play in the war? With these questions in mind, I've decided to look into World War II bombers and how they became so important. First, I needed to do some research. I went to the library and studied some of the World War II books. Then, at the computer lab, I found a couple of websites and thoroughly read through them. These are the results of my search.

There are three main types of bombers: light, medium and heavy. There are also torpedo and commando classes, but there are only one or two types of plane in each class. Light bombers are the fastest types of bombers. They don't carry a very heavy bomb load, but they are more effective at traveling long distances. Heavy bombers travel at slower speeds and are more easily caught by enemy aircraft, but that's only if they survive getting bombed first. They carry between 3000 and 6000 pounds of disposable cargo (a.k.a. bombs), whereas light bombers carry only 1000 to 2000 pounds. Then, there are medium bombers. Medium bombers are a mix between the two. They aren’t super fast, and their bomb load ranges from 2000 to 4000 pounds of cargo. Torpedo bombers are sea-based bombers that specialize on boats. Commando planes usually were intended for one-item drops (Wikipedia). Those aren’t the only methods of classifying bombers either. There is another common way: level bombers and tactical (or dive) bombers. Level bombers are very dangerous to infantry troops. They just fly in a straight line and drop their bombs. Tactical bombers are very different. Instead of flying over the target, they come crashing down on the target, pulling up and releasing a bomb at the same time. It tends to do more damage in a smaller area. This has made it extremely well-suited for attacking armored vehicles (Air). In my opening scenario, I believe that those bombers were probably level, medium bombers. Level bombers did more widespread damage, which made them ideal for cities and towns. It depended on the size of the city being bombed if a heavy or medium bomber was used. If it was a large, relatively undefended city, a heavy bomber was used. If it was big and heavily defended or a smaller city, a medium bomber was used (Jablonsk). Light bombers generally went after the soldiers or performed armed recon. I also learned that World War II bombers usually belonged to one of three main airforces: the RAF (Royal Air Force), the Luftwaffe (the German Air Force), or the USAF (United States Air Force). Of the three, the German Luftwaffe was the most advanced, had the most skill, and were the most feared. The only advantage that the RAF and USAF had on the Germans was that they could replace every man that the Germans shot down, and the Germans couldn’t (Wikipedia).

During World War II the German Luftwaffe always had the upper hand in battles. Since before the war, in 1935, the Germans had better aircraft. Bombers and fighters alike were more advanced than pretty much any other country. The German Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Junkers Ju 87 are examples of their early air superiority. Then, as the war rolled on, they started producing better and more revolutionary aircraft such as the Junkers Ju 88 and Messerschmitt Bf 110. The Junkers Ju 88 was rolled into hurried production as a heavy bomber because of the Germans first real defeat on the British Isles. This defeat was because of a the lack of heavy bombers weakening the ground resistance. The Bf 109 was an extraordinary airplane. It was originally designed as a fighter, but it soon turned into a multi-role aircraft. It soon became the Bf 110, which was kind of like an extremely light bomber, only carrying a couple hundred pounds of cargo. But along with strafing (which actually worked very well against enemy vehicles), it became one of the most deadly semi-bombers of the war. The Germans kept air superiority throughout the war, and when the war was in its final stages, the German Luftwaffe was using the Heinkel He 162, and Messerschmitt 262, both fighters. Most bomber production was given up because they were now on the defensive. The Germans now focused on anti-bomber aircraft. The Messerschmitt 262 was especially effective with this because it now had the ability to shoot down allied bombers, which were becoming much more effective. They were also jet powered, which allowed them to outrun almost any other aircraft. Unfortunately, even with their superior technology, the Germans lacked sufficient numbers, which contributed to their loss of the war (Jablonsk).

The German Luftwaffe’s bombers weren’t usually heavily armed. This would prevent the bombers from getting annihilated but also slow them down considerably and reduce their payload. The Junkers Ju 87’s and 88’s usually were not armed except with the occasional wailing siren that caused extensive fear for their enemies. However, the later models that were used in the war as the Luftwaffe was being pushed back were armed with heavy cannons to prevent them from being destroyed by the increasing number of enemy fighters. The main bomber of the war was the myth of the “Stuka”, more commonly know as the Junkers Ju 87 dive-bomber. The Ju 87 got the name “Stuka” from the German word for dive-bomber, Sturzkampfflugzeug (Wikipedia). While sturdy, accurate and effective, a few flaws, including being slow and somewhat unmaneuverable, allowed many of its number to be shot down. This taught the Germans that air superiority had to be accomplished before they brought in the Stukas. Because air-superiority could not be effectively established in Britain, the Stuka was not used there after one, first, disastrous attempt at invasion. After its defeat in Britain, the Stuka’s fame was ruined, and the model of the Luftwaffes bomber core was ruined as well (Einsteins Emporium, Air).

The bombers of Luftwaffe during early World War II were first used during the invasion of Poland. They were mainly Junkers Ju 87 “Stukas” and were highly effective. Their first real success was in the Battle of Bzura, when the Poles were threatening to break the German lines and set the Germans back prematurely. During the ensuing battle, the Stukas managed to destroy the bridges across the river, stranding the Polish forces out in the open. The Poles were then subject to four days of extensive bombing. Poland fell shortly after and the Luftwaffe turned to Norway and Denmark. Denmark, having only eighty-nine combat planes compared to the Luftwaffe’s five hundred twenty-seven, put up minimal resistance and German air-superiority was established in twenty-four hours. Norway, however, put up more of a battle. However, after the first day of fighting, their air strength fell by twenty to only fifty-four combat planes. As the Luftwaffe continued to invade, they began to encounter heavy resistance and the Germans failed to destroy some anti-ship batteries, which led to the sinking of a German destroyer. However, the Germans still had air-superiority and Norway surrendered in June of 1940. The Luftwaffes next targets were in Belgium and France. The France and Belgium campaigns only lasted about a month with considerable losses for the Luftwaffe, but devastating losses for the French and Dutch. France was totally unprepared for the German Stukas and their trenches that they’d prepared were mostly useless. Britain was siding with the French but they soon decided to cut their losses and pull out so that they could resist Germany’s impending invasion on their country. When these countries were won, Britain became their next target. Göring, the commander of the Luftwaffe, got a little overconfident, and sent in his troops. Unfortunately, the Luftwaffe was not meant for this kind of long-range attack. As a result, the Germans suffered heavy losses and caused Göring to reevaluate his strategy. When the Luftwaffe came back, they were better prepared and the Luftwaffe was soon bombing RAF airfields. Britain was weakening fast and if Hitler had not switched his troops to terror bombing cities, the RAF Fighter Command would have been irreversibly crushed. Or, as Air Marshal Sir Robert Saundby said, "...had the Germans persisted in their policy for another fortnight the result would have been disastrous for Fighter Command."(Wikipedia) Fighter Command soon regained momentum however and managed to push back the Germans. This was the first major defeat for the Luftwaffe. Soon after the German invasion of the USSR, the Germans bomber core took a backseat as the Germans started to get pushed back.(Wikipedia, Jablonsk)

What part did the German Luftwaffes’ bombers play in the war? Well, they seem to have caused a lot of terror and damage. I’ve also come to the conclusion that it was due to the bombers that Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium and many other countries all fell to the Germans so quickly. I don’t believe that the Germans could have expanded their empire as far without the Luftwaffe. Even though World War II was a time of terror, it’s kind of awesome that a country could’ve advanced their air machines to the point were they could almost take over an entire continent. This has impressed upon me the importance of bombers and given me a new respect for flying machines.

Nuking

On my post, Terrorists, Jojo posted a comment. It was about how in her geography class some kid said that we should nuke the entire Middle East and save ourselves a lot of problems. As Jojo brought up, that's just wrong, it's murder. However, that isn't the gist of it. It goes much deeper than just murdering a bunch of innocent Middle Easterners.

There are plenty of people in the U.S. who either are not bothered by murder like they should be, or they don't view Middle Easterners as human. So if it was just a matter of murder, I'm pretty sure it would've already become a major issue.

I think that one of the main reasons we don't even consider nuking the Middle East is because of China and plenty of the other countries in Asia. We depend economically on China for a lot of our goods. Take a good look at the map.

Look at how close China is to Middle East. Quite close actually. In fact, if we nuked the Middle East, nuclear radiation would probably reach into some of China. Not to mention, China is friends with some of those countries. They have defensive pacts and such with many of them. So by nuking the Middle East, even if they didn't care about the nuclear fallout entering their country, they'd have to declare war on us. If it was just China, we'd probably give them just as much damage as they'd give us, but it isn't. China would bring in several other countries. We can't take on all of them. Not to mention we wouldn't have any allies. If we decided to nuke the Middle East, all the European nations would back off, do economic sanctions, and pretend they never knew us. So if anyone ever says Hey, why don't we just nuke them. Tell them how stupid and dumb they are. Nuking anyone never helped anyone. What makes them think it's going to start now?

"Nobody ever wins a war, they just don't lose as badly."-My Dad

Terrorists

This semester I'm taking the second semester of geography. Right now we're learning about the Middle East. So, as you can imagine, there have been many suicide bomber jokes and "All Muslims are terrorists" comments. Sadly, I've actively participated in them in the past. I know I probably shouldn't have, but I did. So that's why I'm writing this blog. Because I want to prove that I actuallydo know that terrorists aren't all Muslim, and vice versa.

So starting out, a background on the Middle East. A lot of what we know of the early history of the area comes from the Bible, but many historians don't like it because it's "religious". All throughout history, in the Middle East, mainly near Jerusalem and Medina, there have been wars between different people. This is because of two reasons. One, there where some pretty impressive, and largely expanding empires in the olden days. Like the Roman Empire, who thought that they were so civilized, and that it was their duty to make everyone else civilized too! Second, there were the really religious wars like the Crusades. The Crusades are amazing! I'll probably write a whole separate blog on them. (See, I even give you readers something to look forward to! Aren't I such a nice person?) Over the course of the centuries, many religions have popped up from this area. Each has made its mark history, and cause problems for the existing religion.

So, it's basically it's the religions' fault that we have so many problems today. When the government of the time tried to exterminate or make life hard for the people of different religions, they didn't kill everybody, that would only feed the anger of the religion into growing larger. This has happened repeatedly for many religions and we now have two main types of Muslims, Judaisim, a few Christians, and several other faiths. And because the other religions have all, at some point, tried to wipe each other out, they've held grudges. The governments never helped, in fact, they've done the complete opposite. The governments are dominated by single religion and because of an inability to move out of the past, have held immense grudges and caused even more mayhem.

When a government like the U.S. then comes in to help, it makes some of the radicals of the country jealous of not being able to be like us because of their hard-hearted stubborness. (I might add that I think we're a very lucky country to have wise leaders such as Pres. Bush, who don't hold such grudges.) The radicals then focus on everything that the U.S. does, and, if we mess up, even a little, they get even more enraged and determined that they're right, and we're wrong.

But not everyone in that area are radical terrorists. In fact, the numbers of radical terrorists are about one tenth of the normal citzens. The reason we don't normaly hear this kind of thing though, is because the normal citzens don't go blowing up U.S. soldiers and bombing the innocent. In fact, most Middle Easterners live normal, and relatively safe lives. Many of the people in that area have the same likes, dislikes and goals as we do. They want to go to college and live a good life supporting a family. True, most of them are a different religion, but they aren't radical, 'all U.S. citizens must get nuked' kinds of people.

We seem very quick to forget that there are radicals in every religion like Hitler; Hitler was actually a Christian. Granted the Christians didn't like him and liked to pretend that he wasn't, but the truth is, he was. The terrorists are similar to Hitler, they give their area a bad name. In Hitlers reign, he created a very bad name for Germans, who, like the Middle Easterners, were mostly nice, innocent, yet terrified people.

"We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task." -Theodore Bikel

Team Building

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to a YM/YW retreat. It was for the presidencies of the youth in our ward. It was a really fun experience and quite spiritual, too. They had a million good points on how you can become a better person, but the one that was stessed the most was working as a team. So guess what? That's what I'm writing about!

First off, working as a team does NOT mean that you have to do everything together. Instead, you should look at teamwork as a bunch of people with a common goal. An example is during science, while you're doing a lab, notice how you can do things much more effectively and efficiently if you can delegate jobs. This way, you're not all doing the SAME thing at the SAME time. In a nutshell, you only need one person to do a small task, so if you have multiple people, you can do multiple tasks. Another example would be football, soccer, baseball or basketball. Everybody can't be holding onto the ball at the same time. On the other hand, sometimes there's a big task like lifting a giant box, which requires more than just one person in order to lift it. Then you work together.

At the retreat, I learned that the words, teamwork and delegate, build on each other. Teamwork means a cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause or work done with a team. A great example would be construction, every worker's goal is to finish the house, but if they all worked alone, then they'd all be behind on their building timetables and nothing would get done. Delegate means to assign jobs to others to lighten the load. A really good example of delegating would be in baseball. You can't have everybody everywhere on the field, so the coach delegates the different bases and fielding positions.

So, if you think and ponder about these definitions, it leads you to the conclusion that in order to delegate, you need to work as a team. And in order to get things done effectively as a team, you NEED to learn how to delegate.

Dancing

Dancing is a really weird subject for me. Why? Because less than a year ago, you'd have to drag me there in a body bag to get me to go. Now is when those of you who know me are going: WHAT?!?!?!?!? Well, I guess that's one of the many ways I've changed. It's a kind of funny story really. It all started when I was blasting up evil zombie monkeys for the CIA. No, I'm kidding! It was really dumb actually, Marie Derigimore (or however you spell that insanely long name) really wanted me to go to one. So I did, and at first it wasn't so good but then along comes Border Walker. At this point in time I didn't really know him, but after a little while, I was just ROCKIN! So, really, most of the credit of my going to dances is due to Border Walker. So, if you read this, Border Walker, THANK YOU! And thank you, Marie Derigimore, for bugging me so much that I decided to go! Anyway, dancing has now become a defining factor in my life. Now, in order to KEEP me from going, you would have to shoot both my legs, give me an extremely large dose of tranqulizer, and then stuff me in a kevlar body bag! In fact, I'm going to a dance today! Yipee for me!

The Worst Plague Ever-Sickness

You know, sickness is a nightmare! Just when you think that life is at its very worst, sickness comes along and makes it that much worse! Seriously, how does it seem to know the very best times to make a bad situation worse? This week in school I had an AR contract, a math test, a web work and a news article all due on Friday! Due to the new term and the very little grades put into the computer, I now have some really terrible grades. Well guess what happened? No, I didn't go skiing. No, I didn't sluff! Yes, I did get sick!

Starting this Monday I hadn' t been feeling my best. I had a stomach ache and I was feeling kinda tired. But I decided that I'd continue going to school because it wasn't really all that bad. But this week I've been a little out of it and I haven't been doing as well as I probably could have, had I been well. So I kept deciding that, day after day, and I just got a little bit worse, day after day. Come Friday, my poor body was really hurting so I finally missed school- on the worst possible day.

Why do we all hate sickness? I think that it's because of school. If you think of it, it's kinda funny! We all talk about how much we dislike school and how we wish we didn't have to go to school. But when it comes down to it, none of us really want to miss it. We just say that because that's what you're supposed to say. Unless you don't care, missing school is nothing any of us want to do. Why? Because it ruins your grades. You could have an "A" in a class and you miss a day for such a reason as sickness and POW. Guess who doesn't have an "A"? It also makes you miserable. Suddenly, miserable. Like, go to bed fine at night and unable to get out of bed the next morning, suddenly miserable. So stay away from the terrors of sickness and keep healthy!