Canada in World War II - Part 2: Air Planes and Air Raids

With France as the main bastion of allied support falling so quickly, the rest of the good guys were a little wary about going to mainland Europe with an infantry force. That meant the majority of the fighting would be done through ships (of which Britain was very strong) and planes (of which both were strong, but options were limited). It was the Germans who struck first with a new variety of warfare that was not only shocking and appalling, but soon to become commonplace; the widespread bombing of cities and civilian populations.

In May of 1940 the Germans bombed the Dutch city of Rotterdam. The purpose and effect of the bombing was unclear; the intent was to destroy industry buildings and to clear out stuff like munition factories and other such war supporting places, but the fact of the matter is it was just too darn high and far too scary (we'll get to why in a bit) to be accurate. The result was the annihilation of the buildings of regular city-folk, enraging the allied forces. However, hitting city buildings was a far stretch from a useful military target, but the effects were more psychological; bombing the homeland was a morale killer (or at least designed to be) to just about everyone. The civilians were to fear being anywhere but a bomb shelter, and the soldiers feared for their loved ones back home, no longer the only ones being put in harm's way.

A German plane over London. A beautiful, scenic view for rampant destruction.

Shortly after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Nazis set their sights on the British mainland. Named the Battle of Britain, the the Germans had more and better planes as they moved to bomb British cities from July 10th to Halloween. Here, the Canadians were called in to support. They would often go on the offensive with bombing raids, intending to take out shipyards and airfields, but the bombers were easy targets as they were slower and less mobile than the fighter jets that would pounce on them. While escorts went with them, it limited what the faster and more effective support planes could do.

The Canadians were also inexperienced, and the very first trip the Canadians went on ended in both shame and tragedy. In a shocking navigational error, they got turned around and successfully (I guess you could say successfully?) shot down a British plane. Another plane in their employ crash landed on the same trip. Ashamed, the head of the squadron went to the camp of the British and personally apologized, a risky move considering they had just murdered one of their own. Nevertheless, the British accepted the apology and they carried on. Fortunately, the second combat operation was more successful - although you couldn't say they set a high bar. Leading what would be a successful series of raids and bombing missions was Douglas Bader, a man who lost his legs in training before the war but nevertheless came to fight anyway, ending his career with 22 confirmed kills. But not everything was attack.

Similar to ground-based warfare, the advantage in air battles goes to the defender. Here, they would harass the German planes with anti-aircraft shells and defensive planes. Using a radar system, they would be able to deploy their fighters relatively late, meaning less fuel and better rested pilots than the other side. Using the advantage, they dealt the first major defeat to the German Luftwaffe, which lost plenty more planes than the allied side. Much of the thanks went to the Canadians, who in spite of a shockingly terrible beginning came into their own. The result was a stop to the German daytime raids in exchange for nighttime bombing which was less accurate but more safe. The end result was to break the civilian population. Between 1940 and 1941, they would kill 43,000 civilians. Eventually they would stop due to the need of additional aircraft on the eastern front.

I'd personally be looking for the "Coward's
Retreat Defensive" team if I were alive
at the time.

The response of Britain (and therefore Canada) was to start bombing missions of their own on German cities. Able to hold the moral high ground utilizing the "yeah, well he did it first" defense (the same one used for chemical weapons in World War I), they returned fire with a vengeance. One of the most significant bombing raids was on May 31st of 1942 on the German city of Cologne. 1047 bombers (78 of which were from the Royal Canadian Air Force) would drop 500 tons of heavy explosives and 1,000 tons of incendiary bombs on the city in a span of only 90 horrifying minutes. 13,000 homes were destroyed along with 36 factories, but due to the preparations of those at home in the anticipation of the air raids, only 469 were killed.

In spite of the damage to production, factory output actually increased in 1942, due to the occupation of much of the east. It was far from destroying morale either, which meant it was hard to gauge how much damage was actually done. Nevertheless, bombing continued. In 1943 they would bomb berlin with over 400 bombers, only nine of which were shot down. Hundreds more would follow on the days of November 22nd, 23rd, and 26th. Eventually defensive fortifications would get better, and by December only 1/10 would survive their required 30 trips. The Berlin raids killed 9,000 and left 812,000 homeless. However, the bomber command was crippled; 3,300 airmen were killed, and 1047 planes were lost.

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City bombing was a hellish event. It was said that in Hamburg, due to superheated winds in the air above creating... I don't know, pressure systems or something?... the peak temperature would be 700 degrees above the ground. This would mean that the winds would (because of science) blow upwards, pulling people off their feet. People were seen burned alive, or jumping in lakes only to find that they would then be boiled.

Nevertheless, Canadians supported the bombing raids. 80% of the population was in favour of them, in spite of the heavy toll it would take on the bombers themselves. In the beginning, the RCAF would fly until they were shot down. This policy was eventually changed, where the men would have a break after a tour of thirty operations. However, only 17% would make it through the first tour, and only 2.5% would make it through the second. It certainly didn't help that the Canadians also got the short end of the stick (which you'll find is a common theme, where the British call for our aid and then refuse to provide us with the tools to do so). Our planes were inferior, we were given a lack of navigational equipment, and our airbases were put on the northernmost areas (meaning longer trips).

In spite of some of the inferiorities, we were an exceptionally important part of the allied air campaign. Churchill referred to us as the "aerodrome of democracy" (always one for the spectacular phrases, that guy) as Canada was the British commonwealth's main training base for pilots. Over half the graduates were Canadian, and while they didn't necessarily fly only with Canadians and would be worked into British units, we supplied more than our fair share.

"It's a bird!"
"It's a plane!"
"Upon closer inspection, it's certainly the latter." 

It's a wonder we could muster up anyone that would want to do it at all. What these men would have to go through before even getting to the field of battle sounded bad enough as is. What helped was a draw in that we already had a proud flight history through heroes like Billy Bishop, and no one wanted to join the Canadian navy due to a lack of history there, and no one wanted to join the infantry because that was the only thing somehow worse than the navy and airforce. To get to fly in the war, would-be pilots would train for 25 weeks (upped to 50 by 1944) where they would be packed into halls with tons of beds, a line of toilet stalls and a long wash trough. (No human should ever have to have anything to do with a trough.) And of course, even the training was dangerous; 3,000 people would die on Canadian soil in training alone. Still, they were well trained; the cost investment in this program was astronomical, at $2,000,000 in equivalent modern day funds to train a single pilot. 

Once they were out there in the real battlefield, it was really cold, really cramped, and really boring before it would get really scary. With flak threatening to take you down, planes coming out of nowhere to destroy you, and fiery wreckage of people you know falling around you, flying was a nerve shattering experience. Because of this the crews were thick as thieves, often refusing to go if even one man couldn't attend. Even then, and with their many superstitions (certain plane numbers being "unlucky", and bringing along charms that would work perfectly well until they didn't) many would come back and find that a number of the beds at the camp were empty. Canada had a brave and effective history in the air in World War II, but it came with an incredible cost.