Re: Strategic Reserve.

["Roger L. Traviss" <rogertra@islandnet.com>]

Roy Wilke wrote:

> But in the 1914-18 War, reliance on railways contributed greatly to the stagnation on the
> Western Front. Also, neither the UK nor the US were subject to a land war during the
> 1939-45 War.

Perhaps not the U.S.A. but the UK was bombed heavily and the railway yards were targeted by
the Luftwaffe.

> > The Allies even built hundreds locomotives especially for transportation to Europe
> > after D-Day, to ensure that they had enough serviceable locomotives to run the railways
> > with.  That's how vital the railway system was.
>
> Yet the Wehrmacht were vulnerable to air attack when trying to move troops by rail in
> Europe during the Allied advance - also strategic points like bridges and tunnels are
> vulnerable to air attack and sabotage - which puts them out of action for more than "a
> couple of days."

Bridges are vulnerable, tunnels were not.  Only the Brits had a bomb powerful enough to
damage a tunnel.  That was Barns Wallace's "Tall Boy".   I don't believe it was ever used on
a tunnel but was used to destroy a viaduct that had been the target of intensive, but
fruitless raids by both the RAF and the USAF.  I can't remember how the viaduct's name is
spelt but it was something like "Biefeld".  The Americans only had "small", 500 pound,  bombs
and their aircraft carried relatively small bomb loads.  While American bombs might do major
damage to buildings and similar structures, they didn't have enough explosive power to damage
large machine tools or major bridges, let alone tunnels.   Railway bridges, in W.W.II at
least, were very difficult targets to bomb from high altitude and major bridges in Germany
were usually well defended by heavy concentrations of low level flak positions.  Besides,
replacing a span or two of the average railway bridge can be done in a couple of days.  It's
not difficult.  That's what "Bailey Bridges" were invented for.  Look how quickly the Allies
replaced the low low level bridges over the Rhine that were "demolished" by the Wehrmacht.
Anyway, in most cases an alternate route is available.

When the Allies were planning the bombing offensive over Europe, the railways of the U.K.
were asked what the most vulnerable parts of a railway were and how badly would bombing of
major marshalling yards and junctions disrupt traffic.  The answer was that bombing of
marshalling yards and junctions, while disruptive, would not bring the railways to a halt.
As I wrote above, bridges were difficult targets.  To limit railway activity prior to and
after D-Day, a major effort was made to concentrate bombing of railway marshalling yards and
critical junctions so as to swamp the repair organization knowing that it was impossible to
completely knock the railways out for more than a few critical days.

A major effort was also made to strafe all trains seen during daylight hours.  These included
not only freight trains, which in France and the other occupied countries being driven by
French and other Allied civilians, but also all passenger trains that, in most cases, were
also transporting Allied civilians and not Wehrmacht troops.   However, the heavy bombing and
strafing was only expect to suppress railway activity for a relatively short period, a couple
of weeks or so, and not bring the system to a halt.

The replacement locomotives brought over to Europe with the invasion force were built to
bring the system quickly up to a standard that would assist the Allies and later the
liberated countries in a much shorter time than would otherwise be expected.

Cheers
Roger T.
Sunny and warm, Victoria, BC
C eh n eh d eh