Killing German Ground Crews?

[LTARGlok]

I was watching a video online of some US B-17's bombing Germany, and found one segment of the video interesting.  In it, the narrator said that during an attack on a German Air Field, the bombers did not drop their usual load of large incendiary or high explosive bombs.   Instead, they dropped much more numerous and smaller anti-personnel bombs on the Air Field.

Now why would they choose to do that?   Were the German Ground Crews a much more valuable target to destroy than the actual facilities??   Seems like a rather mean thing to do to the ground personnel.   Does this sound like an accurate historical account to you?

Here is a link to the video:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7d2_1186653940

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[lasersailor184]

Again, I'm not a proclaimed expert on this, but I think one of the greatest things that Germany had going for it late in the war was the amount of experienced people it had.  And when you consider the damage we were doing to the industrial efforts at the source, taking out the experienced crews seems like the next logical choice.

[Slash27]

"mean"?  Was it not war?

[SIK1]

Area denial is a valid tactic in time of war. I didn't realise that we were using it in WWII.

Not only does it take out ground crew but it damages equipment, and slows the progress of repair crews.

[Reschke]

Oh good god. It was what is termed as TOTAL WAR!

Us or them is how it was looked at from the public and the military/governments viewpoint back then. It is a far different thing from what we see these days and have seen since the 60's.

I don't think any people could have stated it better than the two I am about to quote here. History should have taught us that we do not let wars be fought in the court of public opinion. If you are to win then you shouldn't give a rats prettythang about what the world thinks about you.

"I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell." - William Tecumseh Sherman

"Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster." - William Tecumseh Sherman

"War means fighting, and fighting means killing." - Nathan Bedford Forrest

[LTARGlok]

"mean"?  Was it not war?

But were the airfield personnel really killing the US Airmen in the skies??   After all, they were only support people, and not the actual combatants taking to the air.

I doubt that this sort of tactic would have been considered chivalrous in WW I.


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[FiLtH]

 What does one take for a red,white,and blue headache?

[SOB]

But were the airfield personnel really killing the US Airmen in the skies??   After all, they were only support people, and not the actual combatants taking to the air.

I doubt that this sort of tactic would have been considered chivalrous in WW I.

They kept the planes flying, the planes were piloted by men who used them to attack us.  Seems pretty simple.  Would you like a drawing? 

[Xargos]

I doubt that this sort of tactic would have been considered chivalrous in WW I.

The Germans also bombed Paris.  The first raid was on 21st of March, when two Zeppelins caused 23 deaths and injured 30.  Although the Zeppelins continued to raid Paris, London was actually a preferred and easier target.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/bombers_zeppelins.htm

[Jackal1]

  Seems like a rather mean thing to do to the ground personnel. 

 
Imagine something mean happening in war.
Where do they come from?

[Slash27]

But were the airfield personnel really killing the US Airmen in the skies??   After all, they were only support people, and not the actual combatants taking to the air.

I doubt that this sort of tactic would have been considered chivalrous in WW I.


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[nirvana]

Seems like they were trying to take out equipment just as much as personnel, like Sik1 said.

[SIK1]

LTARGlock here is a real revelation for you.

There is no chivalry in war, never was, never will be.
 
WWI was probably one of the most barbaric wars ever fought by mankind. With the introduction of the machine gun, and poison gas, not to mention the living conditions of the men on the front lines, WWI was horrific to say the least.

[MiloMorai]

Next we will be hearing that supply convoys were not legitimate targets as they were not the fighting front line troops.    

Btw, the Germans had similar bombs.

[Furball]

Woulda made more sense to bomb the facilities then smother the place in anti personnel mines to hamper repair crews working.  Just covering the air base in anti personnel mines probably wouldn't achieve much.

The RAF's JP233 runway denial system used to do a similar thing with the bomblets it uses, some destroy the runway, the rest would smother the area in mines to stop any repairs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JP233