Chapter 203 Volume Six Chapter Thirteen The Liberation of Western Europe

On September 1, General Eisenhower took command of the German army. The Allied forces split and stormed Montgomery's counter proposal. September 3. Brussels was liberated. The attack of the Canadian Army Group. , Calais captures Bruges, Ghent US pursuit captures Charleroi, Mons, Liege, Luxembourg City Overlord and Dragoons join forces Report on German Resistance Capability Seize the Lower Rhine Sept. 17 Attack on Anas Scramble for Nijmegen Bridge September 25th Montgomery orders 1st Airborne Division to withdraw October 9th My telegram to Smuts clears Scheldt Estuary Siege of Breskens Valcheren Island Scramble The commando was victorious. The first convoy arrived in Antwerp on November 28. The onslaught of our Strategic Air Force on Speer heralded catastrophe for German production.

General Eisenhower assumed direct command of the ground forces in northern France from 1 September in accordance with the original agreement.This included the British Twenty-First Army Group, formerly commanded by Field Marshal Montgomery, and the U.S. Twelfth Army Group, formerly commanded by General Omar Bradley (operating under Montgomery).Eisenhower deployed a total of five armies.Montgomery's 21st Army Group consisted of the Canadian First Army under General Kriller and the British Second Army under General Dempsey, totaling fourteen divisions and seven armored brigades. To their right, the U.S. Twelfth Army Group commanded General Hodges' First Army, General Patton's Third Army, and General Simpson's yet-to-be-commissioned Ninth Army.In this way, Eisenhower commanded a total of more than 37 divisions, or more than 500,000 combat personnel.In addition, each army group has its own tactical air force, which is dispatched by Air Admiral Leigh Mallory.

Such a majestic army is chasing the remnants of the German army in Western Europe, and they are troubled by our superior air force day and night.The enemy has about seventeen divisions left, but most of them are demoralized until they are reorganized and reinforced from home.General Speidel, who once served as Rommel's chief of staff, described the plight of the German army: An orderly retreat was no longer possible.The Allied motorized armies encircled and annihilated the sluggish and exhausted German infantry divisions individually. Germany had no effective ground forces left to fight.As for the Air Force, it's pretty much gone. 【１】

[1] Speidel: We Defend Normandy, pp. 152 | 153. Eisenhower planned to use the largest possible force and materials to launch a fierce attack to the northeast. The British 21st Army Group was scheduled to be the main attack, advancing along the coast of the Channel, hoping not only to occupy the missile launch sites, but also to capture Antwerp. .Without the great port of the city, it was impossible to cross the Lower Rhine into the plains of northern Germany.The U.S. Twelfth Army Group will also pursue the enemy; its First Army and the British Army should keep advancing at the same speed, while the rest of the troops will go east to Verdun and the upper Meuse River, preparing to attack the Saar.

Montgomery made two counter-proposals.The first was put forward in late August, which advocated that his Army Group and the U.S. Twelfth Army Group should be combined into a large corps with about forty divisions to attack north together; the second counter-proposal was on September 4. It was proposed that only one target could be stormed: either the Ruhr or the Saar, and that once the route of attack had been determined, the attacking troops should receive all the supplies and provisions they needed.He emphasized that other fronts must not act rashly in order to support the main attack; the main attack can only be directed by one person: either himself or Bradley, depending on the specific situation.He believed that it might be possible to fight all the way to Berlin, and thought Ruhr was more advantageous than Saar.

But Eisenhower stuck to his plan.Germany still had reserves in its homeland, so he believed that if he rushed too far across the Rhine with a relatively small force, he would only be helping the enemy.Therefore, according to his thinking, the 21st Army Group should try its best to obtain a bridgehead position on the other side of the Rhine, while the 12th Army Group should try its best to advance towards the Siegfried Line. Strategists may argue for a long time about these two different views. But their discussion did not affect the pursuit of the enemy.How many divisions can we sustain?What should be the rate of advance and range of these forces?It all depends on the three factors of port, transportation and supplies.Ammunition consumption is relatively small.But food, and especially gasoline, dictated every move.We have only two harbors, Cherbourg and the Port of Mulberries in Arromanches.

And the distance between them and the advancing troops is increasing day by day.The front still depends on direct supplies from Normandy.About 20,000 tons of supplies and much equipment for road repairs, bridge construction and airfield construction are brought up daily along daily lengthening routes.Once the ports of the Brittany peninsula fall into my hands, I think they are farther away.Only the Channel ports north of Le Havre, and especially Antwerp, are objects of great importance if we can preempt them from serious damage. Antwerp then became the immediate target of Army Group Montgomery, which had its first opportunity to demonstrate its mobile combat capabilities.The Second Army moved first north of the Seine; it ordered one of its corps to stand still, freeing up its transports, and assisting the rest of the corps in their advance to Belgium.It was the 30th Army who served as the striker.The 11th Armored Division of the army hit Amiens on August 31 and captured the commander of the German Seventh Army who was having breakfast.Before long they were hitting frontier towns like Arras, Douai, Lier, and many others.These towns were familiar places to the British Expeditionary Force who came in 1940; even to the older generation who came a quarter of a century ago, at least their names were familiar.The German army in Brussels retreated in a panic, and the Guards Panzer Division entered the city on September 3.As elsewhere in Belgium, our troops were greeted with grandeur and assisted by a well-organized resistance.

From there the Guards Division then advanced east towards Louvain, while the 11th Armored Division entered Antwerp on 4 September.To our mixed surprise, they found the port almost intact.It turned out that our progress was too rapid, and we advanced 200 miles in less than four days. The enemy was exhausted and had no time to carry out routine and careful sabotage work.Twelfth Corps heading west encountered stronger resistance, but reached their main objective of Ghent on 5 September. Of course, this speed cannot be maintained for long.By the time we set off on the steamer for Quebec, the leap had passed and the block was evident.The enemy managed to sabotage the crossings of the Albert Canal between Antwerp and Hasselt.The 30th Army encountered resistance from about ten battalions defending the enemy along the river, many of whom had just arrived for reinforcements.On September 6th the Guards crossed at a place west of Hasselt, and after four days of bitter fighting, entered the Meuse (Celtic) Canal and captured a complete bridge.

At the same time, Canada's First Army shouldered the arduous and responsible mission of clearing the western flank.The Commander-in-Chief, General Crelle, commanded the British First Corps and the Canadian Second Corps (including the Polish Armored Division).Their main task is to eliminate the remnants of the enemy entrenched in the ports from Le Havre to the North Channel, seize the missile launch site, and establish a position on the south bank of Scheldt.It turned out that although Antwerp has fallen into our hands, our ships must first pass through the tortuous and difficult-to-navigate mouth of the Scheldt; moreover, the banks of the river are still in the hands of the Germans.This arduous and costly combat task will primarily fall on the shoulders of the Canadian Army Group.Their success really depends on the big picture.

As a result, the British First Army turned left after crossing the Seine near Rouen.On September 2 its 51st Highland Division captured Saint-Valery.This is where the previous generation of brothers in the unit suffered in June 1940.The corps' left flank turned towards Le Havre, where it met fierce resistance from a garrison of more than eleven thousand men.Regardless of the furious bombardment of the navy's 15-inch caliber artillery and the bombardment of more than 10,000 tons of air force bombs, the German army persisted until September 12 before surrendering.At the same time, the Canadian Corps [1] on the right of the British army moved quickly all the way, captured Dieppe on September 1, and settled the old score with the enemy in 1942; surrounded Boulogne and Calais on September 6 , and Dunkirk.By the 9th, the Canadian Army had wiped out the remaining enemy in the entire Pas-de-Calais province; including the occupation of the missile launch site there, and reached Bruges.Ghent was taken by Polish armored divisions.Boulogne fell on September 22, taking nearly 10,000 German soldiers prisoner.Calais also fell into my hands on the thirtieth day.As for Dunkirk, we only managed to hold off the garrison of twelve thousand there, since the far more important task was to advance towards the Scheldt.Now put aside the actions of the Canadian Army Group for the time being, and free up a pen to recount the record of the American Army Group.

【1】Press refers to the Second Canadian Army.translator The army group advanced across Paris, still retaining the daring edge of General Bradley and his loyal men.The First American Army, after crossing the Seine on the right of the British, aimed at Namur and Liege.On 3 September they had reached Charleroi and Mons, cut off a large mass of 30,000 Germans southeast of Mons, and captured them all.Then, pointing eastward, they liberated Liege on September 8 and Luxembourg two days later.Although the enemy's resistance gradually strengthened.By the 12th the army had assembled on a sixty-mile line along the German frontier and had broken through the Siegfried Line south of Aachen.They liberated all of Luxembourg and southern Belgium within two weeks.The Third Army captured Verdun on August 31 and crossed the Meuse.A week later, they were well supplied with petrol and reached the Moselle.The enemy gathered enough troops to fortify along the river; the enemy troops stationed in Metz were indeed not weak, and their fighting spirit was strong.Despite this, by September 16th the Third Army was able to establish several frontal positions just south of Nancy and Metz.As mentioned above, the United States Seventh Army and the French First Army (now incorporated into the Sixth Army Group under the command of General Devers) have been advancing northward since the landing on the southern coast of France on September 11. Join Patton's Army [1] outpost west of Dijon.The two armies then turned their ranks to the east, going south from Epinal to the Swiss frontier, in parallel with the general attack.This is the end of the large-scale pursuit.For the next several months, we will have to fight an extremely difficult battle to make progress.The enemy's resistance was increasing everywhere, and our supplies were no longer available and had to be replenished.The troops in front also need reinforcements and supplements to meet the upcoming autumn campaign. [1] According to the U.S. Third Army led by General Patton.translator While we were sailing to Quebec, our Joint Intelligence Committee sent a report on German resistance.I think it's a little bit more optimistic.I have written the following letter to the Chiefs of Staff Committee to remind them of this matter. Prime Minister to General Ismay and to Chiefs of Staff Committee September 8, 1944 I have read the report.I know all the facts in it.Overall, I think the report is on the positive side.Right now, we're effectively stuck.Progress will be extremely slow.I believe that the hypothesis of a decisive Russian offensive on the Eastern Front will come true, but for the moment such an offensive is only a hypothesis. 2. On the other hand, we must also pay attention to certain factors.We have not acquired any great ports, except Cherbourg and Arromanches.The Germans attempted to defend the mouth of the Scheldt, and were still resisting in the northern suburbs of Antwerp.Brest had not yet been taken, despite the fierce fighting there; once it was taken, it would be at least six weeks before it could be used.The Germans still held on to Lorient.We have not yet captured and cleared the port of Saint-Nazaire, which is almost twice as good as Brest, and which is more effective in attacking it.We haven't tried to take Bordeaux yet either.Unless the situation improved significantly, the Allies would still be short of port facilities when the winds blew during the autumnal equinox. 3. After our impressive progress, there will probably be a brief lull.This is what everyone has foreseen.General Patton's men were engaged in heavy fighting on the Metz-Nancy line.Marshal Montgomery also gave reasons for his misgivings about General Eisenhower's future plans.Unless the 21st Army Group wiped out the tenacious resistance of the ports in the Strait and dealt with the German troops north of Valcheren and Antwerp, it would be hard to imagine that the army could push the German border with a large army 4. No one can predict what will happen in the future.Did the Allied forces break through the Siegfried Line and enter Germany in large numbers in September?Or were the forces limited by the difficulty of receiving supplies and the lack of ports that allowed the Germans to hold out along the line?Will the Germans retreat from Italy?If so, they would greatly strengthen their domestic position.Could they bring back their own troops (estimated at one point between twenty-five and thirty-five divisions) from the Baltic states? We should not underestimate the effect of strengthening the defense and strengthening the strength of the enemy when he is firmly established at the gate of his country and ready to resist.It was at least equally likely that Hitler was still fighting on January 1st, or that he had collapsed before then. If he does fall before January 1, it will probably be for political rather than purely military reasons. My words unfortunately hit the spot. But the chance of crossing the Lower Rhine remained.Eisenhower believed that this goal was of great value, and therefore placed it in a priority position over clearing the banks of the Scheldt estuary and opening the port of Antwerp.To supplement Montgomery's combat forces, Eisenhower allocated him additional American transport and airlift supplies.The 1st Airborne Army, commanded by General Brereton of the United States, is composed of the 1st and 6th British Airborne Divisions, three American divisions and a Polish brigade. It has a large number of British and American aircraft and is on standby in England .Montgomery decided on a joint operation between the Airborne and XXX Corps to capture a bridgehead at Arnhem, as the latter was fighting in a bridgehead just across the Meuse (Celtic) Canal near the Dutch border .He planned to drop the British 1st Airborne Division and the subsequent Polish Brigade on the north bank of the Lower Rhine in order to capture the Arnhem Bridge; The 101st Division went to seize the road from Graf to Eindhoven.Then, the 30th Army, led by the Guards Armored Division, pushed forward along the road to Eindhoven; After arriving there, proceed to Arnhem along a long and narrow carpet-like corridor [1] opened after the airborne; along the way, we hope to find bridges that have been firmly grasped by the airborne troops, so as to overcome the obstacles of the three main rivers. constitute an obstacle. With the increasing strength of the enemy, this daring attack, an unprecedented feat of its kind, required extensive and urgent preparations.But everything was able to be completed on September 17th as scheduled, which is really a remarkable thing.Due to insufficient aircraft, it was impossible to transport all the troops by air at the same time, so the operation had to be divided into three days to complete.Thanks to the excellent work of the Allied Air Forces, the leading troops of the three divisions were safely and reliably transported to their destinations on the 17th.The U.S. 101st Division accomplished most of their tasks; but the town was not captured until the 18th because a canal bridge was blown up on the road to Eindhoven.The 82nd Division of the United States also played well, but the main bridge of Nijmegen was not taken down. 【1】According to the carpet is the original words of Montgomery at that time.It means that the airborne troops first open up a long and narrow channel or corridor across these rivers and low-lying areas to facilitate the advancement of the army behind.translator News from Arnhem is scarce, but it appears that a section of our parachute regiment has established itself at the north end of the bridge.The Guards Armored Division of XXX Corps, led by artillery barrage and rocket-firing aircraft, began advancing that afternoon along the road to Eindhoven.The Eighth Army was on the right, and the Twelfth Army was covering the flanks of the Thirty Army on the left.Along the way, the German army fought tenaciously.The guard division did not connect with the U.S. military until the afternoon of the 18th.The next day, the Germans launched an attack on the Eindhoven and Nijmegen protruding positions and continued to strengthen their forces.The 101st Division found it very difficult to keep the roads clear, and often had to temporarily cut off traffic in order to repel the enemy.At this time, bad news came from Arnhem.Our paratroopers held their positions at the north end of the bridge, but the enemy remained in the town.The rest of the 1st Airborne Division, which landed west of town, was unable to rush in for reinforcements. The canal was bridged on the eighteenth.Early the next morning, the guard division headed straight to Graves to join the 82nd U.S. Division.By nightfall, they were closing in on the well-defended Nijmegen Bridge.The battle to seize the bridge on the 20th was very fierce.After crossing the river west of town, the Americans turned right and captured the far end of the railway bridge.Guards rushed across the road bridge.The enemy is outnumbered.Both bridges passed into my hands intact. Now there is only the last stretch of road left in Arnhem.Due to the influence of bad weather, the work of airlifting troops, food and ammunition there was greatly restricted.The situation of the 1st Airborne Division was therefore extremely critical.Unable to reach the bridge, the rest of the division, confined in a small ring on the north bank, came under heavy attack.The friendly forces on the south bank tried their best to rescue them, but they could not overwhelm the enemy.The Guards Division, the 43rd Division and the Polish Parachute Brigade were dropped near the road one after another, but their valiant attempts at rescue all failed.The fighting continued hopelessly for another four days.On the 25th Montgomery ordered the withdrawal of the surviving heroic soldiers of the 1st Airborne Division.They boarded boats overnight and braved close-range artillery fire to cross the swift river.By daybreak, only 2,400 of the original 10,000 soldiers had reached their banks safely. Even after the local fighting at Arnhem was completely over, we continued to fight hard for two weeks in order to consolidate the victory.The Germans considered our salient position to threaten the entire west bank of the Lower Rhine.Later developments proved that their judgment was correct.They repeatedly launched a strong counterattack, trying to retake Nijmegen. They bombed the bridge there with planes, sabotaged it with swimming blasters, damaged it, though didn't destroy it.The three corps of my Second Army gradually widened this fifty-mile protruding position to twenty miles wide.Although it is still too narrow, it can always be used in an emergency. In the battle for Arnhem we took a great risk.This is because we see that the fruits of victory are immediately available and worth fighting for.If it hadn't been for the weather to restrict our air supremacy at a critical moment, we would have been very likely to succeed.Brave men, including the Dutch resistance fighting for Arnhem, were not discouraged by the adventure. It was not until I returned from Canada (where the splendid reports had come) that I had a full idea of ​​the campaign.General Smuts was saddened to see the battle lost, and I sent him a telegram: Prime Minister to Field Marshal Smuts October 9, 1944 I am satisfied with the development of the situation on the Western Front, especially the steady flow of most of the American troops.We hope to take Antwerp soon.As for Arnhem, I think your assessment of the situation there misses the point.The battle itself is a sure win. The problem was that when the division ahead had rightfully asked for more aid, they got so little.I am not at all disappointed by what happened this time; Congratulations to our commanders on the contrary for taking such a risk. Clearing the mouth of the Scheldt and opening the port of Antwerp had been delayed by the onslaught from Arnhem.Henceforth, it is regarded as the primary combat mission.In the second half of September, a series of preparatory actions have begun.The Second Canadian Corps had driven the enemy from the Antwerp-Ghent-Bruges line back to the small island of Breskens bounded south by the Leopold Canal.East of Antwerp, I Corps (also under the command of Army Group Canada) had reached and crossed the Antwerp Thurnhout Canal. Now we have to solve the problem from three aspects: capture Breskens Island; Occupy South Belveland; attack from east, west, and south to capture Valhalren.The first and second aspects go hand in hand.Breskens Isle was guarded by a division of battle-hardened German troops, tenacious and difficult to attack.Our army fought fiercely to cross the Leopold Canal.When the two sides were at a stalemate, a Canadian brigade turned the crisis around.It boarded upstream, went down the river, landed at the eastern end of the island, broke its way along the bank, and headed straight for Breskens, where it was captured on the 22nd of October.At the same time, the First Army marched steadily northwest from the Antwerp|Trnhot Canal.The enemy's resistance increased step by step along the way.But our side finally surrounded the South Beverland Isthmus.The plan for a further westward attack on Valhalren Island could then be drawn up. This daunting task was undertaken by the Canadian Second Division.The division waded through a large swath of flooded area in waist-deep water, pushing hard westward.They were reinforced by most of the soldiers of the 52nd Division.The latter was carried across the Scheldt by ferry, and landed at Balland on the south bank [1].By the end of the month, after a great effort, the whole isthmus had been taken.At the same time, several isolated strongholds of the enemy on Breskens Island were also uprooted one by one.The preparations for the attack on Valcheren were thus complete.The victory of the Canadian Army was an important beginning of more brilliant combat operations since then.During the four weeks of hard fighting, they captured at least 12,500 German troops, with the particularly strong support of Lieutenant General Coningham's Second Tactical Air Force.These are staunch enemies who are not willing to surrender. [1] Refers to the south coast of the Beverland Peninsula.translator Valcheren is shaped like a saucer.The edge is surrounded by sand dunes, preventing the sea from washing the plains in the center of the island.On the western edge of the island, near Fostercapelle, there is a gap in the middle of the dunes, held back from the sea by a dike thirty feet high and over a hundred yards wide at the base.There was a garrison of about ten thousand men housed in strong man-made fortifications, guarded by thirty batteries, some of which were large-caliber guns built in concrete bunkers.The island is covered with anti-tank barriers, mines and barbed wire, as the enemy has spent four years manipulating the fortifications of this gateway to Antwerp. The Royal Air Force struck first in early October.In a series of violent air raids they blasted a breach in the embankment of Fostercapelle, some four hundred yards wide, and the sea rushed into the center of the saucer, flooding the batteries and defenses there. fortifications.But the most powerful artillery positions and obstacles on the island are built on the edge of the saucer.The capture of these fortifications has been vividly described. [1] I can only give a generalization here.The goal of the attack is very concentrated.Eastward, the 2nd Canadian Division attempted to advance from the South Belvedere Peninsula through the sea wall between the two islands.With the assistance of a brigade from the 52nd Division, they finally captured a bridgehead.In the middle, the 4th Commando, which had sailed from Breskens on 1 November, made a heroic landing on the coast of Vlissingen; soldiers of the 52nd Division followed closely behind and fought their way into the town.Commodore General Leicester led three commandos composed of marines to the west to serve as the main attack.They embarked at Ostend and sailed for Fostercapelle.By seven o'clock in the morning on November 1st they could see the lighthouse there.As they approached their target, they were covered by a naval bombardment squadron firing.These included the British warship HMS Wospite and two low-board heavy gunships HMS Erebus and HMS Roberts with fifteen-inch guns, plus a squadron of armed landing craft.The landing craft kept advancing very close to the shore, risking serious casualties, and continued to exert their firepower until the first two commando parties landed safely.The 41st Commando landed at the northern end of the gap in the sea wall, and after capturing the village of Fostercappelle, they advanced towards Domburg. The 48th Commando landed south of the gap and soon encountered a stubborn enemy. resistance.The covering fire of the Navy is certainly invaluable, but we still lack a major auxiliary factor.We had originally planned a massive bombing the day before.But the plane was foggy and unable to take off.It is true that, at the crucial moment, the landing was supported by fighter-bombers very well, but as the enemy's fortifications were far from being seriously damaged, our Marines encountered more resistance than originally expected. much more tenacious. [1] See H. St. George Sanders: The Green Beret. That night, when the 48th Commando advanced only two miles along the edge of the island to Vlissingen, it was stopped by strong artillery fire from inside the concrete bunkers, and all the artillery of the Second Canadian Army was concentrated. Shores fired on targets here from Breskens; planes fired rockets at enemy emplacements, and in the evening commandos caught and killed the enemy.The next morning they pushed on.At noon, Sauterland was captured.The 47th Commando took over the offensive task from there, and while the enemy's defenses had gradually weakened, they hit the outskirts of Vlissingen in one breath.On November 3rd, the Fourth Commando joined forces after a tenacious house-to-house battle in the town, and a few days later the whole island was in our hands; eight thousand enemy troops were our prisoners. . In the battle, the commandos also made many special feats.While other troops and personnel from other services played their full part in this remarkable battle, the bravery of the Royal Marines stands out in particular.So this commando strategy wins again. After the capture of Vlissingen, mine clearance work began immediately.Over the next three weeks, we used a hundred ships to clear the seventy miles of waterway.On November 28 the first convoy arrived.Antwerp was opened to British and American troops.Enemy missiles and rockets harassed the city for some time, and caused great casualties, but disturbed the progress of the battle no more than they disturbed London. The ordeal of Antwerp is not the only reason for us to pursue the Germans further. There are other reasons as well.While the 2nd Canadian Division moved westward into South Belvedere, four German divisions remained in an isolated stronghold south of the Meuse and west of the Nijmegen Corridor.This was an embarrassing protruding position; it was not removed until November 8th by the First Army [1] and the Twelfth Army.On the other side of the Nijmegen corridor, another entrenched enemy was entrenched in an isolated stronghold west of the Meuse, around Venlo.To the south, the U.S. First Army broke through the Siegfried Line north of Aachen in the first week of October.The town surrendered on October 21 under attack from three sides.The Third Army, on the flank of the First Army, was already twenty miles east of the Moselle.The Seventh Army [2] advanced in parallel with the French First Army, directly exploring the Vosges Heights and the Belfort Gorge.The U.S. forces had nearly depleted their supplies in September's blitzkrieg.Now they must stop to accumulate supplies and prepare for a large-scale battle in November. [1] The First Army at this time can be regarded as a model of Allied cooperation.Its four divisions are composed of troops from Britain, Canada, the United States, and Poland. [2] Refers to the Seventh Army of the United States.translator The strategic air force played a major role in the Allied advance to the French and Belgian borders. By the autumn it had resumed its primary bombing mission on the German mainland, targeting oil refineries and transport networks as specific targets.The enemy's radar screens and warning systems have been driven within his own boundaries, and our navigation and bomb delivery equipment has been pushed forward accordingly.Our casualty rates are down; our attacks are up in intensity and precision.The long and protracted onslaught forced Germany to disperse its factories over a vast area.Now the enemy will pay dearly for it, for the wider the evacuation, the more dependent it is on a well-established communication system.Desperately needed coal was piled up near the pit; for lack of wagons it could not be shipped.Thousands or more of trucks are stopped every day due to lack of fuel.Factories, power plants and natural gas plants began to close.The sharp decline in oil production and storage not only affected the rapid movement of the troops, but also affected the activities of the Air Force and even the training of the Air Force. In August, Speer had warned Hitler that the entire chemical industry would be gradually curtailed due to the inability to supply by-products from synthetic gasoline plants.Then things got worse day by day.In November, he reported that if the rail traffic continued to decline, it would cause a decisive industrial catastrophe.In December, he actually praised our clever and far-reaching plan. [1] It can be seen that our great bombing offensive has finally begun to work. [1] See Ted's book: "Air Force in War", page 118.