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Authors: Winston S. Churchill
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Sir
Edward
Bridges,
and
to
General
Ismay, for C.O.S.
Committee
Now that we can see our way a little clearer, and after consultation with the Chiefs of Staff, I have decided that the “Crossbow” Committee, over which I have hitherto presided, should consist of a smaller group charged with the responsibility for reporting upon the effects of the flying bomb and the flying rocket and the progress of counter-measures and precautions to meet it. The Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Supply [Mr. Duncan Sandys], will be chairman, and the membership should be kept as small as possible….
This Committee will report daily, or as often as may be necessary, to me, the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Air, and the Chiefs of Staff.
The Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Air, and I will attend together should occasion arise.
Triumph and Tragedy
62
The Committee included Air Marshal Bottomley, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hill, Air Officer Commanding Air Defence of Great Britain, and General Pile, General Officer Commanding Anti-Aircraft Command.
On July 6 I unfolded to the House of Commons, many of whose constituencies were feeling the strain of the attack, the preparation and action the Government had taken since early in 1943. At any rate, no one could say that we had been caught by surprise. There was no complaint.
Everyone saw we just had to lump it, an ordeal made easier by our hopes of a successful advance in Normandy. My account was detailed.
The total weight of bombs so far dropped by us on flying bomb and rocket targets in France and Germany, including Peenemünde, has now reached about fifty thousand tons, and the number of reconnaissance flights totals many thousands. The scrutiny and interpretation of the tens of thousands of air photographs obtained for this purpose has alone been a stupendous task, discharged by the Air Reconnaissance and Photographic Interpretation units of the Royal Air Force. These efforts have been exacting to both sides, friends and foes. Quite a considerable proportion of our flying power has been diverted for months past from other forms of offensive activity. The Germans for their part have sacrificed a great deal of manufacturing strength which would have increased their fighter and bomber forces working with their hard-pressed armies on every front. It has yet to be decided who has suffered and will suffer the most in the process. There has in fact been in progress for a year past an unseen battle into which great resources have been poured by both sides. This invisible battle has now flashed into the open, and we shall be able, and
Triumph and Tragedy
63
indeed obliged, to watch its progress at fairly close quarters….
We must neither underrate nor exaggerate. In all, up to six o’clock this morning, about two thousand seven hundred and fifty flying bombs have been discharged from the launching-stations along the French coast. A very large proportion of these either have failed to cross the Channel or have been shot down and destroyed by various methods…. The weather however during June has been very unfavourable to us for every purpose. In Normandy it has robbed us in great part of the use of our immense superiority…. In Britain it has made more difficult the work and combination of the batteries and aircraft. It has also reduced the blows we strike at every favourable opportunity at the launching-sites and suspected points on the other side of the Channel.
Nevertheless the House will, I think, be favourably surprised to learn that the total number of flying bombs launched from the enemy’s stations has killed exactly one person per bomb…. Actually, the latest figures up to six o’clock this morning are 2754 flying bombs launched and 2752 fatal casualties sustained…. A very high proportion of the casualties, somewhere around 10,000, not always severe or mortal, has fallen upon London, which presents to the enemy a target
Edward
Bridges,
and
to
General
Ismay, for C.O.S.
Committee
Now that we can see our way a little clearer, and after consultation with the Chiefs of Staff, I have decided that the “Crossbow” Committee, over which I have hitherto presided, should consist of a smaller group charged with the responsibility for reporting upon the effects of the flying bomb and the flying rocket and the progress of counter-measures and precautions to meet it. The Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Supply [Mr. Duncan Sandys], will be chairman, and the membership should be kept as small as possible….
This Committee will report daily, or as often as may be necessary, to me, the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Air, and the Chiefs of Staff.
The Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Air, and I will attend together should occasion arise.
Triumph and Tragedy
62
The Committee included Air Marshal Bottomley, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hill, Air Officer Commanding Air Defence of Great Britain, and General Pile, General Officer Commanding Anti-Aircraft Command.
On July 6 I unfolded to the House of Commons, many of whose constituencies were feeling the strain of the attack, the preparation and action the Government had taken since early in 1943. At any rate, no one could say that we had been caught by surprise. There was no complaint.
Everyone saw we just had to lump it, an ordeal made easier by our hopes of a successful advance in Normandy. My account was detailed.
The total weight of bombs so far dropped by us on flying bomb and rocket targets in France and Germany, including Peenemünde, has now reached about fifty thousand tons, and the number of reconnaissance flights totals many thousands. The scrutiny and interpretation of the tens of thousands of air photographs obtained for this purpose has alone been a stupendous task, discharged by the Air Reconnaissance and Photographic Interpretation units of the Royal Air Force. These efforts have been exacting to both sides, friends and foes. Quite a considerable proportion of our flying power has been diverted for months past from other forms of offensive activity. The Germans for their part have sacrificed a great deal of manufacturing strength which would have increased their fighter and bomber forces working with their hard-pressed armies on every front. It has yet to be decided who has suffered and will suffer the most in the process. There has in fact been in progress for a year past an unseen battle into which great resources have been poured by both sides. This invisible battle has now flashed into the open, and we shall be able, and
Triumph and Tragedy
63
indeed obliged, to watch its progress at fairly close quarters….
We must neither underrate nor exaggerate. In all, up to six o’clock this morning, about two thousand seven hundred and fifty flying bombs have been discharged from the launching-stations along the French coast. A very large proportion of these either have failed to cross the Channel or have been shot down and destroyed by various methods…. The weather however during June has been very unfavourable to us for every purpose. In Normandy it has robbed us in great part of the use of our immense superiority…. In Britain it has made more difficult the work and combination of the batteries and aircraft. It has also reduced the blows we strike at every favourable opportunity at the launching-sites and suspected points on the other side of the Channel.
Nevertheless the House will, I think, be favourably surprised to learn that the total number of flying bombs launched from the enemy’s stations has killed exactly one person per bomb…. Actually, the latest figures up to six o’clock this morning are 2754 flying bombs launched and 2752 fatal casualties sustained…. A very high proportion of the casualties, somewhere around 10,000, not always severe or mortal, has fallen upon London, which presents to the enemy a target
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