Hello everyone, and thank you once again for listening to the saga of World War II,

Akassas Belly project. So I really thought going into January 2021, I was going to churn out a few

episodes and get a real good start to the year for the show. Well, it's been about six weeks

since I published my last episode, and that went out the window. I was one of the National Guardsmen

activated to go to the U.S. Capitol, so that was a few weeks

during which I got absolutely no work done, and then it just took me a while to kind

to get back in the swing of things.

But I finally finished this episode, though, so here we are.

Now that we have wrapped up the two main Eurocentric campaigns, the Mediterranean and the Eastern Fronts, for

1943, I figured we could turn our gaze to the two ancillary campaigns to those, the Air War and the U-Bo War.

Ancillary might not be the best word for these, because I don't mean to degrade their importance or the stakes,

only that they took place alongside the major land campaigns and in support of them.

In this episode, we'll cover the bombing campaign in Europe, which began as early as 1940, but didn't really get into gear until 1943.

According to its architects, the air campaign was an effort to do no less than defeat Nazi Germany through sheer explosive destruction.

To land commanders, and others, was seen as a way to supplement the ground campaigns.

What it ended up being was probably something in between.

To find out, let's begin episode 39, The Bomber Barrens.

I have been astonished that Japan should in a single day have plunged into war against the United States and the British Empire.

What kind of a people do they think we are?

Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until

they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget.

...and they will never forget.

...