Monday, Jul. 05, 1943

The Numbers Tell

Cabled TIME Correspondent John Hersey from North Africa:

Numbers are winning the war for us, and night hid the numbers--the many planes, the many tents, the very many men--at our strategic airfields in North Africa when the order came for the largest mission of Fortresses ever sent against a single target in this theater. The night was soon busy. Many bombs were loaded.

In the morning Operations sent around men, woke all crews. After their breakfast they were all carried in many trucks to have their briefing. The target was to be Messina, Sicily's ferry terminus. The huge briefings broke into small briefings, in which formations were assigned, navigational data set out and targets defined.

Then the many trucks took all the crews out to the planes, which were dispersed for acres. Shortly before taxi time the crews climbed aboard and the roar began which was the roar of numbers, and a dust cloud rose up which seemed to be the dust of a multitude on the desert.

Leaders taxied out on the dirt runway, then the wingmen and the rest, and soon the chain of planes rising over grain fields seemed endless.

Horizon after horizon of hills fell away for plane after plane and the tents grew small. The group orbited round & round, forming up, and as they did so another huge group fell in, and others too, and over them all the fighters nervously ranged back and forth. Finally the roar peeled off across the sky toward Messina.

What happened at Messina is an old story now. [In 18 minutes the Fortresses saturated the port and marshaling yards so thoroughly that when the raid was over the target, area was obscured by fire and smoke. The Germans attacked viciously, flying into their own flak while the Forts made their bombing runs, dropping small bombs on the tight formations of the U.S. planes. In the bitter fight over Messina, 20 Nazis were shot down. But the Forts got through and hit two ships in the harbor, plastered warehouses, docks, railroad tracks, stations. Despite the heavy Axis defenses, total Allied losses for the day were only three planes--and that included other raids. Total raids for the week: 16.]

The importance of what happened at Messina was its scale. Probably the biggest lesson of Tunisia was a very simple one: given planes which are not too violently different in quality, the side with the numbers wins. We did not start winning until we achieved numerical superiority in the air, but when we did we almost could not lose.

Our numbers have come a long way in this theater. Last Nov. 8 a handful of fighters went ashore and flew a few sorties. Nowadays it is commonplace to fly a thousand sorties daily, weather permitting. In the first days of the campaign a good week's bomb load would be 50 tons. Nowadays 3,500 tons may be dropped in seven days.

This matter of numbers may seem obvious, but it should not be forgotten. This raid on Messina, the biggest in this theater, was a reminder of the most important fundamental in our air offensive--one which in the future will grow increasingly important until we win.

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