Good point there Mark.

But Canals and particularly locks are a bugger of a target look at the effort the RN put into taking out the Ostened locks (?) in WWI.

Presuming we have to stick with some level of limitation on bombing for civilian safety, we still need a general target set something they can build a major effort around that will have some level of direct impact on the continuing Battle for France.

As I see it, we want
a/ a purely military target
b/ that is within range of Blenheim and Battles
c/ that is clear of civilians
d/ that draws on the same resource pool as German forces fighting in the South (to achieve indirect attrition)
e/ that has some impact on German operations against Britain (to maximize benefit)
f/ is quite large in area (to aid hitting it)
g/ is susceptible to light bombing (250lb bombs) or at least harassment

a/ Outside of ports (which have a civilian overlay), we're talking army/Lw, which ties in with d&e/

b/ Pas de Calais, coastal Belgium, Normandy, being restricted by range to coastal targets is actually a boon, as it allows more accurate overland navigation.

c/ Cuts out a lot of Army targets which tend to co-locate with civilian infrastructure (transport and billeting), ditto navy.

d/ if we look at this as a matter of i] logistics/supplies ii]personnel and iii] equipment.
i] the bulk of logistics headed though out target zone is allocated to the active front anyway, and is a secondary priority. So minimal impact on the front
ii] the bulk of personnel are going to be army and probably infantry, so valuable, but again are unlikely to be replaced in preference to active units and we can't get them anyway as they live cheek by jowl with the civilian population. We need to hit critical specialists who need to be replaced to support current operations in our areas.
iii] As with personnel there's not much Heer stuff that fits, with the exception of any coastal artillery they may be installing, but this hardly impacts the French defence. The only broad equipment pool directly applicable and portable between the two fronts is aircraft.

e/ With invasion unlikely the Heer is off the hook here, and the Luftwaffe is firmly in the frame, which ties back to d/

f/ large targets set clear of civilians - they may be some specific exceptions, but broadly speaking airfields are about the only things that fit this bill to my mind.

g/ this rules out most fixed/heavy infrastructure, or difficult targets that require a heavy pounding.

All in all I can only see the Luftwaffe airfields, mostly likely the fighter fields as the one target set that cover all these requirments, and it fits directly into the proposed Phase 1 of the BoB too.

The light bomber force is more than capable of scattering light bombs over airfields, accuracy is not too important as fragmentation litter is a much a handicap to flying operations (tyre damage) as actually hitting the odd aircraft, and if the casualties on the ground are low in terms of dead and wounded, the fatigue and morale issues not to be sneezed at given a high daylight optempo and night bombing.

The only issues are actually finding the targets is a problem, not being too far inland allows navigators to get a good fix as they cross the coast, but if the RAF is not allowed to go casting HE across the French countryside at random, they actually need target marking (in 1940!), or at least target illumination. This isn't too hard to do, they have flares that will do the job, and I believe it was actually covered by pre-war RAF doctrine and may have used OTL in the port raids to hit the invasion barges. Basically you have a Sqn (+) of bombers flying 'in company' (not formation), essentially they take off together and aim to arrive on target within a 5-10 minute window, the lead aircraft confirms the target and illuminates with flares while the aircraft make individual bombing runs. OTL this was essentially impossible for Bomber Command to arrange over Germany, but with minimal night defenses so close to home it is far ore practical.

I will not pretend extensive use of this type of things will not have an influence on Bomber Command, but I'm not trying to reduce friction here, and the OTL issues with respect to Bomber Command using it still apply. I'll also not that exactly this sort of thing was used in Africa OTL too. So on the whole I don't think it is injecting anything 'new' into FFO, just using an existing method to meet an FFO driver.

Now if this how the Light Bomber force come to be used during Phase 1 of the BoB, the LW are not going to be very happy. Even if they maintain a positive exchange ratio vis Fighter Command in the air, being hit on the ground far harder then in OTL, both by night bombing and day/dawn fighter/bomber strikes, combined with their limited strength in the area (given the BoF is on going), well basically they are going to be under the hammer, and quite possibly taking more losses than can be justified.

However from a political angle I don't believe Germany could ignore Britain though this period and the LW is their only effective means to do so. This forces the LW into a very uncomfortable position.

shane

Rule .303
Shoot straight, you bastards.

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