The Strategic Leadership and Direction of the Royal Air Force Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany from Inception to 1945
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THE STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AND DIRECTION OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE STRATEGIC AIR OFFENSIVE AGAINST GERMANY FROM INCEPTION TO 1945 By PETER WILLIAM GRAY A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOHY School of History and Cultures College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham October 2009 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis examines the strategic leadership, and the high level direction, of the Royal Air Force’s contribution to the strategic air offensive against Germany. It takes the conceptual thinking, the organisational aspects and the leadership required to bring it into being, from its inception in the First World War through to 1945. The thesis uses modern understanding of strategic (or senior) leadership as an analytical tool. The realm of strategic leadership is complex, and ambiguous, and the senior leaders required high levels of intellectual capacity to cope with the survival of the force and its subsequent rapid to meet the rising threat from Germany. The senior leaders, political and military, acknowledged that their methods of warfare must be just, and the thesis examines the legality and morality of the planning and conduct of the offensive. A key facet of strategic leadership is the setting of the vision and purpose of the enterprise and the thesis examines the challenges that arose from the competing views on how the offensive should be waged. Genuine strategic leadership requires dexterity in working at the interfaces with other organisations, or Allies, and the thesis examines the complexities of the Combined Bomber Offensive and Overlord. DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the memory of all of the men and women who served in Bomber Command from 1936 to 1945. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I had the privilege to be awarded the first Chief of the Air Staff’s Portal Fellowships to assist in the completion of this thesis and I would like formally to acknowledge the support of Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy and Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton. I am also most grateful for the support, and friendship, of the past and present Directors of Defence Studies (RAF) and their staffs; in particular Air Commodore Neville Parton and Group Captain Al Byford. I would also like to acknowledge the advice, friendship and guidance given, over many years, by Seb Cox and his staff in the Air Historical Branch. I am also grateful to Peter Elliott and his colleagues in the Royal Air Force Museum archives; to Chris Hobson and his fellow librarians at the Joint Services Command and Staff College; to Rachel Johnston and her colleagues in Christ Church Library Oxford; and to the staff at The National Archives at Kew. I must also add that Professor Gary Sheffield has kept me on the straight and narrow since our earliest work when we taught together on the Higher Command and Staff Course; his supervision of this thesis has been the right touch of the light hand and appropriate encouragement. Finally, my gratitude must go to my colleagues at the University of Birmingham and to those in the wider world of air power studies who have guided, motivated and influenced me over the last decade. CODEWORDS Arcadia First Washington Conference Bodyline Attack on the production of V weapons Bolero Build up of US ground forces in Britain Crossbow Attack on V weapon launching sites Eureka Ground Radio transmitter for guiding aircraft to targets Gee Radio Navigational aid Gymnast Takeover of French North West Africa which became Torch Haddock Bombing Operations against Italy in 1940 Oboe Blind bombing radar device Octagon Second Quebec Conference, September 1944 Overlord Invasion of North Western Europe Pointblank Directive for the Combined Bomber Offensive, June 1942 Quadrant First Quebec Conference, August 1943 Sickle Build up of American Bomber Force Sextant Cairo Conference November-December 1943 Sledgehammer Early plans for a bridgehead in France Symbol Casablanca Conference Thunderclap Bombing Berlin to bring about surrender Torch Allied invasion of French North West Africa in 1942 Trident Third Washington Conference May 1943 ABBREVIATIONS ACAS Assistant Chief of the Air Staff ACAS (I) Assistant Chief of the Air Staff - Intelligence ACAS (O) Assistant Chief of the Air Staff – Operations ACAS (P) Assistant Chief of the Air Staff - Policy ACM Air Chief Marshal AD Air Defence AEAF Allied Expeditionary Air Forces AM Air Marshal AVM Air Vice-Marshal CAS Chief of the Air Staff C-in-C Commander-in-Chief COS Chiefs of Staff COSSAC Chiefs of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander D. B. Ops Director of Bomber Operations DCAS Deputy Chief of the Air Staff JIC Joint Intelligence Committee JPS Joint Planning Staff MAP Ministry of Aircraft Production MEW Ministry of Economic Warfare MRAF Marshal of the Royal Air Force PM Prime Minister PUS Permanent Under-Secretary RAF Royal Air Force RFC Royal Flying Corps RNAS Royal Naval Air Service RUSI Royal United Services Institute SASO Senior Air Staff Officer S of S Secretary of State USAAF United States Army Air Forces VCAS Vice Chief of the Air Staff CONTENTS Chapter1: Introduction Page 1 The Literature 5 Terminology 24 Senior Leadership – The Underpinning Theory 29 Thesis Content 33 Chapter 2: THE INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT Page 38 Leadership Thinking and Teaching 41 The Contemporary Thinking on the Ethical and Legal Use of Armed Force 50 Air Doctrine and Strategy 69 Chapter 3: THE ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT Page 82 The Constitutional and Legal Basis 84 The Cabinet Committees and the Chiefs 87 The Air Ministry 93 The Independent Force 102 Organisational Survival 107 Chapter 4: FROM DISARMAMENT TO THE OUTBREAK OF WAR Page117 The Geneva Disarmament Conference 118 The Need for Rearmament 131 The Formation of Bomber Command 142 The Road to War – Vision and Purpose of the Bomber Force 146 The Legalities and Legitimacy 152 Munich to War 158 Conclusions 161 Chapter 5: FROM THE OUTBREAK OF WAR TO AREA BOMBING Page 163 Relationships with Allies 165 Vision, Purpose and Direction – Portal and Invasion 176 Vision and Purpose – The Coming of Area Bombing 185 Morality and Legality 196 Concluding Comments 203 Chapter 6: THE STRATEGIC AND GRAND STRATEGIC DIMENSIONS 1942-45 Introduction – The Strategic Level Page 205 Prelude to the Combined Bombing Offensive 207 Planning the Offensive – Washington to Casablanca 213 Casablanca 221 Washington and Pointblank 227 Strategic Assets for Overlord – Command and Control 231 Strategic Assets for Overlord – Targeting Policy 238 D-Day to Dresden 244 Conclusions 250 Chapter 7: THE STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL INTERFACE 1942-45 Page 251 Introduction – The Interface between the Politicians, the Air Ministry and Bomber Command 251 Churchill and his Bomber Barons 253 The Relationship between the Air Ministry and Bomber Command 257 Area Bombing 261 Diversions and Panaceas 270 The Bomber Offensive as a Guerre de Course? 273 The Debate over Perceptions of the Campaign 276 The Vulnerability of German Morale 280 Overlord 284 Oil 288 Conclusions 297 Chapter 8: THE STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE Page 300 Appendices: 1. Definitions of Leadership, Management and Command 2. Biographical Notes 3. Legal Texts Bibliography Chapter One INTRODUCTION Leadership, the so-called Warrior‟s Art, has been an inherent part of military consciousness for as long as historians, and warriors themselves, have been recording their thoughts.1 For example, Kolenda quotes from Xenophon to explain that leaders needed mental agility as well physical might in order to achieve great deeds.2 The requirement for intellectual capacity at senior levels is a recurring theme in this analysis. The American historian, turned leadership writer, James MacGregor Burns wrote: „Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth‟.3 This may be so; the extensive literature on leadership seems to confirm Burns‟ statement, but the association of good leadership with achievement of results also remains a consistent theme. People look to their leaders for an appealing vision and trust them to take them in the direction most likely to achieve mutually beneficial results. In more extreme circumstances, leaders are required to build trust, set standards of performance, display personal courage and rationalise sacrifice.4 There are many definitions of leadership, to the point that almost every author has his or her own.5 For the purposes of this dissertation the definition of leadership espoused by the United Kingdom Defence Leadership and Management Centre (DLMC) will be used: 1 Christopher D. Kolenda, (ed.), Leadership: The Warrior’s Art (Carlisle PA: Army War College Foundation Press, 2001). 2 Kolenda, ibid., „What is Leadership? Some Classical Ideas‟, p. 3. General Barry R. McCaffrey (US Army, Retired) in the Foreword also appeals to the Ancients with mention of Plato: p. xi. 3 James MacGregor Burns, Leadership (New York: Harper, 1979), p. 2. 4 Lieutenant General Walter F. Ulmer Jr., „Introduction‟, in Kolenda, Leadership: The Warrior’s Art, p. xxxi. 5 Burns, Leadership, p.2. 1 Leadership is visionary; it is the projection of personality and character to inspire the team to achieve the desired outcome. There is no prescription for leadership and no prescribed style of leader. Leadership is a combination of example, persuasion and compulsion dependant on the situation. It should aim to transform and be underpinned by individual skills and an enabling ethos.