This is the story of "Bomber Harris", also known as Sir Arthur Travers Harris, Marshal of the Royal Air Force (1892 – 1984) between the years 1942 through 1945. He was the daily tormentor of Nazi Germany, striving relentlessly to bring an end to German hostilities by bombing their home front without pity. This article tells the tale of Harris the soldier and Harris the man: his W.W. I experiences, his inter-war training and Washington posting, his W.W. II contributions as Air Marshal as well as his family life.
Click here to read W.W. II articles about life in Harris-plagued Germany.
Click here to read about the 1943 bombing campaign against Germany.
Click here to read about the harried everyday life on a U.S. bomber base in England...
A 1944 YANK MAGAZINE article concerning the destruction of the once mighty German 7th Army:
"We have been told that the German Army, which fought so craftily and gave out to our men a share of death in Normandy, is now almost encircled by the great armored columns which broke through and swept around the enemy. But this army does not die easily..."
Click here to read about the retreat of the Africa Corps.
Attached is a Phoney War magazine article by Major General George Ared White (1880 - 1941) in which he mused wistfully (as Oregon men are wont to do) as to all the various horrible choices that were spread before Herr Hitler in the early months of 1940. The General believed that France's Maginot Line was impregnable and he did not think that Hitler would commit to such an undertaking. An article from Click Magazine designed for civilian consumption concerning the U.S. Signal Corps and their efforts to film and photograph as much of the war as was possible in order that the brass hats far off to the rear could sit comfortably and understand what was needed. The article is illustrated with six war photographs and the captions explaining what information was gleaned from each: "Every detail of these films is scrupulously studied by a group of experts, officers and engineers representing the Army Ground Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Army Air Corps, the Signal Corps the Armored Forces, the Quartermaster Corps and other military units. Naturally, these services are interested in different sections of every film. To facilitate their studies, a device known as the Multiple Film Selector is used." The Signal Corps Movies of World War I were intended for different uses... A 1944 Yank article tells the tale about a quiet little spot behind the front line where American GIs were able to enjoy 24 hours of peace before being returned to the meat-grinder:
"Sergeant Carmine Daniello, of Brooklyn, New York, smoked a big cigar during the afternoon...he was taking it easy in his own way. He didn't want to sleep just now. He said, 'Just sitting around like this is all I want right now.'On the other side of the river it had been so bad..."
CLICK HERE... to read one man's account of his struggle with shell shock...
During the last miserable days of 1944 came this one page, first person account by a common American soldier marching through a shell-pocked German landscape. The fellow went to great effort to describe the general discomfort experienced by all those GIs privileged enough to be posted at the spearhead of that winter advance through the Hürtgen Forest. Halting in frozen rain and blinding winds, his platoon languished around a liberated Nazi pillbox where it was decided that each of them should enjoy a three hour respite inside to escape the cold. When it was our hero's turn he explains how nice it was to be surrounded by four walls and a roof.
Click here to read about the mobile pill boxes of the Nazi army. | 
