On Wed, 26 Dec 2001, Bradford DeLong wrote:
> Up until June 1944, every Nazi artillery piece inside the Reich
> pointing skyward to try to defend German cities against Allied
> terror-bombing was one artillery piece fewer on the Russian front.
That's an interesting choice of date. According to James L. Stokesbury in _A Short History of World War II_ (p. 284), 72 percent of Allied bombs were dropped between July 1, 1944 and the collapse of Germany -- i.e., just after your crucial date. And I believe part of the reason for that was precisely that big convoy incendiary bombing only became really possible after the flak and counter airforce threats diminished.
BTW, out of curiousity, did official sources use this argument about redirecting armor to defend firestorm bombing at the time? I only thought they argued it was about sapping enemy will to fight.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com