Quote:
Originally Posted by crankcase
Interesting... had the bomb's effectiveness been demonstrated? Who stopped the raid?
marc
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After four years of development, the Greisham-Elektron company finally perfected the B-1E Elektronbrandbombe (the Elektron fire bomb) in April 1918. It's suspected, (but not proven) that the Germans may have used them in small numbers, as a test drop, during a raid on Paris on 15th June 1918.
As for who stopped the raid? That was Ludendorff, who, after the war, and for public consumption wrote:
"Because of the gravity of our position, the Supreme Command could not hope that air-raids on London and Paris would make the enemy more disposed to sue for peace. Permission was therefore refused for the use of a particularly effective incendiary bomb, expressly designed for attacks on the two capitals, which had been produced in great quantities during the month of August (1918) and which was to have been used in the air-bombardment of the two capitals. The considerable destruction which would have ensued would no longer be enough to influence the course of the war; one could not tolerate carrying out such destruction for its own sake."
Sounds very noble doesn't it? A tad disingenuous though...Germany knew the war was lost by that time (September 1918). A more realistic reason for the raid's cancellation was given by the Chancellor, Count von Hertling, who stated:
"I beg the Supreme Command not to use the new incendiaries, because of the reprisals that the enemy would take against our own cities."
Regards.
Bucky