Air Marshall Sir Arthur Harris and General Curtis E. LeMay

To R.C.A.F. 6 Group Reunion, April 26, 1947

In my experience, few yet fully understand the enormous contribution, which Canada made towards the common victory. Without Canada’s major share in the Air Training scheme, we should have had no Air Force even remotely capable of meeting our needs. And without 6 Group and the Canadian crews serving outside 6 Group, we should have had no Bomber Command equal to the tremendous military tasks with which it was confronted. Yet, that was by no means the largest part of Canada’s extraordinary military and civil effort. I will add only this, that man and woman power, machine power, financial power and material power, vast indeed as these manifestations were from so comparatively small a population, were surpassed, and indeed far outmatched in the testing, by the skillfully trained minds and hands, and above all by the brave which this famous land sent into the forefront of the battle.

Let me recall tonight some of the major achievements of our Bomber aircrews, in which from the very start Royal Canadian Air Force crews and later No. 6 Group as an entity took so large a share.

The early years of the war when Bomber Command, and Bomber Command alone carried the war, not only to the enemy, but to the very heart of an otherwise universally triumphant and victorious enemy’s homeland.

The sea mining campaign, which throughout five long years mounted, inexorable for the enemy, through strain to emergency, from disaster, and from disaster to catastrophe, in which his entire merchant marine was virtually destroyed . . . Then the destruction of the German navy. Those "indestructible battleships" . . .. Where are they now, cluttering the harbour bottom, the fairways and the ocean deeps to which air power so easily consigned them as a sideline to more serious and worthwhile military effort . . .. then the bomber offensive against Germany’s industrial areas. We know now the vast effect, which that offensive had in emasculating the entire German military effort on every front, and in every sea . . ..

The bomber crews by their sacrifice and devotion saved a million of their brothers in arms in the Allied Forces and the proof of that are the incredible low casualties of our armies in the face of all experience, prediction and expectation. Let us . . . recall the Bomber crew’s famous share in the invasion, the pre-invasion bombing. The enemy coastal batteries guarding the invasion beaches. Remember what happened. Those batteries threatened to repulse the landings with bloody loss and were confusedly the worst nightmare of all our Naval and Military Commanders. The batteries that it fell to Bomber Command to silence before and as the invasion fleets sailed in, fired not one single round at our vessels during the approach to the beaches, and the radar location stations on which the enemy depended for warning of the approach lay in ruins. Next came the destruction by the bombers of the entire French railway communications system on which the German Army depended to counter an invasion . . .. And next, the direct assistance rendered by the Bombers to the Army whenever and wherever they were held up. I quote a great soldier we all know as Monty.

Le Havre. That great fortress port, held by 11,000 picked German troops sworn to die to the last man. It fell for less than fifty to our troops after Bomber Command had suitable doped the defenders. Boulogne, Calais, Dunkerque, the story was always the same.

The most important and potentially dangerous of the Rhine crossings at Wesel was ccomplished beneath the wings of the Heavy Bombers with only 36 casualties to our troops. Let me again quote Monty.

"My grateful appreciation for the quite magnificent co-operation you have given us in the Battle of the Rhine. The bombing of Wesel last night was a master piece and was a decisive factor in making possible our entry into that town before midnight."

Next, the destruction of the German rail and road communications, the bombing of St. Vith in the Bastogne salient ay its most critical moment. All other aircraft were grounded y fog but the heavies went over in the dark, fog, rain, ice and cloud and blotted out as photographs later showed. The whole vital network in and around that essential German centre and pivot of his attack. Putting it out not for hours, or days but for weeks.

The complete destruction of the enemy’s oil fuel supplies for which task we were at last adequately equipped. Destroyed to such an extend that in the final collapse hardly an enemy tank or car or aircraft had gas to move with. And in our spare time, reducing the Rocket and V2 programme schedule against England from the 6,000 a day intended to some 60 a day.

Lastly, Germany’s armies were for four years deprived of air support because her entire air resources were centred around defending her own homeland from our bombers. These are but a few of the achievements of the Bomber crews in which No. 6 Royal Canadian Air Force Bomber Group took so large a share. Be content that you did your bit. Canada can be proud indeed of her sons in this war as in the last. Aye, and even more so, because they faced even more terrible odds and overcame them. I will conclude by quoting you a message. Some of you have heard it before, first hand. But as it received no publicity at he time or since many of you may have missed it. In particular, I wish to make certain on this occasion, that the relatives of all those who gave their lives on service in Bomber Command, hear or read this message. This is the message, which reached me immediately, the war in Europe concluded;

"Now that Nazi Germany is defeated, I wish to express to you on behalf of his Majesty’s Government the deep sense of gratitude which is felt by all the Nation for the glorious part which has been played by Bomber Command in forging the Victory. For over two years Bomber Command, alone, carried the war to the heart of Germany, bringing hope to the peoples of occupied Europe, and to the enemy a foretaste of the mighty power which was rising against him.

As the Command expanded, in particular with the Air Forces of our American Ally, the weight of the attack was increased dealing destruction on an unparallel led scale to the German military, industrial, and economic system. Your command also gave powerful support to the Allied Armies in Europe and made a vital contribution to the war at sea. You destroyed or damaged many of the ships of war and much of his U-boat organization.