Mediterranean Allied Air Forces
Encyclopedia
Formation
The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) became the official AlliedAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
air force command organization in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations
Mediterranean Theater of Operations
The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army was originally called North African Theater of Operations and is an American term for the conflict that took place between the Allies and Axis Powers in North Africa and Italy during World War II...
(MTO) after the previous Mediterranean Air Command
Mediterranean Air Command
The Mediterranean Air Command was the official Allied air force command organization in the North African and Mediterranean Theater of Operations between February 18 and December 10, 1943. MAC was commanded by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder whose headquarters were established next to those...
(MAC) was disbanded on December 10, 1943. Initially, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder who had commanded MAC, was retained as Air Commander-in-Chief of MAAF but in mid-January 1944, Lieutenant General Ira Eaker took over command of MAAF when Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
chose Tedder as his Deputy Supreme Allied Commander to plan the air operations for the Normandy Landings.
Command of the Air Forces
In keeping with the previous Allied convention established at the Casablanca Conference of naming commanders from one air force [United States Army Air Force (USAAF) or Royal Air Force (RAF)] and their deputies from the other air force, Eaker's Deputy Air Commander-in-Chief of MAAF became Air Marshal Sir John SlessorJohn Slessor
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Cotesworth Slessor GCB, DSO, MC was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force . A pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, he held operational commands in World War II and served in the RAF's most senior post, Chief of the Air Staff, from 1950 to...
on January 20, 1944. Slessor, who also was named Commander-in-Chief of Royal Air Force, Mediterranean and Middle East
Near East Air Force (Royal Air Force)
The former Royal Air Force Near East Air Force, more simply known as RAF Near East Air Force, was the Command organisation that controlled all Royal Air Force assets in the Western Mediterranean .-History:...
(previously AHQ Malta
AHQ Malta
AHQ Malta was an overseas command of the Royal Air Force established on December 28, 1941 by renaming RAF Mediterranean under Air Vice Marshal Hugh Lloyd....
, a major sub-command of the disbanded MAC), had been the commander of RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force . Founded in 1936, it was the RAF's premier maritime arm, after the Royal Navy's secondment of the Fleet Air Arm in 1937. Naval aviation was neglected in the inter-war period, 1919–1939, and as a consequence the service did not receive...
which was taken over by Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas, the previous commander of RAF Middle East Command
RAF Middle East Command
Middle East Command was a command of the Royal Air Force formed on December 29, 1941 by renaming Headquarters RAF Middle East. During the early part of the Second World War the Command was one of the three major British service commands in the Middle East, the others being the British Army's...
, another major sub-command of the disbanded MAC.
MAAF reinstated the original RAF tri-force model (see No. 205 Group
No. 205 Group RAF
No. 205 Group was a long-range, heavy bomber group of the Royal Air Force established on October 23, 1941 by boosting No. 257 Wing to Group status....
, No. 201 Group
No. 201 Group RAF
No. 201 Group was a group of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.-History:No. 201 Group RAF was formed on 18 September 1939 from General Reconnaissance Group, Middle East of the Royal Air Force . The group was initially commanded by Group Captain H.W.G. Penderel. On May 11, 1940, Group...
, and Air Headquarters Western Desert
Desert Air Force
The Desert Air Force , also known chronologically as Air Headquarters Western Desert, Air Headquarters Libya, AHQ Western Desert, the Western Desert Air Force, Desert Air Force, and the First Tactical Air Force , was an Allied tactical air force initially created from No...
) that was used to create the Northwest African Air Forces
Northwest African Air Forces
Northwest African Air Forces was the principal sub-command of the Mediterranean Air Command created when the Allied air forces in North Africa and the Mediterranean Theater of Operations were reorganized in February of 1943...
, the largest and major sub-command of the disbanded MAC. Thus, MAAF retained a long-range "strategic" bomber force, a "coastal" anti-shipping force, and a "tactical" close air support
Close air support
In military tactics, close air support is defined as air action by fixed or rotary winged aircraft against hostile targets that are close to friendly forces, and which requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of these forces.The determining factor for CAS is...
force.
Accordingly, the three major combat commands of MAAF were:
- Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force (MASAF) under Major General Nathan Twining
- Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force (MACAF) under Air Vice-Marshal Hugh Lloyd
- Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force (MATAF) under Major General John K. CannonJohn K. CannonGeneral John Kenneth Cannon was a World War II Mediterranean combat commander and former chief of United States Air Forces in Europe for whom Cannon Air Force Base, Clovis, New Mexico, is named.-Biography:...
.the "Allied" was not added until February 1943
The MAAF tri-force replaced the previous NAAF tri-force:
- Northwest African Strategic Air ForceNorthwest African Strategic Air ForceThe Northwest African Strategic Air Force was a sub-command of the Northwest African Air Forces which itself was a sub-command of the Mediterranean Air Command...
(NASAF) under Major General James DoolittleJimmy DoolittleGeneral James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as a brigadier general, major general and lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War... - Northwest African Coastal Air ForceNorthwest African Coastal Air ForceThe Northwest African Coastal Air Force was a sub-command of the Northwest African Air Forces which itself was a sub-command of the Mediterranean Air Command...
(NACAF) under Air Vice-Marshal Hugh Lloyd - Northwest African Tactical Air ForceNorthwest African Tactical Air ForceThe Northwest African Tactical Air Force was a sub-command of the Northwest African Air Forces which itself was a sub-command of the Mediterranean Air Command...
(NATAF) under Air Vice-Marshal Sir Arthur ConinghamArthur Coningham (RAF officer)Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham KCB, KBE, DSO, MC, DFC, AFC, RAF was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. During the First World War, he was at Gallipoli with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, where he became a flying ace...
.
Air Vice-Marshal Hugh Lloyd was commander of NACAF and he stayed on as commander of MACAF. Doolittle of NASAF who temporarily commanded the new 15th Air Force before going to England to command the 8th Air Force, was replaced by Twining for the new MASAF. Coningham of NATAF who assumed command of Second Tactical Air Force, was replaced by Cannon of the new MATAF. Cannon also commanded the 12th Air Force which under the new MAAF organization was much more recognizable than it had been under the previous MAC/NAAF organization. When the 12th Air Force transferred all of its heavy bomb groups and its B-26 Marauder
B-26 Marauder
The Martin B-26 Marauder was a World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in the Pacific Theater in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe....
medium bomb groups to the 15th Air Force, the 12th became strictly a tactical air force and the 15th became a strategic air force (November 1, 1943). Twining commanded both MASAF and the 15th Air Force just as Cannon commanded both MATAF and the 12th Air Force. This helped to provide the unified command structure that was a major goal of the reorganization.
Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz
Carl Spaatz
Carl Andrew "Tooey" Spaatz GBE was an American World War II general and the first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. He was of German descent.-Early life:...
, the previous NAAF, 12th Air Force, and 8th Air Force commander, took over the new United States Strategic Air Forces
United States Strategic Air Forces
The US Eighth Air Force in World War II, later designated the United States Strategic and Tactical Air Forces was the first and became the overall command and control authority of the United States Army Air Forces against the European Axis members during World War II, where it'd started as a...
(USSTAF) consisting of Doolittle's 8th Air Force and Twining's 15th Air Force. This allowed Spaatz to borrow the 15th in Italy for long-range strategic bombing of European targets when inclement weather in England prevented the 8th from flying missions. Under this scenario, some heavy bombers took-off from Italy, bombed German targets, and landed in England. Similarly, some flew the opposite route. Overnight stops in Russia were also made by some of the long-range bombers of the 8th and 15th Air Forces.
AVM John Whitford replaced Lloyd in November 1944. Sir Guy Garrod
Guy Garrod
Air Chief Marshal Sir Alfred Guy Roland Garrod GBE, KCB, MC, DFC was a senior British Royal Air Force officer.-RAF career:...
replaced Slessor in early 1945.
Effectiveness
With the defeat of Germany and the end of World War II in Europe, Headquarters, MAAF, Intelligence Section (United States) saw an opportunity to learn first-hand how effective the Allied air war was from the enemy's perspective. A series of interviews with high-ranking German officers resulted in the July, 1945 compilation of the MAAF Air Surrender Documents.General Heinrich von Vietinghoff
Heinrich von Vietinghoff
Heinrich Gottfried Otto Richard von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel was a German Colonel-General of the German Army during the Second World War....
, who at various times commanded German Tenth Army
German Tenth Army
The 10th Army was a World War I and World War II field army. During World War I the 10th army was stationed at the Eastern Front against Russia, and occupied Poland and Belorussia at the end of 1918 when the war ended....
or Army Group C
Army Group C
Army Group C was an army group of the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War.-Career:Army Group C was set up from Heeresgruppenkommando 2 in Frankfurt on 26 August 1939...
and was the Commander in Italy at the end of the war, was particularly impressed by the effectiveness of the Allied fighter-bombers:
- "The ceaseless use of fighter-bombers succeeded in paralyzing all day-time movement..."
- "The fighter-bomber pilots had a genuinely damaging effect."
- "Even the tanks could move only at night because of the employment of fighter-bombers."
- "The effectiveness of the fighter-bombers lay in that their presence alone over the battlefield paralyzed every movement."
Regarding air attacks on railroads, General von Vietinghoff stated the following:
"Rail traffic was struck in the most protracted fashion by the destruction of bridges. Restoration of bridges required much time; the larger bridges could not be repaired. As improvisation, many bridge sites were detoured or the supplies were reloaded. With the increasing intensity of the air attacks, especially on the stretch of the Brenner, the damaged sections were so great and so numerous that this stretch, despite the best of repair organization and the employment of the most powerful rebuilding effort, became ever worse and was only ever locally and temporarily usable. A few bad weather days, in which the Allied Air Force could not have flown, would often have sufficed to bring the traffic again to its peak. Only in February and March (1945) was it again possible to travel by rail through the Brenner to Bologna."
When asked if Allied air power was chiefly responsible for Germany's defeat in this war?, each of the German officers below gave his own answer:
- Colonel General Heinrich von VietinghoffHeinrich von VietinghoffHeinrich Gottfried Otto Richard von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel was a German Colonel-General of the German Army during the Second World War....
, Supreme Commander Southwest, "Yes..." - General Karl WolffKarl WolffKarl Friedrich Otto Wolff was a high-ranking member of the Nazi Schutzstaffel , ultimately holding the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS. He became Chief of Personal Staff to the Reichsführer and SS Liaison Officer to Hitler until his replacement in 1943...
, SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen SS, "Yes..." - General Joachim LemelsenJoachim LemelsenJoachim Hermann August Lemelsen was a German general during the Second World War. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
, Commanding General 14th Army, "Considered as a part of the general material superiority of the Allies, the strength of the Allied Air Force was of first importance - especially during the last year in Italy..." - General Jahn, Commanding General of Lombardy Command, "They were of great, but not decisive importance."
- Major General von Schellwitz, Commanding General 305th Division, "Yes..."
- Lt. General Boehlke, Commanding General 334th Division, "The Allied Air Forces have played large part in the defeat of Germany..."