20,000 Feet Between: The Experiential Disparities of Precision Bombing in Austrian Bomb Victims and American Bombardiers, 1945

Author

Emily E. Hanish, University of New OrleansFollow

Date of Award

5-2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Program

History

Department

History

Major Professor

Günter Bischof

Second Advisor

Marc Landry

Third Advisor

Ryan Gray

Fourth Advisor

Robert Citino

Abstract

From November 1944 until May 1945, the 57^th Bomb Wing executed the “Battle of the Brenner” to incapacitate the German war machine. As a result of five campaign missions from March – April 1945, the USAAF not only decimated the village of Matrei am Brenner and Trautson Castle, but also killed dozens of civilians. Recent archaeological excavations at Medieval Trautson Castle prompted serious questions about the USAAF’s bombardment strategies and ethics, especially regarding precision bombing. By analyzing these bombing missions, this thesis will delineate the “Battle of the Brenner” within the evolution of the USAAF’s bombardment doctrine in order to further emphasize the inadequacies of daytime precision bombing. Furthermore, the precision bombing theory in and of itself created experiential disparities between those bombing in the skies and those dying on the ground that must be seriously studied if the entire picture of the U.S. bombing war is to be understood.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

Recommended Citation

Hanish, Emily E., "20,000 Feet Between: The Experiential Disparities of Precision Bombing in Austrian Bomb Victims and American Bombardiers, 1945" (2022). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2986.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2986