# Transport Plan

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This article is about a historical wartime bombing campaign. For a peacetime political process for local transport, see [Local transport plan](/source/Local_transport_plan).

Main article: [Combined Bomber Offensive](/source/Combined_Bomber_Offensive)

The **Transportation Plan** was a plan for [strategic bombing during World War II](/source/Strategic_bombing_during_World_War_II) against bridges, rail centres, including [marshalling yards](/source/Marshalling_yard) and repair shops in [France](/source/France) with the goal of limiting the German military response to the [invasion of France](/source/Normandy_Invasion) in June 1944.

The plan was based on those of Air Marshal [Tedder](/source/Arthur_Tedder,_1st_Baron_Tedder) and the ["Overlord air plan"](/source/Combined_Bomber_Offensive#Overlord_air_plan) of Air Chief Marshal [Leigh-Mallory](/source/Trafford_Leigh-Mallory),[4] The plan was devised by Professor [Solly Zuckerman](/source/Solly_Zuckerman,_Baron_Zuckerman), an advisor to the [Air Ministry](/source/Air_Ministry), to destroy transportation in [Occupied France](/source/Occupied_France) during the "preparatory period" for [Operation Overlord](/source/Operation_Overlord) so Germany would be unable to respond effectively to the invasion.[5][6]

The air campaign, carried out by the bombers of the [RAF](/source/Royal_Air_Force) and [USAAF](/source/United_States_Army_Air_Forces) crippled the German rail networks in France and played a crucial role in disrupting German logistics and reinforcements to the invasion area.[7]

## Plan and operations

[Air Officer Commanding](/source/Air_Officer_Commanding) (AOC) [RAF Bomber Command](/source/RAF_Bomber_Command) Marshal [Arthur Harris](/source/Sir_Arthur_Harris,_1st_Baronet) did not want to divert his bomber force away from their strategic campaign against German industry (known to the Germans as the [Defence of the Reich](/source/Defence_of_the_Reich) campaign). However, he resigned himself early on to supporting Overlord as early as 17 February 1944 while his force was engaged in the [bombing campaign against Berlin](/source/Battle_of_Berlin_(air)).[8] On 6 March 1944, [Charles Portal](/source/Charles_Portal,_1st_Viscount_Portal_of_Hungerford) ordered attacks on the marshalling yards at [Trappes](/source/Trappes), [Aulnoye](/source/Aulnoye), [Le Mans](/source/Le_Mans), [Amiens](/source/Amiens), [Lougeau](/source/Lougeau), [Courtrai](/source/Courtrai) and [Laon](/source/Laon). Control of all air operations was transferred to Eisenhower on 14 April at noon.[9]

## Attacks made under the Transport Plan

Bombing missions Date Target Notes Night of 7/8 March Le Mans railway yards 304 RAF bombers attacked Le Mans.[10] Night of 13/14 March Le Mans Repeat attack on Le Mans by 222 RAF bombers.[11] Night of 15/16 March Amiens 140 RAF aircraft Night 23/24 March Laon railway yards 143 RAF aircraft but attack stopped half-way through. The bombing had little effect.[citation needed] 25/26 March Aulnoyne railway yards 192 RAF aircraft 18 April Juvisy, France Attack by the RAF of the railway marshalling yards in Juvisy, France 18 April Noisy-le-sec, France Attack by the RAF of the Noisy-le-sec train station, France 22 April Hamm, Germany 800 bombers attacked railway marshalling yards in Hamm, Germany.[12] May 1944 France Attacks on railway yards in Chambery and across southern France killed more than 2,500 people.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] 10 June Étampes, France Bombing of the railway marshalling yards in Étampes, France

## Results

The effectiveness of the Transport Plan was evident in German reports at the time. A German [Air Ministry](/source/Ministry_of_Aviation_(Nazi_Germany)) (RLM) report of 13 June 1944 stated: "The raids...have caused the breakdown of all main lines; the [coast defences](/source/Atlantic_Wall) have been cut off from the supply bases in the interior...producing a situation which threatens to have serious consequences" and that although "transportation of essential supplies for the civilian population have been completely...large scale strategic movement of German troops by rail is practically impossible at the present time and must remain so while attacks are maintained at their present intensity".[20]

## Notes

1. Darlow 2004, p. 56.

1. Hall 1998, p. 224.

1. Buckley 1998, p. 150.

1. Mets 1997, pp. 200-201.

1. Darlow 2004, p. 52.

1. Gooderson 2005, pp. 126-127.

1. Buckley 1998, p. 150.

1. Darlow 2004, p. 55.

1. Darlow 2004, p. 56.

1. Campaign Diary March 1944, Bomber Command 60th Anniversary website

1. Campaign Diary March 1944, Bomber Command 60th Anniversary website

1. de Jong 2012, p. 433.

1. G.R. Anderson (préface de Francis Ampe et d'André Mollard), *Bombing Chambéry : les aviateurs américains racontent le bombardement de Chambéry le 26 mai 1944*, Chambéry : Chambéry action, 1983, 37 pages.

1. Philippe Castellano, *Liberator, Epopées tragiques dans les Alpes-Maritimes*, publié à compte d'auteur, 1994 ISBN 2-9508755-0-5.

1. [Jean-Claude Valla](/source/Jean-Claude_Valla), *La France sous les bombes américaines : 1942-1945*, Librairie Nationale, 2001 ISBN 2-911202-44-9.

1. Max Lagarrigue, [« Comment les Français vivent-ils les bombardements alliés ? »](http://www.arkheia-revue.org/Les-bombardements-allies-comment.html), *99 questions… La France sous l'Occupation*, Montpellier, CNDP, 2007.

1. Jean-Louis Panicacci, *Les lieux de mémoire - De la Seconde Guerre mondiale dans les Alpes-Maritimes*, Éditions Serre, 1997 ISBN 2-86410-272-2.

1. Jean-Louis Panicacci, *En territoire occupé - Italiens et Allemands à Nice 1942-1944*, Éditions Vendémiaire, Paris, 2012.

1. Marc Swanson, *Le bombardement de Saint-Étienne. Pourquoi ? 26 mai 1944*, Actes Graphiques, 2004 ISBN 2-910868-59-1.

1. Darlow 2004, p. 256

## References

- Buckley, John. *Air Power in the Age of Total War*. UCL Press. London. 1998. ISBN 1-85728-589-1.
- Darlow, Stephen. *D-Day Bombers, The Veteran's Story: RAF Bomber Command and the US Eighth Air Force Support to the Normandy Invasion, 1944*. Grub Street, London. 2004. ISBN 1-904010-79-2
- de Jong, Ivo. *Mission 376: Battle Over the Reich, May 28, 1944*. Stackpole Books. 2012
- Frankland, Noble (2006). The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany, 1939–1945, Volume III, Part 5: Victory. Naval and Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-349-0.
- Frankland, Noble (1961). The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany, 1939–1945, Volume II, Part 4: Endeavour. Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
- Gooderson, Ian. *Air Power at the Battlefront: Allied Close Air Support, 1943-1945*. Frank Cass 2005. ISBN 0-7146-4211-8
- Hall, Cargill (1998). *Case Studies In Strategic Bombardment*. Air Force History and Museums Program. ISBN 0-16-049781-7.
- Mets, David R. *Master of Airpower: General Carl A. Spaatz*. Presidio Press. 1997. ISBN 978-0-89141-639-5
- ["Campaign Diary"](http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/diary.html). *Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary*. UK Crown. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20050601062147/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/diary.html) 1 June 2005 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-03-22.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Transport Plan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Plan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Plan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.