The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R 11
manded combat planes.* Little wonder that General Arnold, faced
with the problem of parceling out inadequate resources, was able to
make available for antisubmarine operations only limited forces.
Early Antisubmarine Operations
Within the limits imposed by the general emergency, the opera-
tional record of those AAF units-principally of the I Bomber Com-
mand-which participated in the antisubmarine war was on the whole
very creditable. Life in the I Bomber Command moved a t a hectic
pace during the early months of war. The entire command had to be
reorganized. Having been relieved during December and January of
all but one of its bombardment groups (the 2d), it had in the first
two months of 1942 to assimilate two new bombardment groups (the
45th and the 13th) and two reconnaissance squadrons (the 3d and
92d).ls These units were for the most part as yet untrained even in
the normal techniques of bombardment, to say nothing of the special
tactics of antisubmarine warfare. Thus the command was faced with
the double problem of reorienting the training of its units and adapt-
ing all its equipment to meet the requirements of its enlarged mission.
Moreover, most of the new techniques had to be learned through
actual experience; and, owing to the urgent need for antisubmarine
patrols, the air units were forced to accomplish their training in the
course of operational missions.1g
Though even more understaffed than most organizations in those
days, I Bomber Command headquarters, under the command of Brig.
Gen. A.N. Krogstad, attacked these complex tasks with resourceful-
ness and vigor. On I 2 December, General Krogstad set up an advance
echelon at New York City to conduct tactical operations in conjunc-
tion with the NANCF, and this detachment was followed shortly by
the entire headquarters staff. On 24 January the system of joint de-
fense was extended by the establishment of a liaison office with the
Sixth Naval District at Charleston, South Carolina. The 66th Ob-
* As evidence of a continuing difficulty in reconciling the demand and the supply
of equipment, it may be further noted that the emergency call from the Middle East
in June was met by diversion of the Halverson detachment and the transfer of
virtually all heavy bombers from India, that the 43d Bombardment Group (H)
which had reached Australia in March did not receive its planes until September,
that the Eighth Air Force began operations with only one heavy bomber group, and
that the subsequent requirements of the North African operation served to keep the
combat strength of the Eighth in heavy bombers at no more than six groups until
May '943.
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