THE CASE OF THE TREMENDOUS TRIFLE

[Music] this is the tale of a tribal this is the story of one small part one of the thousands of unsung tribals that go into the making of our fighting weapons the bolts the screws the clips the springs all the gadgets behind the arms that throw their shadows over every great conference Rebecca Casablanca London Washington and Berlin this is the biography of one of those fragments the life and death of a small steel ball cooperating with our War Department is a group of experts scientists economists businessmen operatives it's their job to lay the groundwork for the bombing of the enemy's industrial targets they must learn all there is to know about the oil from Ploiesti and steal from the roar guns from Skoda and tanks from Essen radio electronics from mind oven and optics from llena submarines from Sanders air and robber from Hannover where to strike with the greatest cost of the enemy at the smallest cost to ourselves which of these targets shall we hit and when shall we hit them thanks guns yes they're on the program with repeat performances on the way what else where is his softest spot aircraft assembly plants good but these plants are widely scattered the destruction of what product or part of a product would do most to [ __ ] Nazi power what product is manufactured in the most concentrated plants what products large or small two-thirds of Germany's anti-friction bearing industry is concentrated in Schweinfurt are mined anti-friction bearings without which modern war with its demand for lightning speed cannot function anti-friction bearings roller bearings ball bearings nothing spectacular about the ball bearing it's not as deadly as a German 88 but the 88 couldn't do its job without it it's not as big as the mark 6 but the mark 6 couldn't hurl its mile-a-minute attacked without it bearings 4000 of them in a Dornier 2,000 of them in a fokker Borg won 9-0 a thousand of them in the controls alone of a Yonkers 88 bearings made with 120 thousandths of an inch tolerance so dependent on perfection that one faulty ball in a propeller shaft could cause this small insignificant balls of steel but essential to everything German or Japanese American or British Russian or Chinese that moves steers and aims and swims and fires and hit bearings in the machines that make the bearings bearings in the trains that carry the bearings bearings in the American bombers that must destroy the bearings that turn in Nazi weapons I attacked the Ruhr industry when the key to the whole industrial setup is this small part trained for not only makes bearings but makes the machines that make the bearings Schweinfurt must be so bombed that assembly lines all over germany will shut down and when they start up schweinfurt must be bombed again and now what is known about the target itself [Music] before the war German industrialists were proud of the catalogues they issued catalogues can be very useful when you're collecting certain kinds of information this bird's-eye view of the veronik Turku galaga fabric and works for instance or this glorified version of the Kugelfischer plant but catalogs stopped when the war broke out first hand up-to-date information is necessary now [Music] the files of the Department of Justice are available whenever it's necessary to locate a desired individual [Music] joy named Kirsten mr. Ludwig Tristan lewd we kissed no you're a hard man to find there's a fourth address of into I'm for the Department of Justice because Pinto just is nothing to worry about I believe you can help us if you can arrange to come to Washington Wilson mr. Carson how are you doing mr. Carson sit down please Thank You mr. Carson when were you in Germany last September 1941 uh-huh I escaped from a concentration camp in Baja Oh when we became 85 90 hours a week to hurt we try to form our old union again I say my friend they shut we listen to talk what was your job in Swanton foreman of the heat-treating department in the ball bearing music I say wait I got you some figures splendid not one word Sherman he speaks only English sure you're proud of that all sir here was the numbers of machines in my department it is a two-story brick building right next to the road oh yes you mean down here in this section is it that's right the manufacture of ball bearings requires 12 distinct specialized operations damage to one operation could bottleneck the entire production refugee Ludvig Kirsten fighting the new order is a valuable man from other sources to target information continues to grow in London for instance [Music] Briggs speaking this is kur would I believe we have a man you'll be interested in yes tomorrow morning at 9:00 at intelligence headquarters Colonel Walters oh thanks I'll be there cigarette little fella I prefer my honor you will once employed as a sales representative in Berlin is that right selling anti-friction bearings I believe I have no obligation to tell you anything quite right Lipton no intention of insisting but since we already know so many things about you not half as much as we know about you English including the latest statistics on our production of anti-friction bearings yes one of our new factories alone is turning out double the quantity of your most efficient factories at least 30,000 pieces a day I'll admit you have us beaten at certain things you're baring industries mehar's especially the new diesel power equipment that's trying huh isn't that so left them yes and that power plant as well concealed from your pedometer bombas no obligation to tell you anything when rather till we have no intention of insisting target information has been steadily growing yet certain known objectives must still be located every strategic bombing mission depends on photo intelligence information concerning the enemy based on the study of aerial photography without it an army is blind high over Schweinfurt combine one clear day flies a photo reconnaissance plane on a special mission [Music] at central interpretation section headquarters Air Force intelligence officers study every detail of the assembled photographs but several pieces in the complex jigsaw are missing here where the new factory was believed to be located appears to be a forest signs of camouflage gun installations here but no sign of a suspected airfield near Frankfurt you can't do precision bombing without knowing your objectives there are many ways of learning these things [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello Heinrich I was a crossing barely enough this time I have so many things to report you were in swine for eight days my friend tied me in his farm he walks to the powerhouse of the new factory his wife is in the inspected the plants working for day and night 30,000 bearings to turn out each day by the way did your brother come across with you this trip they found him three weeks ago it is a picture of Schweinfurt no yes he under river is the new factory camouflaged like a forest I'll show you this is the powerhouse anti-aircraft positions you find here here the foundation has been laid for the bombing of Stanford now maps must be prepared target overlays made bombers ready [Music] crews briefed on course altitude weather communications all the technical wisdom essential to pinpoint bombing finally on Tuesday August 17 1943 they were on their way the little steel balls that turn in a million Nazi weapons of war must be destroyed must be smashed before they are poor [Music] [Music] airline distance from home base 500 miles altitude 25,000 speed more than 250 [Music] objective sighted Bombay's steady now and arms away [Music] 414 tons of bombs dropped damaged extensive with direct hits on concealed power house and new buildings [Music] then October 14 [Music] [Music] five hundred seventy-three tons of bombs dropped [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] our losses 60 bombers 593 men men like these who knew they might never come back [Music] yes it was a stiff price nothing worthwhile can be bought without paying for it results well the Nazis didn't take close shots of schweinfurt for us but it looked like this from where our boys said one of the boys who came back said ball bearings are running all over Germany tonight general Arnold said Schweinfurt was the Fountainhead of a first priority German war industry we have cut down the enemy's tools of war before they could be forged and shoots fine furred ever be rebuilt we shall strike again has strategic bombing been worth the price [Music] is German war industry being curtailed here's one of the answers [Music] [Music] German machine guns and eighty-eights have dug into the hills behind the beaches with all the natural advantages of topography lots of American boys were killed kids from the South in the Middle West California doing [Music] [Music] then the tide began to turn blasted by thousands of tons of hell from Billy Mitchell's and Boston's the enemy gave way we began to advance held our games the Luftwaffe offered little fight where were the swarms of folk wolves wherever the measure Smith's may be they never reached the front lines maybe they never left Germany maybe they never came off the production line because their engines were never delivered maybe their engines were never delivered because the ball bearings were missing trucks were abandoned in the enemy's retreat and tanks maybe they lacked fuel maybe the enemy lacked the locomotives to transport the fuel maybe he lacked the ball bearings that go into the locomotives that carry the fuel that run the tanks the real battles are ahead new offensives will soon be struck on a scale undreamed-of in history consuming mountains of equipment and millions of men their ultimate destination the heart of an empire will they be successful remember the old nursery rhyme for what of a nail the shoe was lost for what of a shoe the horse was lost for one of a horse the rider was lost for one of a rider the battle was lost for one of a battle the kingdom was lost and all from the want of a horseshoe nail the small parts that are so vital to the enemy so vital to us give us the millions of horseshoe nails that can sweep us to victory the more than 12,000 separate parts that go into a p38 the 100 separate parts that go into an artillery shell whether your bench is 6 feet long or a mile whether your shift has eight men or 8,000 give us these parts these gadgets these little sub assemblies these trifles in the quantities that will speed the day when once more the skill of your hands will be turned to the arts of peace [Music]