A Lesson from WWII The Bombing of Berlin

In early 1942 a group of Texas petroleum geologists were invited to Washington an assigned a classified study- “How to Shut Down the Nazi Industrial War Machine.” Before their deaths, three Houstonians give me a first hand view of the mission- Mike Halbouty, Brian Ebby, and Ben Love.

Mike Halbouty and Brian Ebby basically said they prepared a simple report. The Nazi industrial war machine could be shut down in six months if we thoroughly bombed the synfuel facilities, oil fields, and pipelines. Then send in saboteurs to finish the job.

Our government disregarded the Report. The priority was to bomb Berlin. Hitler had a totalitarian government and the brain was in Berlin. Bomb Berlin and you destroy the brain. The US Army Air Corps sent mission after mission, many day light runs, to bomb Berlin.

Frankly, we bombed the hell out of Berlin.

By chance Ben Love, another Houstonian, heard the conversation. His reaction was, “how true since his first bombing mission as an Army Air Corps officer was later in the war to bomb a synfuel facility!!

The results of our bombing were puzzling. The more we bombed Berlin, the more the Nazi industrial production increased. Why??

We were in effect removing the top layer of Nazi bureaucracy and that resulted in Nazi industrial production increasing.

After the War, we learned that the Nazis were astounded that we did not bomb the synfuel facilities, oil fields, and pipelines in the beginning for the War. We waited until later in the War. Allegedly later in the War the Germans broke our Army Air Corps code so when we bombed the oil fields, synfuel facilities, and pipelines, our losses were terrible.

After bombing the synfuel facilities, oil fields, and pipelines the Nazi did not have sufficient fuel for the Eastern Front battles, the Western Front Battle of the Bulge, and jet planes.

There are two lessons from this WWII experience. First, Washington in 1942 had little understanding of the importance of our domestic oil and natural gas industry. Today Washington still does not understand the importance of our vital domestic oil industry. It is over regulated, over taxed, and over litigated. Second, the more a nation reduces government regulation on an industry, the more productive it becomes. The paradox of Berlin was the more we decreased the central government control, the more productive was the Nazi war machine. The way to destroy and limit a vital industry is to smother it with a massive central government to over regulate, litigate, and tax.