Operation Frantic - Objectives

Objectives

The ability to hit distant German targets was not the only, or even the primary, American objective for Operation Frantic. The political and military leadership wanted also to 1) set a precedent and practical basis for later bombing of Japan from Siberia, after the USSR opened the second front in the Pacific; 2) provide a model for developing trust and cooperation between the two powers, deemed essential for winning the approaching peace and establishing amicable post-war relations; and 3) develop close cooperation and exchanges in ancillary domains, including telecommunications and meteorology, air reconnaissance and air transport networks.

After approval was given by Moscow in February 1944, a rapid buildup followed. Staff exchanges were made; the first "echelons" of American personnel began to arrive; and a U.S. delegation flew to Moscow in an operational B-17, which was used to demonstrate American bombing tactics to the Russians. A USAAF Eastern Command (General Alfred Kessler) was established at Poltava, operating in parallel with the new American Military Mission to Moscow (General John R. Deane).

When a high-level U.S. delegation led by United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) deputy chief of staff for operations, General Frederick Anderson (accompanied by Colonel Roosevelt), visited Moscow and the bases in May 1944, conditions were such that the go-ahead for actual operations could be given. At the same time, Anderson let his side know that the ultimate goal was the establishment of a numbered American air force in the USSR and a switch to Siberian operations. For diplomatic reasons, this could not be revealed to the Russians. As it was, the Americans had to make do with a much smaller presence in the Soviet Union than originally contemplated.

Frantic also tied in with other U.S. initiatives. At Teheran, General Henry Arnold (chief of the Air Forces) offered Stalin 300-400 B-24 bombers, but noted that they would require a large Soviet training program in the United States. Stalin did not take this offer; instead, American bombers making safety landings in Siberia were kept and copied by Soviet factories.

Britain did not share some of the U.S. objectives, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill believed the operation was not worthwhile. The Royal Air Force did not participate in Frantic.

Soviet objectives in agreeing to the operation cannot be determined with certainty. Unlike the Americans, the USSR had no doctrine or "theology" of victory through aerial bombardment, and had only a rudimentary long-range air force. Furthermore, when the survival of the USSR was in doubt, Marshal Stalin refused offers of air support, demanding instead maximum lend-lease deliveries. By the time Stalin finally agreed to activate the plan, in a meeting with U.S. ambassador W. Averell Harriman on 2 February 1944, Soviet victory was assured. Indications are that Stalin wished to obtain all possible information about superior American technology, and assigned officers with the stated objectives of learning as much as they could about U.S. equipment and concepts of operation. For example, the USSR demanded and obtained the secret Norden bombsight, and also obtained wide photographic coverage of Europe from American aircraft. However, this objective cut both ways, for the USAAF also learned of the extreme vulnerability of the USSR to air attack, and of the primitive technical and infrastructure conditions prevailing on the Soviet side.

Measured against its objectives, after brief euphoria Frantic developed into a costly and resounding failure that included one of the worst losses ever suffered by an American air force. Instead of cementing the alliance, it exposed its fundamental weaknesses and ended in great American bitterness. However, worthwhile operations against the Axis were carried out, and both sides learned much about the other.