VIII Bomber Command was the heavy bombardment arm of Eighth Air Force—which also came to include a large intelligence, photo interpretation, and mission planning staff in the early days of the strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany and Nazi-controlled Occupied Europe. Its primary mission was to attack and destroy strategic targets to cripple the Nazi industrial base in Northern Europe which supported their armed forces. With the advent of the invasion of Fortress Europe, a controversy developed between continuing that effort, or switching to bombing transportation networks leading into western France from the German frontier.
The command was inactivated and its units redesignated as Eighth Air Force as a result of a reorganization of the Army Air Forces in the European and Mediterranean theaters. Its subsequent unit became one of the initial two Numbered Air Forces of Strategic Air Command in 1946, and in 1992 became a major component of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command.
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