/8th Air Force
The 492nd began flying combat missions on 11 May 44. For many of the original crews, the following day's mission bombing the refinery in Zeitz was their first mission. According to some of the top German commanders, this mission marked the turning point of the war.
After the war, Herman Goering (top commander of the Luftwaffe) was asked when he thought the beginning of the end was for the Third Reich. Without hesitation he responded, "May 12, 1944." Of course, this date meant nothing to his American audience, as they were expecting a celebrated answer like D-Day, the Big Week, the invasion of Italy, etc. After a short pause he informed his confused audience, "That's the day you started bombing our refineries in Germany."
For those of you who have read Rick Centore's book, DEADLY DECISION, you already know that Albert Speer (another top Nazi) pretty much said the same thing in his journal writing, "Today the war has reached a new height." For those of you who haven't read the book, you can buy a copy through our webStore. It's good reading!
This Zeitz mission was the first of many which eventually cut Germany's fuel production by 95 percent. It took many things for the Allies to win the war, but history bears out that the bombing of these refineries did more than any other one thing. The Germans literally ran out of gas!
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“12 May 1944 - the turning point”
Reed Hammans wrote...
I'll add a couple other things regarding the effects of the fuel shortage.
A lack of fuel severely disrupted Luftwaffe pilot training. As 1944 went on, there was little fuel available for training, and new pilots were thrown into combat with as little as 90 hours flying time--not on type, but in total! Similarly, combat operations became curtailed, and often, the Luftwaffe, despite having planes and pilots, could mount a token defense at best, because there simply was no fuel.
Erik Mombeeck, in is book Storming the Bombers, tells of one of JG4's Gruppen being thrown into France shortly after D-Day. They arrived at their first field, only to barely make it out the next morning ahead of advancing Allied troops. They arrived at another field and were strafed immediately by P-47's. The survivors flew some distance to another airfield, where they were grounded for 6 days due to a lack of fuel. This was due partially to logistics and Allied air attacks, but also due to the fact that there had not been enough fuel to stockpile where it was needed.
During the Battle of the Bulge, a key German assumption/strategy, I believe, was to keep the panzers going by means of captured American fuel dumps. In one case, they drove right by one, missing it by a matter of a few miles. In the end, as Paul notes, they simply ran out of gas to continue the offensive, and were sitting ducks when the weather cleared and our air forces could take to the skies. With more fuel, the Bulge undoubtedly would have been much bigger.