WWII is such a fascination for so many people because there are facets of it that you’d never really consider unless you are REALLY into the history of the conflict. The mechanical side of WWII is our favorite part around here and understanding how winning the war was as much about stopping the enemy from producing weapons as it was actually shooting the rival soldiers. Ball Bearings were an essential of every mechanized army both then and now. Without roller bearings you don’t have tanks, airplanes, big guns, etc. A tiny part of a massive machine, but one that has no other replacement in terms of effectiveness.
So yes, this film is about the how and why of Allied forces attacking ball bearing plants before going after more seemingly important places like aircraft, tank, and submarine building operations. Sure, you can knock out an airplane plant, but if the enemy is able to continue to make the parts to build the planes, he’ll be back at it in no time. Now, if you choke the parts off, he has nothing to work with and he’s stuck. That was the idea here.
Taking away roller bearings and ball bearings would have an incredibly wide ranging disruption across the entire war front for German production that’s why it was worth it to concentrate aircraft, people, and resources to knock them out. Ultimately this was a brilliant strategy that led to an accelerated destruction of German industry near the end of the war, bringing production of basically everything to a stop.
If you love mechanical history, you’ll love this.
Unfortunately the US attacks on Schweinfurt were only moderately successful and came at a high cost: https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0210schweinfurt/