Project MATTERHORN

[Grey Havoc]

The more things change...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MATTERHORN is the codename for B-29 operations out of China against
strategic targets in Japan and Manchuria from June 1944 to January 1945. To date,
most historians have condemned MATTERHORN as a total failure that diverted critical
assets for little or no immediate military gain. However, this paper shows that
MATTERHORN was conducted almost exclusively for strategic and political purposes;
not for operational military gains. The strategic situation in the Pacific In early 1943
was characterized by a lack of unity of command that severely impacted strategic
planning and resulted in a "strategy of opportunism". Army Air Force planners were
intent on using the B-29 strictly as a strategic bomber and hoped it would prove air
power prophet's predictions that air power can be a decisive element of war.
President Roosevelt was determined to make China one of his "four policemen" that
would make his post war vision of a new intemational order a reality. These three
factors interacted to make a militarily poor course of action appear viable -- despite the
costs. MATTERHORN serves as a valuable learning tool for todays "military
statesmen" to remind them of the absolute necessity for unity of command, the political
nature of war, and the critical importance of logistics.

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a283234.pdf