What Were The Big Balloons Used For In WW2?

It may be hard to fathom in today's high-tech world, but many nations used gas-filled balloons during both World Wars as active and passive defenses to keep enemy aircraft away from a target. We're not talking about dirigibles like the German Luftschiff Zeppelin 1 or blimps, though. What we're talking about here are massive barrage balloons that look like miniature zeppelins but have no power or crew staffing them.

At 66 feet long and 30 feet high, these "dumb" hydrogen-filled barrage balloons (sometimes holding as much as 20,000 cubic feet of gas) were floated thousands of feet into the sky and anchored to the ground with thick steel cables. The idea was that these balloons would force enemy aircraft to fly above them during an attack, where they became targets for large-caliber anti-aircraft guns; if not, they risked snagging a steel cable that would likely crash the plane.

By 1940, the Royal Air Force Balloon Command had 1,400 of these barrage balloons in its fleet, with a third flying directly above London. Meanwhile, France used them to ward off aerial attacks on vital strategic sites like railroads and aqueducts. Unfortunately, the barrage balloons deployed above London weren't of much assistance; of the 100 aircraft reported downed by the balloons, around 75 were Allied planes. What's more, falling debris and the explosive hydrogen gas from felled balloons killed several children and firefighters. However, they were highly effective overall, especially against Germany's V-1 flying bomb, taking down 278 during the war.

The U.S. military didn't even look into the effectiveness of barrage balloons until 1923, and because of an inter-agency argument between the Army Air Service and the Coast Artillery Corps, almost no development happened until March 1941, when they were finally forced to work together. Not long after, the first (and only) barrage balloon battalion base — Camp Tyson — was built near Paris, Tennessee. It would eventually turn out over thirty barrage balloon battalions, including four that consisted of all African American recruits (the 318th, 319th, 320th, and 321st), each with 1,100 men and over 50 balloons.

After Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, the Chief of the Coast Artillery General, Joseph A. Green, ordered three barrage balloon battalions be sent to the West Coast to protect sites vital to the war effort, including the Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington, and Boeing's aircraft plant in Seattle, Washington. On D-Day, over 600 men from the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion were divided into teams of four to five and placed on over 100 ships and the Higgins boats that helped the Allies win WWII.

Their mission was to move the pre-inflated barrage balloons from the ships to the shore as fast as possible; once floated, the balloons would protect landing forces from German air attacks. During the opening weeks of the invasion, the 320th launched dozens of balloons, both day and night. Although continually shot down, the 320th always floated new ones and took down at least one German plane.