The Twelfth U.S. Air Force

This study analyzes the participation of the U.S. Twelfth Air Force in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations from 1943-1944. This is also a study of coalition and joint operations. Coalition and joint warfare provides numerous command, control and coordination problems that are not easily de-conflicted. The requirements of the coalition air campaign in the Mediterranean Theater provided significant challenges to the leadership of the U.S. Army Air Corps. Prewar Army Air Corps doctrine focused on strategic bombing and aerial interdiction. Airmen lacked a well thought out tactical support doctrine and had no doctrine for supporting amphibious operations. The mission of the Air Forces in the North African and Italian Campaigns was the wining of air superiority. The Twelfth Air Force had to adopt new tactics and operational techniques to support the Allied landings at Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio against the formidable German Luftwaffe.