Strategic Bombing Survey (Europe)

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey was a board of experts assembled to produce an impartial assessment of the effects of Anglo-American strategic bombing of Nazi Germany during the European theatre of World War II. After publishing its report, the Survey then turned its attention to the efforts against Imperial Japan during the Pacific War, including a separate section on the recent use of the atomic bombs.

In total, the reports contained 208 volumes for Europe and another 108 for the Pacific, comprising thousands of pages. The reports' conclusions were generally favourable about the contributions of Allied strategic bombing towards victory, calling it "decisive".

Although most of the Survey's members were military, about one-third of the 1,000-member group were civilians. While the Board was not associated with any branch of the military, it was established by the U.S. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and chaired by a civilian, Franklin D'Olier.

The Survey was formed on 3 November 1944 by Secretary of War Henry Stimson in response to a directive by President Roosevelt. The headquarters was in Teddington, England. The sociologist, Charles Fritz was part of the survey team before going on to become a significant theorist in disaster research. The Survey was tasked with producing an impartial report on the effects of the bombing against Nazi Germany, in order to:

The Report, along with some 200 supporting documents, was released on 30 September 1945. The major conclusion of the report was that strategic bombing, particularly the destruction of the oil industry and truck manufacturing had greatly contributed to the success of the Allies in World War II. However, despite the overall contribution of the bombing, the survey concluded that the impact of strategic bombing could not be separated from the general collapse of Germany in 1945.

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