     On the morning of December 26th, Josephine Theil was awakened by the sound of bombs exploding nearby. She knew that the building she was in had no cellar, and was thus dangerous during a bombing. She therefore gathered her two small children into a baby carriage and went out in a desperate search for safety. There were precious few safe places in Wiltz. She went into the cellar under the post office, but it was a command center for a German unit, and she was told to leave. She pleaded with the sergeant, asking to stay only until the bombing ended, but he was adamant.
     Out in the street, she started for a friend's house, for she knew it had a cellar. She had difficulty pushing the baby carriage across the cobblestones littered with debris. A friend ran up to her, yelling at her to get out of the street. But it was already too late; a jabo roared overhead and dropped a bomb nearby. A second jabo flew directly overhead, strafing with its machine guns. Germans soldiers all around her ran; some fell. Then she saw the third jabo, lining up its strafing pass, swooping down directly at her like some mighty bird of prey. She stood frozen with terror in the middle of the street and screamed. The children screamed. She siezed her friend's coat and waited to die.
     Nothing happened. The plane flashed over her without firing its guns. Perhaps the pilot saw the mother with her baby carriage. It banked and mowed down a group of German soldiers down the road. Josephine and her friend dashed into the cellar down the street.
/Air Interdiction
     The rear areas of an army aren't empty; they are alive with activity. Combat units shuttle from place to place. Command officers scurry about in staff cars. Couriers buzz back and forth with orders and reports. Supply vehicles plow forward, bringing gasoline, food, ammunition, medical supplies, fresh uniforms, and all manner of other military equipment. During quiet periods the rear areas might not see much activity, but during a great offensive such as the Battle of the Bulge, the roads teem with vehicles.
     All of which makes fat pickings for a fighter-bomber on the prowl. Front-line units have armored vehicles that are difficult to destroy. Front-line units have anti-aircraft guns that shoot back. Front-line units can afford to hide in the woods during the day. But rear-area troops are different. They travel in soft-skinned vehicles, easily shot up with machine-gun fire. Rear-area elements seldom have adequate anti-aircraft defense. And they can't afford to hole up during the day and travel at night.
     Hence, when the skies cleared on December 23rd, the jabos had a field day. The rear-area roads were packed with German vehicles of all kinds; there had been no time to disperse them into safe hiding places. For the next four days, Allied fighter-bombers brought the entire German supply system to a grinding halt.
     The effects were felt immediately all over the front. Fuel and ammunition stopped reaching the front-line units; as a result, attacks were delayed or cancelled. Reinforcements didn't arrive on time. The great German offensive sputtered to a halt, strangled by the jabos./