Notable Point · 2:31:07-2:33:50

Britain dispersed production to survive bombing

Britain's smaller, distributed factories traded some mass-production efficiency for resilience against air attack.

Notes

Britain possessed a large industrial base but could not safely concentrate every process in enormous factories that offered obvious bomber targets. Production was dispersed so that components could be made across many sites, assembled quickly, and kept flowing after local damage. The United States could exploit very large factories beyond effective enemy bombing range, while Britain accepted the coordination costs of a more distributed network. Production figures have to be read alongside these different geographies and levels of risk.