: He posits that air and sea power destroyed over 50% of Axis military equipment during pre-production, production, and transit phases.
: Some historians, such as those on WW2Talk , argue that O'Brien underestimates the psychological and physical necessity of land armies to actually "kill the will" of the enemy and occupy territory. How the War was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied V...
In , Phillips Payson O'Brien presents a revisionist history that challenges the idea that massive land battles like Stalingrad or Kursk were the primary drivers of Allied victory. : He posits that air and sea power
: The book highlights that the vast majority of military production for all major belligerents—including Germany—was devoted to air and sea warfare rather than land forces. For instance, air and sea weapons accounted for at least two-thirds of German weapons production. : The book highlights that the vast majority
: He argues that land battles were relatively minor in terms of equipment losses and that the Red Army primarily engaged in a war of personnel, while the Anglo-Americans conducted the decisive high-tech material war. Phases of Attrition
O'Brien categorizes the destruction of Axis fighting power into three distinct phases: : Blocking or destroying raw materials. Production : Strategic bombing of manufacturing facilities.