Schweinfurt-Regensburg 1943. Eighth Air Force's costly "double
strike"
Michael III., Marshall/Laurier, Jim (Illustr.)
In 1943, the USAAF and RAF launched the Combined Bomber Offensive,
designed to systematically destroy the industries that the German
war machine relied on. At the top of the hit list were aircraft
factories and plants making ball-bearings - a component thought to
be a critical vulnerability. Schweinfurt in southern Germany was
home to much of the ball-bearing industry and, together with the
Messerschmitt factory in Regensburg, which built Bf 109 fighters,
it was targeted in a huge and innovative strike.
Precision required that the targets were hit in daylight, but the
raid was beyond the range of any existing escort fighter, so the
B-17s would go in unprotected. The solution was to hit the two
targets in a coordinated 'double-strike', with the Regensburg
strike hitting first, drawing off the defending Luftwaffe fighters,
and leaving the way clear for the Schweinfurt bombers. The
Regensburg force would carry on over the Alps to North Africa, the
first example of US 'shuttle bombing'.
Although the attack on Regensburg was successful, the damage to
Schweinfurt only temporarily stalled production, and the Eighth Air
Force had suffered heavy losses. It would take a sustained
campaign, not just a single raid, to cripple the Schweinfurt works.
However, when a follow-up raid was finally launched two months
later, the losses sustained were even greater. This title explains
how the USAAF launched its daylight bombing campaign in 1943, the
technology and tactics available for the Schweinfurt-Regensburg
missions, and how these costly failures forced a change of
tack.
Paperback, 96 Seiten, durchgängig bebildert mit zeitgenössischen
Fotos, Farbillustrationen von Kampfsituationen, Karten und 3D
Operationsdiagrammen, engl. Text
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