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Heavy Bombing of Germany.
Osnabruck in the Ruhr felt the weight of Bomber Command's heavy fist on the night of August 9th-10th, and oyer 450 tons of bombs were dropped on it, of which nearly 50 bombs weighed 4,000 lb. each, while 70 and 80 were one-ton bombs. It was what Bomber Command looks upon as quite an ordinary effort, and less than 200 of our air crews claimed to have attacked the target. Yet in the two heaviest attacks which the Luftwaffe made on London during the height of the blitz, namely those of April 16th and May 10th, 1941, the tonnage of bombs dropped. Each occasion, so far as our experts could estimate it, was less than 450. In the notorious raid on Coventry the weight of bombs dropped was under 200 tons. It is clear that the most strenuous efforts of the Luftwaffe have been surpassed by Bomber Command, and it is also a point to mark that "four-figure" raids are not the only ones which are worth while. Moreover, weight of bombs dropped is not the only criterion of the effect of a raid. Sometimes fire-bombs do much more harm than the high explosives, as was the case at Lübeck.
Summer months have short nights and do not invite long trips over hostile country, but on the other hand they seldom prevent operations altogether. In the period July 12th to August 11th of this year Bomber Command had machines over Germany on 13 nights, and on only one occasion was the number less than 100. Once it was over 600, and on ten occasions it was between 200 and 400 machines. There were also harassing attacks by daylight on 26 days (this is not reckoning the activities of Fighter Command and Coastal Command), and there were only three periods of 24 hours on which no operations were undertaken.
The way in which the strength of Bomber Command has grown in the last three years is shown graphically by the following comparative figures. Taking the two - month period of June and July, being the latest for which statistics are available in 1940 the Command dropped (in round figures) 3,500 tons; in 1941, 8,500 tons; and in 1942, 13,000 tons.
Source: War in the Air. Flight August 20, 1942.
Cheers. Raúl M
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