Bombing the III. Reich.

Discussions on High Command, strategy and the Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) in general.
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Scorpio
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#16

Post by Scorpio » 01 Nov 2016, 03:07

Polar bear wrote:hello, Raúl ,
tigre wrote: 30-31 May 1942. RAF raid on Cologne.
I believe that the caption of the attached photo is wrong. This is a daylight picture (see colour of clouds) and down below there´s not a residential but a more rural area.

greetings, the pb
Indeed

"Handley Page Halifax during a day raid on the refinery Wanne-Eickel on 12th Oct. 44."
Above the airplane the colliery "Hannover" can be seen, below the district Eickel.

Greetings Andy
Si vis pacem para bellum

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tigre
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#17

Post by tigre » 01 Nov 2016, 23:49

Thanks Pb and Andy for shedding light on that picture :wink:. Cheers. Raúl M 8-).


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tigre
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#18

Post by tigre » 25 Feb 2017, 18:40

Hello to all :D; a little more..............................

The effects of bombing.

By early 1944 German cities had been subjected to violent bombing for more than eighteen months by British bombers and yet the war production was higher and the morale of the population showed no signs of giving up. But just a year later, the economy suffered a remarkable collapse and were about to be paralyzed for lack of supplies ........... According to a specialist in German economic history (Gregor Janssen) in this effect had to see the American precision bombing that destroyed the German supply system..............

Source: Facts of the SGM. Volume II. Editorial Cardón. 1977.

It was like this? Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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Formation of bombers B-17 "Flying fortress" in flight to the assigned target ....................
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Bombers B-24 Liberators in full task .......................................... ....
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Sheldrake
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Re: Bombing the III Reich.

#19

Post by Sheldrake » 25 Feb 2017, 19:30

tigre wrote:Hello to all :D; more follows..................

Aerial Campaign over Germany 1942-1945.

Key aerial raids.

April 17, 1942. RAF raid on Augsburg.

precision Daylight attack against the factory of MAN engines. Out of 12-Lancaster 7 were shot down. Several assembly sections were hit. This attack reinforced the confidence of the RAF in night attacks.

30-31 May 1942. RAF raid on Cologne.

Operation Millennium. Indiscriminate night bombing of the city center. Out of 1046 planes - 40 were shot down and 116 damaged. Nearly half the city destroyed. 474 people perished and 40,000 were left homeless.

August 17, 1942. 8th Air Force raid against Ruan.

Precision night attack against Sotteville railway station. The 12 B-17 returned unharmed. Minor damage.

Source: Hechos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Tomo II. Editorial Cardon. Buenos Aires. Junio 1977.

Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
How have you picked these?

This looks like a random selection of raids unrelated to Bomber Command strategy.

There was more than one 1000 bomber raid following Op Millennium with raids on Essen and Bremen.

Surely the raids on Lubeck and Rostock ought to be incluided. These pioneered the firestorms which devastated Hamburg and other cities. https://airminded.org/2012/04/25/saturd ... pril-1942/

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tigre
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#20

Post by tigre » 25 Feb 2017, 21:31

Hello to all :D; Thanks for joining Sheldrake, those statistics (from the Imperial War Museum) were inside an article by Noble Frankland - The RAF Bombings. I do not know if it was put by the author itself or those responsible for editing the publication ........................Anyway thank you very much for that interesting link :wink:. Cheers. Raúl M 8-).

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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#21

Post by thestor » 28 Feb 2017, 18:25

If I may also ask something, is it true that by the end of the war, technology had advanced enough to allow precision bombing during night raids?

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tigre
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#22

Post by tigre » 29 Oct 2017, 12:21

Hello thestor :D; a little tip...............................................

Precision Night Bombing.

Source: The Science of Bombing: Operational Research in RAF Bomber Command. Randall Thomas Wakelam.

Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#23

Post by tigre » 27 May 2018, 20:04

Hello to all :D; more: Aerial Campaign over Germany.
Source: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/ca ... B8EE33EC9B
Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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Germany cornered, the 15th US Air Force began operating from Foggia at the end of 1943
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#24

Post by Hiryu- » 28 May 2018, 22:35

Nice map Raúl!

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tigre
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#25

Post by tigre » 01 Aug 2018, 05:16

Hello to all :D; more Hiryu: Aerial Campaign over Germany.
Source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3072559/posts
Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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tigre
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#26

Post by tigre » 02 Nov 2018, 23:40

Hello to all :D; more:

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 8-).
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British Stirlings bombers flying in closed formation................
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#27

Post by tigre » 09 Nov 2018, 22:40

Hello to all :D; more: Aerial Campaign over Germany.
Source: https://www.gettyimages.es/fotos/ataque ... %20militar
Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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Allied Bombers Attacking Ludwigshaven Plant September 16, 1944...............
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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#28

Post by Typhoon_MkII » 23 Nov 2018, 14:42

Another reason why morale and production fell from 1944 onwards is related to other factors than bombing as well: the landings in France cut off the Germans' Spanish tungsten supply, the advance of the Red Army in the East threatened and finally captured capital deposits of aluminium, oil and other key strategic resources.
Plus, the Luftwaffe was getting weaker due to the loss of most of its aces, which led to less Allied planes being shot down, and more bombs on the cities.
Finally, regarding the morale of the population, even if by early 1944, the German propaganda machine could cultivate the idea of a counter-offensive and final victory, it was clear by the end of that very same year that Germany wouldn't hold on for another twelve months.

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Bombing the III Reich

#29

Post by EJss » 11 Jan 2019, 03:44

snuffy how did you sucessfully compete the bombing part of the mission goal if you only got it to 70 percent, did the display say 70 percent , as in there was 70 percent health left or did it say 30 percent as you say you did 70 percent damage , i got mine to display 20 percent once but did not complete the mission goal

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Re: Bombing the III. Reich.

#30

Post by tigre » 30 Mar 2019, 18:09

Hello to all :D; more: Aerial Campaign over Germany.

As early as 1928, British Air Marshal Hugh Trenchard developed the conceptual precursor of the subsequent Area Bombing Directive, the so-called Trenchard Doctrine, whose key message is that it is strategically convenient to bombard all enemy objectives, "effectively contributing to the destruction of enemy's means of attack and reduce their resolve to fight. " Due to the Trenchard Doctrine in the United Kingdom since the early 1930s, came in effect the development and construction of a fleet of heavy long-range bombers and the main weapon of the bombing war, the Elektron- Thermitstab (*). In October 1936, a production order was issued by the British Department of Defense for the production of 4.5 million electronic thermostat incendiary bombs, and at the beginning of the war more than 5 million units were already available.

On February 14, 1942, the British Air Ministry issued the Area Bombardment Directive, which authorized the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command, Arthur Harris, to deploy his forces "in an unlimited manner", mainly against the" moral of the enemy civilian population ".

The Area Bombing Directive was not only barbaric, but also violated at least Articles 23, 25 and 27 of the Hague Convention on Land War, thus constituting an order for a serious war crime.

(*) Incendiary bomb based on an alloy (Elektron) of aluminum and magnesium and Termite (pyrotechnic composition of aluminum and a metal oxide).

Source: https://verschwiegenegeschichtedrittesr ... lliierten/
Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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Loading of bombs launched in Europe by the allies...........

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