Schweinfurt attack
BUMP for later reading...
I was stationed there in the late 70s at ledward and we were missing more than a few buildings as a result of the bombing during the war.The base was a german officers billets in WW i i as Lawrence Welk used to call it.Most of the town had been rebuilt as we bombed it (with the british at night) more than a few times.We also lost a lot of men on those Ball missions.Regansburg was another.
Ping—in case you missed this-—there’s an Eaker involved in the story......
Great reporting, heavy losses, interesting story.
B-17s and B-24s bombing industrial plant deep inside Germany. American crews had a 1 out of 5 chance of returning.
Having nothing to do with Schweinfurt other than being part of WW2, I thought I’d post a link to some incredible pix of Iwo Jima I stumbled onto the other day.
Didn’t the whole bottleneck theory largely turn out to be BS? That is, that what appear to be obvious bottlnecks tend to have very quick workarounds?
A long time ago I remember reading reports that the Germans threw every plane available at the attacking bombers and even Stuka’s were spotted but I don’t know that any of them were able to get high enough or into position for an attack run.
Its neat to drive in the area and see the same company still there .. Schwienfurt is a nice city.. Best italian food in germany.. Little old Italian lady... Don’t remember the name but would remember the food for my whole life.
Thanks for posting. My uncle flew B17s in the war, but never once did he talk about it. I’ve always been curious about his role, but it’s too late now to ask.
targeting German cities in support of a national policy of “dehousing” German citizens and workers. ...................... Look what we have to deal with today. Too bad we can’t go back to the old rules of engagement. Then again, why must all the people suffer like when they bombed Dresden to placate Stalin. I had relatives in Europe, both of their cities were bombed, just to destroy the homes. We and the Brits were the culprits as far as they are concerned.
Now they're blaming pigs for global warming?
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Footnote:
In Crossville Tennessee there is a massive bearing distribution center. The bearings from Schweinfurt are distributed all over the western hemisphere from the Crossville center.
I asked a young man there if he had ever seen “Twelve O’clock High” and the story of the bombing of Schweinfurt. He had not and was amazed that he was a major player in the distribution of bearings that had such a high destruction priority 50 years ago.