Schweinfurt–Regensburg Mission
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The Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission was a strategic bombing mission during World War II carried out by
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...
heavy bombers of the
US Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
on August 17, 1943. The mission was an ambitious plan to cripple the
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aircraft industry; it was also known as the "double-strike mission" because it entailed two large forces of bombers attacking separate targets in order to disperse fighter reaction by the
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
. It was also the first American shuttle mission, in which all or part of a mission landed at a different field and later bombed another target before returning to its base. After being postponed several times by unfavorable weather, the operation, known within the Eighth Air Force as "Mission No. 84", was flown on the anniversary of the first daylight raid by the Eighth Air Force. Mission No. 84 was a strike by 376 bombers of 16 bomb groups against German
heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...
well beyond the range of escorting fighters. The mission inflicted heavy damage on the Regensburg target, but at catastrophic loss to the force, with 60 bombers lost and many more damaged beyond economical repair. As a result, the Eighth Air Force was unable to follow up immediately with a second attack that might have seriously crippled German industry. When
Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a town#Germany, city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding Schweinfurt (district), district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultur ...
was attacked again two months later, the lack of long-range fighter escort had still not been addressed and losses were even higher. As a consequence, deep penetration strategic bombing was curtailed for five months.


Background

Because of diversions of groups to the invasion of North Africa, the bomber force in England had been limited in size to four groups of
B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...
s and two of
B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...
s until May 1943. At that time, and in conjunction with the
Pointblank Directive The Pointblank directive authorised the initiation of Operation Pointblank, the code name for the part of the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive intended to cripple or destroy the German aircraft fighter strength, thus drawing it away from frontli ...
to destroy the Luftwaffe in preparation for
Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...
, the B-17 force had expanded fourfold and was organized into the 1st and 3rd Bombardment Wings, which due to their large size were soon re-designated Bomb Divisions. The 1st Bombardment Wing, which included all of the original B-17 groups, was based in the
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while the 3rd Bombardment Wing stations were located in
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. Pointblank operations in April and July 1943 had concentrated solely on the production of the Fw 190 at factories in
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,
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, and
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, and although serious losses to the bomber forces had occurred, the attacks had been successful enough to warrant attacking those manufacturing
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...
s. The production of
Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the Bf 109 formed the backbone of the ...
s (and almost half of all German fighters) was located in
Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...
and in
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, Austria. To attack these in sufficient force, "Operation Juggler" was conceived, in which the fighter production plants in Wiener Neustadt were targeted for attack by
B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...
s of the
Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint D ...
based in
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, and Regensburg by B-17s of the
Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces S ...
. The original mission date of August 7 could not be met because of bad weather, and the B-24s flew Operation Juggler on August 13 without participation by the Eighth Air Force, which was still hampered by unacceptable weather conditions.


The mission plan

To successfully complete its portion of the attack, the Eighth Air Force decided to attack a target in central Germany as well as Regensburg to divide and confuse German air defenses. The 3rd Bombardment Wing, using B-17s equipped with " Tokyo (fuel) tanks" for longer range, would attack the
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...
plants in Regensburg and then fly on to bases in
Bône Annaba (), formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse River and is in the Annaba Province. With a population of about 263,65 ...
, Berteaux and Telergma (
French Algeria French Algeria ( until 1839, then afterwards; unofficially ; ), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of History of Algeria, Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France. French rule lasted until ...
). The 1st Bombardment Wing, following it, would turn northeast and bomb the ball-bearing factories of Schweinfurt, where almost the entire production of bearings was centralized, and by doing so catch German fighter aircraft on the ground re-arming and refueling. Because of limited range thanks to inexplicably not employing
drop tank In aviation, a drop tank (external tank, wing tank or belly tank) is used to describe auxiliary fuel tanks externally carried by aircraft. A drop tank is expendable and often capable of being jettisoned. External tanks are commonplace on modern ...
s, escorting
P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...
fighters would be able to protect the bombers only as far as
Eupen Eupen (, , ; ; ; former ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian Liège Province, province of Liège, from the Germany, German border (Aachen ...
, Belgium, which was roughly an hour's flying time from both of the targets. Two supporting attacks were also made a part of the overall mission plan. The first, a diversionary attack, involved the bombing of three locations along the French and Dutch coast: the German airfields at Bryas-Sud and Marck by American
B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in t ...
and
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
Mitchell medium bombers, and the
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at
Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...
by other Mitchells, all timed to coincide with the Regensburg strike. The second was a series of attacks on Luftwaffe fighter fields at Poix, Lille-Vendeville, and
Woensdrecht Woensdrecht () is a municipality (named after the village) in the southern Netherlands. Woensdrecht is the home of the Woensdrecht Air Base, which is located to the north-east of the village of Woensdrecht and to the north-west of Huijbergen. ...
by
Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor aircraft, interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems we ...
s of the RAF simultaneous with the diversionary attack, and Poix by two groups of B-26s in the afternoon as the Schweinfurt force was returning. Donald Miller states: "LeMay's force was expected to take the brunt of the German counteroffensive, allowing the Schweinfurt armada to proceed to the target with only light resistance. With LeMay escaping over the Alps, the Schweinfurt force would be left to face the full fury of the Luftwaffe on its return to England. The plan was brutally simple: LeMay would fight his way in and Williams would fight his way out."


Weather delays

Eighth Air Force bomber operations were calculated with one to two hours of climb and assembly into formations factored into mission lengths. In addition, the mission length for the Regensburg force was anticipated to be of eleven hours' duration, so that commanders had only a 90-minute "window" in which to launch the mission and still allow the 3rd Bombardment Wing B-17s to reach North Africa in daylight. Mission 84 planning indicated a takeoff window from dawn, approximately 06:30 British Double Summer Time, to approximately 08:00 without cancelling the mission. At dawn of August 17, after airmen had gone to their airplanes, England was covered in fog. The mission takeoff was delayed until 08:00, when the fog had cleared sufficiently over East Anglia to allow the 4th Bombardment Wing to take off using instruments, a technique they had practiced. Although attacking both targets simultaneously was deemed critical to success of the mission without prohibitive loss, the Regensburg force was ordered to take off, even though the 1st Bombardment Wing remained grounded at its bases by the adverse weather. By the time the fog had sufficiently cleared over the Midlands, the Regensburg force had already reached the coast of the Netherlands, which indicated that reacting German fighters would have sufficient time to land, replenish, and attack the second task force. Consequently, the launch of the Schweinfurt force was further delayed to allow US escort fighters sufficient time to return to base to rearm for a second escort mission. In all the 1st Wing was delayed more than three hours behind the 3rd Wing.


Raids


Regensburg strike force

The Regensburg task force was led by the 3rd Bombardment Wing commander,
Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Curtis E. LeMay Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was a US Air Force general who was a key American military commander during the Cold War. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, from 1961 to 1965. LeMay joined t ...
. This mission would make LeMay's name as a combat leader. The task force consisted of seven B-17 groups totaling 146 aircraft, each group but one flying in a 21-aircraft
combat box The combat box was a tactical formation used by heavy (strategic) bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. The combat box was also referred to as a "staggered formation". Its defensive purpose was in massing the firepower of the b ...
tactical formation In military operation , military-style operations, a tactical formation (or tactical order) is the arrangement or deployment of movable military or policing forces such as Infantry tactics, infantry, cavalry tactics, cavalry, armoured fighting ...
. The groups were organized into three larger formations termed "provisional combat
wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...
." Three groups in a
Vee formation The Vic formation is a formation devised for military aircraft and first used during the First World War. It has three or sometimes more aircraft fly in close formation with the leader at the apex and the rest of the flight ''en echelon'' to t ...
wing box led the procession, followed by two wing boxes of two groups each in
echelon formation An echelon formation () is a (usually military) formation in which its units are arranged diagonally. Each unit is stationed behind and to the right (a "right echelon"), or behind and to the left ("left echelon"), of the unit ahead. The name of ...
, with one group leading and the second trailing at a lower altitude. The groups flying at lower altitudes included the 388th, 100th, 381st and 303rd. Approximately fifteen minutes after it crossed the coast at 10:00, the Regensburg force encountered the first German fighter interception, which continued with growing intensity nearly all the way to the target area. Several factors weighed against the Regensburg force in this air battle. The arrangement of two groups instead of three in the two following provisional wings meant a third fewer guns available to each for their mutual defense and made them more likely targets. The overall length of the task force was too great for effective fighter support. The last wing formation of bombers was fifteen miles behind the first and nearly out of visual range. Of the two groups of P-47s (87 aircraft) tasked to escort the force to the German border, only one arrived at the rendezvous point on time, covering only the lead wing, and the second arrived fifteen minutes late. Both P-47 groups were forced to turn back to base after only fifteen minutes of escort duty, without engaging any German interceptors. The last provisional wing in the task force was left without any fighter protection at all. After ninety minutes of combat the German fighter force broke off the engagement, low on fuel and ammunition. By then at least 15 bombers had been shot down or fatally damaged, 13 from the trailing formation.
anti-aircraft fire Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...
("
flak Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...
") was light over Regensburg and visibility clear, and of the remaining 131 bombers, 126 dropped 298.75 tons of bombs on the fighter aircraft factories with a high degree of accuracy at 11:43 British time. The Regensburg force then turned south to cross the
Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...
, confronted by only a few twin-engined fighters, soon forced to disengage by lack of range. The German force had not been prepared for this contingency, but they were in the process of re-arming to meet the Schweinfurt force, then forming over
East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...
. Two damaged B-17s turned away from the Regensburg task force and landed in
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Switzerland, where their crews were
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and the bombers confiscated. Colonel LeMay ordered the formation to perform two 10-minute turns over Switzerland, allowing damaged aircraft to rejoin the formation before flying to North Africa. Another crash-landed in Italy and five more were forced down by lack of fuel into the Mediterranean Sea. In all 24 bombers were lost. More than 60 of the 122 surviving aircraft landing in
Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
had suffered battle damage.


Schweinfurt strike force

The 1st Bombardment Wing, commanded by Brigadier General
Robert B. Williams Robert, Rob, Robbie, Bob or Bobby Williams may refer to: Architecture * Robert Edmund Williams (1874–1960), Canadian-American architect * Robert Williams (architect) (1848–1918), Welsh architect and social campaigner Arts Film * ...
, was made up of nine B-17 groups. Previously, because of this large number of groups, "provisional combat bomb wings" had been formed in April to control the groups tactically during large missions. To achieve a "maximum effort" against Schweinfurt, the 1st Bomb Wing, with sufficient aircraft and crews to employ four wing-sized boxes, formed provisional groups as well as wings, accomplished by eight groups providing a squadron or spare aircraft to form the "composite groups" needed to form a fourth combat wing. The Schweinfurt force had 230 bombers, comprising 12 groups, divided into two task forces, each with two wings. Each wing was composed of a three group formation, and was more than twenty miles in length. Williams personally led the mission, flying as co-pilot in an aircraft of the lead formation, as wingman to the commander of the
91st Bomb Group The 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy) was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War. Classified as a USAAF bombardment group, heavy bombardment group, the 91st operated Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft ...
. The Schweinfurt task forces followed the same route as the Regensburg force. Because of the delayed start of the mission, eight squadrons of RAF
Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...
fighters (96 aircraft) from 11 Group and 83 Group had been added to escort the Schweinfurt force as far as
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, where P-47s would take over and escort it to Eupen. The field order for the mission specified that the B-17s would fly at altitudes between 23,000 and 26,500 feet (7,000–8,000 m), but approaching the coast of the Netherlands at 13:30, it was confronted with developing cloud masses not present earlier in the day. The commander of the first task force estimated that the bombers would not be able to climb over the clouds and elected to fly under them at 17,000 feet (5,000 m), increasing the vulnerability of the bombers to fighter attacks. The first German attacks began almost immediately and employed different tactics from the morning mission. The lead wing was attacked continuously in head-on attacks by both
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...
and
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the ...
fighters, and although the RAF escorts claimed eight victories they were forced to return to base early in the engagement. The two groups of P-47s (88 aircraft) arrived five and eight minutes late, and despite some individual combats, they too were forced to break off virtually as soon as they arrived. Inside German airspace, the Bf 109 G-6 fighters of 5 ''Staffel''/
JG 11 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 11 (JG 11) was a fighter wing () of the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Its primary role was the defense of Northern Germany against Allied day bomber raids. Formed in April 1943 as a split from ''Jagdgeschwader 1'', ...
, which had pioneered the fitment of the ''Werfer-Granate 21'' unguided air-to-air rocket weapon system to the Luftwaffe's single engine day fighter force the previous day, as well as the similarly armed rocket-launching twin-engined Bf 110 ''Zerstörer''
heavy fighter A heavy fighter is an historic category of fighter aircraft produced in the 1930s and 1940s, designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges than light fighter aircraft. To achieve performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engine ...
s, including
night fighter A night fighter (later known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor post-Second World War) is a largely historical term for a fighter aircraft, fighter or interceptor aircraft adapted or designed for effective use at night, during pe ...
s, joined the battle as more than 300 fighters from 24 bases opposed the raid. At 14:36 the force diverged from the morning's route at
Worms, Germany Worms (; ) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main. It had about 84,646 inhabitants . A pre-Roman foundation, Worms is one of the oldest cities in northern ...
, alerting the German defenders that the target was Schweinfurt. Losses among the 57 B-17s of the lead wing were so severe that many among its airmen considered the possibility that the wing might be annihilated before reaching the target. However, 15 miles from Schweinfurt, the opposing fighters, after shooting down 22 bombers, disengaged and landed to refuel and re-arm in order to attack the force on its way out. Five miles from Schweinfurt, German anti-aircraft guns began firing an effective flak barrage into the path of the bomber force. At 14:57 approximately 40 B-17s remained of the lead wing, when it dropped its bombs on the target area containing five factories and 30,000 workers, followed over a 24-minute span by the remainder of the force. Each wing found increasingly heavy smoke from preceding bomb explosions a hindrance to accuracy. 183 bombers dropped 424.3 tons of bombs, including 125 tons of
incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weaponry. Incendiarie ...
s. Three B-17s were shot down by flak over Schweinfurt. Fifteen minutes after leaving the target, each task force circled over the town of
Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 26,000 (2024).
to reassemble its formations, then continued west toward
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. At approximately 15:30, German fighters renewed their attacks, concentrating now on damaged bombers. Between 16:20 and 17:00 a covering force of 93 P-47s and 95 SpitfiresRAF Fighter Command squadrons participating were: No. 129 Squadron RAF, No. 222 Squadron RAF,
No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron No. 303 Squadron RAF, also known as the 303rd "Tadeusz Kościuszko Warsaw" Fighter Squadron, was one of two Polish squadrons that fought during the Battle of Britain along with No. 302 Squadron, of 16 total Polish squadrons during the Second ...
, No. 316 Polish Fighter Squadron, No. 331 (Norwegian) Squadron RAF, No. 332 (Norwegian) Squadron RAF, No. 403 Squadron RCAF, and No. 421 Squadron RCAF.
arrived to provide withdrawal support, claiming 21 fighters shot down. Eight more bombers were lost before the force reached the North Sea, where three more crash-landed. The Schweinfurt force lost a total of 36 bombers.


Aftermath

The Americans listed 55 of their bombers with 552 crewmen as missing after the August 17 double-target mission. About half of those became
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
of the Germans and 20 were interned in Switzerland. Sixty aircraft were lost over German-controlled territory, in Switzerland, or ditched at sea, with five crews rescued. Seven aircrew were killed aboard bombers returning to base having completed the mission, and twenty-one were wounded. The 60 aircraft lost on a single mission more than doubled the highest previous loss at that time. There were also 55 to 95 additional aircraft badly damaged. Of those damaged, many were stranded in North Africa and never repaired. Three
P-47 Thunderbolts The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...
of the 56th Fighter Group and two RAF Spitfires were shot down attempting to protect the Schweinfurt force. Spitfire pilots claimed 13 German fighters shot down and P-47 pilots claimed 19. Gunners on the bombers claimed 288 fighters shot down, but Luftwaffe records showed only 25 to 27 were lost. In Regensburg, all six main workshops of the Messerschmitt factory were destroyed or severely damaged, as were many supporting structures including the final assembly shop. In Schweinfurt, the destruction was less severe but still extensive. The two largest factories, ''Kugelfischer & Company'' and ''Vereinigte Kugellager Fabrik I'', suffered 80 direct hits. 35,000 m2 (380,000 square feet) of buildings in the five factories were destroyed, and more than 100,000 m2 (1,000,000 square feet) suffered fire damage. All the factories except ''Kugelfischer'' had extensive fire damage to machinery when incendiaries ignited the machine oil used in the manufacturing process.
Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...
reported an immediate 34 percent loss of production, but both the production shortfall and the actual loss of bearings were made up for by extensive surpluses found throughout Germany in the aftermath of the raid. The industry's infrastructure, while vulnerable to a sustained campaign, was not vulnerable to destruction by a single raid. Speer indicated that the two major flaws made by the USAAF in the August strike were first in dividing their force instead of all striking the ball-bearing plants, and second, failing to follow up the first strike with repeated attacks. 203 civilians were also killed in the strike. While the battle resulted in a German victory, the scale and range of the American operation, along with the British-led
Operation Hydra (1943) Operation Hydra was an attack by RAF Bomber Command on a German scientific research centre at Peenemünde on the night of 17/18 August 1943. Group Captain John Searby, commanding officer of No. 83 Squadron RAF, commanded the operation, the fir ...
in the same day, shocked the German air command; the stress contributed to the suicide of Luftwaffe Chief of Staff
Hans Jeschonnek Hans Jeschonnek (9 April 1899 – 18 August 1943) was a German military aviator in the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' during World War I, a general staff officer in the ''Reichswehr'' in the inter–war period and ''Generaloberst'' (Colonel-General) and a ...
the next day. The Schweinfurt mission in particular foretold the failure of deep penetration raids of Germany without adequate long-range escort. The 1st Bomb Wing was over German-occupied territory for three hours and thirty minutes, of which two hours and ten minutes, including all of the time spent over Germany itself, saw no fighter support whatsoever. When the second attack on Schweinfurt came on October 14, the loss of more than 20% of the attacking force (60 out of 291 B-17s) resulted in the suspension of deep raids for five months.


Legacy

* The mission was enshrined in fiction as the "Hambrucken raid" in Beirne Lay and
Sy Bartlett Sidney Bartlett (July 10, 1900 – May 29, 1978, born Sacha Baraniev) was a Ukrainian-American author and screenwriter and producer of Hollywood films. Early life Sy Bartlett was born Sacha Baraniev on July 10, 1900, in the Black Sea seaport o ...
's novel, ''
Twelve O'Clock High ''Twelve O'Clock High'' is a 1949 American war film directed by Henry King and based on the novel of the same name by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay Jr. It stars Gregory Peck as Brig. General Frank Savage. Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard ...
''. It provides a reasonably accurate view of the thinking behind the planners' intention and the decisions that led to the abandonment of the goal of launching a double strike in such a way that the second strike would meet no aerial opposition; and of the action in the air itself. * It is also cited as a failure of the
Bomber Mafia The Bomber Mafia were a close-knit group of American military men who believed that long-range heavy bomber aircraft in large numbers were able to win a war. The derogatory term "Bomber Mafia" was used before and after World War II by those in ...
's precision bombing doctrine, in the book by the same name by
Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is a Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published eight books. He is also the host of the podcast ''Revisionist ...
. * The Schweinfurt portion of the mission also formed the framework for the novel ''
The War Lover ''The War Lover'' is a 1962 British war film directed by Philip Leacock and written by Howard Koch, loosely based on the 1959 novel by John Hersey, altering the names of characters and events but retaining its basic framework. It stars Steve M ...
'', by
John Hersey John Richard Hersey (June 17, 1914 – March 24, 1993) was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to no ...
. * In the early 1990s, the raid was depicted for the first time in a video game, as a playable mission in ''
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe ''Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe'' is a World War II air-combat combat flight simulation game first released in August 1991 by Lucasfilm Games. It was the last of a trilogy of World War II titles by Lucasfilm Games, the others being '' Battle ...
''. * In February 2024, the raid was depicted in Episode 3 of ''
Masters of the Air ''Masters of the Air'' is a 2024 American war drama miniseries created by John Shiban and John Orloff for Apple TV+. It is based on the 2007 book of the same name by Donald L. Miller and follows the actions of the 100th Bomb Group, a Boeing ...
'' on Apple TV+.


Notes


Footnotes


Citations


Bibliography

* Bishop, Cliff T. (1986). ''Fortresses of the Big Triangle First'', * * * * * * * * * Overy, Richard. (1995) ''Why the Allies won''. W.W. Norton & Co.
"Combat Claims & Casualties", transcriptions of RAF and VIII Fighter Command summaries by Tony Woods
* * *


External links



, a detailed analysis of the concept and leaders by a World War II strategic bombing planner

– then-and-now photos of the bombing of Schweinfurt.

– a first hand account of the bombing raids over Schweinfurt by a member of the 8th Air Force. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission Aerial operations and battles of World War II Conflicts in 1943 1943 in Germany Messerschmitt Regensburg Rolling-element bearings 20th century in Bavaria Schweinfurt World War II strategic bombing conducted by the United States