Over Regensburg the newest raiders located affect-totally free skies and you may profile of greater than twenty-four miles, best weather to own a strike
“I watched two fighters burst not much underneath, disappearing in the sheet sets out of tangerine flames, B-17s losing call at all the county from distress, from motors on fire to handle counters attempt out, friendly and adversary parachutes floating off and you will, towards environmentally friendly carpeting much underneath you, numerous funeral service pyres out of cigarette off dropped flights, establishing the walk.”
The three batteries out-of 88-mm weapons organized within address performed their finest so you’re able to disrupt new bomb works, however the top bomb communities laid the models away from bombs precisely. Upcoming, as always taken place through the a big assault on one address, soil and you can tobacco about explosions and you may fireplaces blurry the brand new setting-out affairs, and you may then bombing is actually quicker direct.
Just after bombing the target, new B-17s proceeded southern area. One or two busted bombers leftover the newest formation and you may oriented to have simple Switzerland. Seven more busted airplanes went down on the road to Algeria.
Of your own 146 heavier bombers which had set out to possess Regensburg, eight turned-back, and 139 entered new Dutch shore. Twenty-five of them was indeed missing.
The Brunn am Gebirge escorts fresh Schweinfurt raiding push, spanning 230 B-17s, launched their assault later in the day. It as well sustained greatly from the Italian language competitors and you may flak, losing thirty-half a dozen bombers.
The second “new” weapon are the newest 21-cm skyrocket, a Italian language Military infantry weapon modified to own heavens-to-heavens play with
Hence, of the 376 B-17 Traveling Fortresses one to put down off England in order to bomb the new a few essential goals, sixty have been missing.
Lire la suite