Blitz Week

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Blitz Week
Part of Strategic bombing campaign in Europe
Date July 24-26 & 28-30, 1943[1]:244-5
Location  Nazi Germany: Hamburg (25th), Hanover (26th), Kassel (28th, 30th), Kiel (25th, 29th), Oschersleben (28th), Warnemünde (25th, 29th)
 Norway: Herøya & Trondheim (24th)
Belligerents
 United States  Nazi Germany
Casualties and losses
100 aircraft
1000 KIA/WIA/MIA[1]:242

Blitz Week was a period of United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) aerial bombardment during the 1943 Combined Bomber Offensive of World War II. Air raids were conducted on six of seven days as part of Operation Gomorrah, against targets such as the chemical plant at Herøya, Norway, which produced nitrates for explosives;[1] and the AGO Flugzeugwerke AG plant[2]:IV-48,51 (an Operation Pointblank target) at Oschersleben, Germany that assembled Focke-Wulf 190s. The Kassel mission on July 28, 1943 was the first use of P-47 Thunderbolt auxiliary fuel tanks.[3]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Coffey, Thomas M. (1977). "Decision over Schweinfurt: The U.S. 8th Air Force Battle for Daylight Bombing". New York: David McKay Company: 242, 244–5, 265. 
  2. ^ Jablonski, Edward (1971). Airpower. 
    • Volume I: -----. Terror from the Sky. Airpower. ISBN 0-385-04524-7.  pages 1-168
    • Volume II: -----. Tragic Victories. Airpower. ISBN 1-933648-12-0.  pages 1-192
    • Volume III: -----. Outraged Skies. Airpower.  pages 1-136
    • Volume IV: -----. Wings of Fire. Airpower. ISBN 84-8483-406-9.  pages 1-218
  3. ^ Arnold, Henry H.—Foreword (June 1944) [Special Edition for AAF Organizations, from May 1944]. AAF: The Official Guide to the Army Air Forces. New York: Pocket Books. p. 334.