172 TURNING THE TIDE 1943–1944
◁ Attacks on
infrastructure
Allied bombers attack
the German city of
Ludwigshafen on the
Rhine. The city was
the site of important
petrochemical plants
during World War II.“The bomber will always get through,” British politician Stanley
Baldwin had opined in 1932, and this view was still widely held at
the start of the war. Even though the Blitz’s failure to destroy British
morale contradicted this theory, the RAF looked to Bomber Command
to take the fight to German soil. The British initially targeted military
and industrial installations in nighttime raids, but these suffered
from a lack of accuracy, so in 1942 they turned to the less discriminate
“area bombing” that targeted industrial cities and their populations.
The US 8th Air Force units, which arrived in England in late
1942, favored a different strategy—precision bombing in daylight.
However, this approach proved costly, with many aircraft lost to
German fighters. In January 1943, the Allies agreed a joint policy
in Casablanca (see pp.162–163), which prioritized attacks on enemy
infrastructure. In the months that followed, the effectiveness of their
raids improved with the introduction of new aircraft (notably the
Avro Lancaster), better navigational aids, and the use of Pathfinder
units to help locate targets. By the turn of the year, the Allies had the
upper hand and the Luftwaffe had been forced onto the defensive.BOMBING BY
DAY AND NIGHT
From 1942 onward, the RAF sought to stage a Blitz in
reverse by pursuing the Strategic Bombing Offensive—
an aerial campaign designed to shatter enemy morale.
The arrival of the US 8th Air Force in England later that
year further increased the pressure on Germany.
△ Bomb damage in Nuremberg
This German map from 1945 shows the new damage (dark red and black)
to Nuremberg’s old town after a huge Allied air raid on January 2, 1945.
Bright red and blue areas show older damage from previous raids.THE WAR IN THE SKIES
After the failure of the Blitz, the Allies took the war
to the skies over Germany. The arrival of US bombers
from late 1942 tipped the balance in their favor, and
even the sophisticated German air defenses of the
Kammhuber Line could not stop the Allied attacks.KEYJAN 1942 JUL JAN 1943 JUL JAN 1944 JUL2
3
4
5
61TIMELINEAllied territoryAxis territory,
occupations, and
cobelligerentsKammhuber LinePrincipal areas of
German industryGerman night-fighter
basesGerman shipyardsMajor RAF
bomber basesTargets bombed
by RAFTargets bombed by RAF and USAAFMajor USAAF
bomber basesTargets bombed
by USAAFAug 17, 1942 USAAF flies its
first mission over occupied
Europe, targeting marshalling
yards at Rouen.TURN
IGHRUERDDDIG172 RAGEUGEDDIGElbeTha
mesRhineMoselleW
es
erEm
sFrisian^ IslandsStraitof^ Dover F R A N C E
BerlinStettinDanzigGdyniaAnklamPeenemündeRostockTutowWarnemündeLübeckDiepholzKielHamburgHarburgCuxhavenEmdenHalberstadt
Bernburg
AscherslebenBrunswickLeipzigGotha DresdenChemnitzNurembergFürthSchweinfurtHanoverBremenOsnabrückMünsterHammVegesackWilhelmshavenKasselVienna BratislavaRegensburgAugsburgUlmFreiburg im BreisgauFreidrichshafenStuttgartStrasbourgSaarbrückenWürzburgBrusselsKrefeldAntwerpReimsTrierAmiensBeauvaisPoixLilleCalais
St OmerDunkirkMunichFrankfurt-am-MainBonnDürenAachenCologneHagenBochum
SolingenEssenFlensburgDortmundRotterdamAmsterdamIJmuidenVlissingenDuisburgDüsseldorfGelsenkirchen
OberhausenWiesbaden
MainzMannheim-LudwigshafenDieppeAbbevilleRouen
CaenPortsmouth
BrightonDoverCanterburyNorwichColchesterWytonExningBushey Hall
Bushy ParkOld CattonYorkHullSheeldGranthamBrampton GrangeLondonAbingdonBristolMemburyKarlsruheLe HavreOxfordBathLeedsS W IT Z E R L A N DKoblenzPforzheimKaiserslauternGlessenPotsdamGREATER
GERMANY
SLOVAKIAK
IN
GD
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A
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DF O R M E R
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SLOVENIAO S
TM A R KB O H E M IAAN DMO R AV
IAN
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