BOMBING BY DAY AND NIGHT 173
Principal targets of Operation SteinbockOPERATION STEINBOCK
JANUARY 21–MAY 29, 1944
Hitler responded to the upsurge in Allied bombing
with a campaign of his own, Operation Steinbock.
This targeted London (leading it to be nicknamed
the “Baby Blitz”), and also strategic port cities.
The raids, which killed over 1,500 civilians, were
not a strategic success. Relatively little damage was
done to the Allied war effort, while the Luftwaffe
lost over 300 planes, weakening its strike force.6
OPERATION POINTBLANK
JUNE 14, 1943 ONWARD
The heavy losses suffered by the USAAF at the
hands of German fighter planes led to the launch
of Operation Pointblank, which prioritized the
targeting of German aircraft manufacture. It was
not entirely successful: the number of fighter
aircraft available to the Luftwaffe rose to a peak
in 1944. Only long-range fighter escorts tipped
the balance in the Americans’ favor.4
Aircraft industry target zonesRuhr Valley regionTHE BATTLE OF THE RUHR
MARCH 6–JULY 10, 1943
German industry and infrastructure were targeted
by the Allied planners, and no area was of greater
economic importance than the Ruhr Valley. In the
spring of 1943 it became the focus of a sustained
assault. The most spectacular of the attacks was
the RAF’s Dambuster raid of May 16–17, which
employed specially-designed “bouncing bombs”
to breach dams on the Ruhr’s tributaries.THE AREA BOMBING DIRECTIVE 3
FEBRUARY 1942 ONWARD
The British area bombing directive, issued by
the Air Ministry in February 1942, instructed
RAF Bomber Command “to focus attacks on
the morale of the enemy civil population and in
particular the industrial workers.” This total war
approach was enthusiastically adopted by Arthur
“Bomber” Harris, appointed commander-in-chief
of Bomber Command the same month.1
Cities subjected to area bombingThousand-Bomber
raid targetsBaedeker raid
targetsTHE THOUSAND-BOMBER RAIDS
MARCH 28–JUNE 1942
The area bombing policy led to a series of
retaliations. The RAF’s destruction of Lübeck was
followed by Hitler’s “Baedeker raids” on historic
British cities. Escalating the attacks, the Allies
launched three “Thousand-Bomber” raids, the
worst of which hit Cologne on May 30–31, killing
469 people and leaving 45,000 homeless.2
Aug 17–18, 1943 The
V-weapons research
center is bombed.Mar 28–29, 1942
Bomber Command
unleashes the first of
its area bombing raids
on Lübeck.Jul 22–29, 1943 Three
successive RAF raids
create a firestorm in
central Hamburg that
kills 37,000 civilians.Nov 10–11, 1943 RAF Bomber
Command launches the first major
raid on Berlin in an unsuccessful
attempt to destroy German morale.Oct 14, 1943 On “Black
Thursday,” USAAF loses
77 bombers in a raid
on Schweinfurt.Mar 30–31, 1944 RAF
Bomber Command’s raid on
Nuremberg is its costliest
of the war, with 106 planes lost.Aug 17, 1943 A flight of 376 USAAF
bombers strikes the Messerschmitt
plants in Regensburg, at a cost of over
60 of their own planes.THE BOMBING OF BERLIN AND THE
“BIG WEEK” RAIDS
NOVEMBER 1943–MARCH 1944
Under the direction of “Bomber” Harris, the RAF
continued its pounding of German cities. Over a
period of five months there were 16 major raids
on Berlin. Meanwhile, US operations also reached
a new pitch of intensity: in “Big Week,” February
20–25, 1944, American bombers flew more than
3,000 sorties against aero-industry targets,
dropping 11,000 tons (10,000 metric tons) of bombs.5
Berlin raids Big Week targetsBOMI
NGYMODMAAANGHT1 M7 GDOGDAANGElbeTha
mesRhineMoselleW
es
remE
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
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