Word: bremen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...world's press soon concluded that the R.A.F. was out to defeat Germany with bombs in 1942: Cologne, Essen, Bremen flamed under 1,000-plane raids and upwards of 1,000 tons of bombs. Harris had to tell Britons and Americans that such raids could not then be sustained: "That time will come. It may not be long delayed." The raids dropped in weight, but they were still tremendous, and more & more of the bombers were four-engined Halifaxes, Stirlings and the new Lancasters. The first Americans arrived in Britain, and Harris took the air to tell the Germans...
...with them never intended 1942 to be decisive; they intended it only to be a test. The measure of this test was the extent and nature of the German target-a scattered conglomeration of cities, varying from the industrial concentrations of the Ruhr to the ports of Hamburg and Bremen, the naval bases of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. The R.A.F. and the U.S. Air Forces have calculated the minimum damage necessary to bring a decision. This calculation is secret. Unofficially, the view of airmen is that one-third to one-half of Germany's industrial establishment must be destroyed...
Second Lieut. John B. Mulvana, bombardier of the Flying Fortress "Old Bill," dropped his bombs over Bremen, then started testing his machine guns. He fired a 20-round burst, watching the feeder mechanisms. A voice shouted over the interphone: "You got him! Why don't you call out those attacks!" Mulvana looked up just in time to see a Messerschmitt 109, which had popped out of a cloud and into the line of fire, falling away and coming apart...
American airmen in Britain are still talking about their last raid on Bremen (TIME, April 26). Then, as never before, they took it on the chin: 16 Flying Fortresses and 144 highly trained men . went down, other planes and crews were badly shot up. At one base, the night after the raid, an entire barracks was empty. The loss was serious, its effects were prolonged. Replacements had to be whipped into shape, squadrons and crews had to be broken up to scatter the experienced survivors among the newcomers. Until May 1, when new crews were trained, damaged planes repaired...
...Bremen losses testified to the strength of Germany's defensive fighter forces. One bomber pilot who got back said that most of the time he was under attack by seven enemy planes; he had seen other Fortresses surrounded by as many as 15 Nazi fighters. Sixty-three Germans were shot down; but that was not enough...