According to the Luftwaffe's wartime log records, more than 300 fighters of various types were concentrated on the day against the bombers that bombed the schweinfurt invasion.
At 2.26 p.m., 2nd Detachment of the First Wing
Troops flew over the Aachen area. Suddenly, enemy planes painted with iron crosses approached in an instant, and the bomber group began to taste the endless strike methods of the Luftwaffe. Under the repeated attacks of fighter jets and ground anti-aircraft artillery groups, a total of 12 B-17s were shot down by the Luftwaffe during this time. Task Force 1 also had B-17 shot down before reaching the bearing center.
At 2:55 p.m., Task Force 1 completed the bombing of the target at the Schweinfurt bearing plant. At 3:08 a.m., Task Force 2 began to drop bombs and the bombardment was over, so the whole team turned north and assembled at the meeting point, which was 9 minutes away from Schweinfurt, ready to return from there. After the crash of 3 B-17s, the bomber forces finally met.
At 3:15 p.m. and 3:25 p.m., two contingents set out on their way from the rendezvous point. By this time, the B-17 machine gunners had lost all morale and had run out of ammunition. The German pilots launched another aerial hunt, and before flying to Antwerp, 7 more B-17s suffered misfortune.
Finally, the Dutch coastline was in sight, and the long-lost fighters of their own side finally joined the escort column. The exhausted bomber pilot was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
During operations on 17 August, 1st Bomber Wing B-17 was shot down by German fighters 33, 1 by anti-aircraft artillery, and 2 by sea, with a total loss of 36. Together with the 24 lost by the 4th Bomber Wing, the first attack on the German Bearing Center and the Aircraft Factory suffered a staggering 60 B-17 losses, and of the total 363 B-17s of the 8th Air Force, the loss rate reached a frightening 16%, corresponding to the fact that more than 370 pilots were killed or missing.
And a week later, something even more tragic happened. Unfortunately, the 4th Wing was not hit by storms or enemy aircraft on its way back to Europe from North Africa — 63 B-17s were damaged or lost contact. That is to say, in the air raid on Regensburg, the bomber unit, in the case of 24 killed on the same day, actually more than twice as many aircraft "evaporated" when they returned from non-combat. A total of 123 were lost. For the 8th Air Force, it was indeed an "unprecedented catastrophe".
The results announced by the Allies were that the airstrikes had the desired effect, with an estimated over 400 bombs dropped on the factory area, and the factory suffered heavy losses. The Allies acknowledged that the bombers were "badly damaged" and "extremely painful." Military documents claim that the Allies reported shooting down 228 German fighter jets.
Unfortunately, the above is exaggerated. In fact, production resumed after a few weeks of production at the raided plant in Schweinfurt, and as for the fighters, the Luftwaffe's documented actual losses that day were 25.
Despite the heavy losses, the 8th Air Force did not stop bombing German industry. On 6 September, the ball bearing plant in Stuttgart was hit hard. In this bombing, 45 of the 400 bombers involved in the war were shot down.
On the Allied side, plans for a second attack on Schweinfurt were quickly completed. Scheduled for Thursday, October 14, the 360 B-17s of the 1st and 3rd Aviation Bomber Divisions are scheduled to carry out the mission.
On 13 October, the 8th Air Force issued an order for the 14th B-17 attack on Schweinfurt.
On 14 October, with bad weather, 151 aircraft of the First Bombing Division and 143 B-17s of the 3rd Bombardment Division were successfully lifted off and assembled, but several of the 294 were forced to return to land for various reasons.
The 1st Bombarder Division flew over the North Sea at 12:20 p.m. and was attacked by German aircraft near the mouth of the Zurd River. At 1.30 p.m., the 1st Bombardment Division group approached Aachen, at which point the escort P-47 began to make a U-turn and return.
The established route of the B-17 fleet was to adjust its course here to a southeast-east, fly north of Frankfurt, then turn southeast over the River Main, and finally turn east-north at about 110 km northwest of Nuremberg, directly to Schweinfurt. During this long journey, the 1st Bombardment Division suffered a lot.
During the siege of hundreds of German fighter jets, the B-17 was hit continuously, which was "the gates of hell are all open", and before reaching Schweinfurt, 35 B-17s were shot down and 20 lost contact and were unaccounted for.
The 3rd Bombarders flew out of England slightly later than the 1st Division, which had relatively good luck until one was damaged and 14 were unaccounted for when they flew to Trier.
The number of troops that flew over Schweinfurt after 2 p.m. to drop bombs over Schweinfurt had been reduced from 294 at the time of departure to 224. The 1st Division completed the bombardment between 2:39 and 45. Immediately after, the 3rd Division arrived to drop the bombs.
After that, B-17 returned. The 10th Division suffered losses, while the 3rd Division was far more serious on the return voyage than it was on the attack, with 14 B-17s shot down.
At 5 p.m., the two bombers, after much hardship, finally managed to fly over the English Channel into Britain and return to their homes.
In the second air raid, Schweinfurt, 69 were shot down and 34 were missing for other reasons. The number of dead and missing pilots reached 600. This "battle of might" is the "Black Thursday" in the history of the U.S. Air Force. ”
Their bloodshed, the attack on Schweinfurt, was positive and beneficial. At the same time, the Americans made a decision: to stop unintended daytime bombing.