The 100th Bomb Group is Wiped Out - Münster 1943

The 13 B17 Flying Fortresses of the H

100th

Bombardment Group begin their takeoff role at ARF Thorp Abbotts, third in line is Lieutenant Robert Rosenthal's B177, nicknamed Royal Flush Rosie Rosenthal is flying only her third mission as a member of the H

100th

Bombardment Group. Bombardment H hundredth, a unit that will earn the nickname of the damned H hundredth. He was just assigned to this down-on-his-luck unit as a replacement pilot after the attack on the reagents in August. BG Rosenthal is an idealist and later said that when I finally arrived in England I thought he was at the center of the conflict. world the place where the democracies were meeting to defeat the Nazis I was right where I wanted to be their plane takes to the sky the date is October 10,

1943

Rosie Rosenthal and her crew will survive the next mission to the German mo

nster

city However, apart from the plane turning around early due to mechanical failure, they will be the only men of the bloody H Hundredth to return first.

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This is a 1110 reconnaissance aircraft that is observing the formation of the

bomb

er force from a safe distance. German radar operators can also see the enormous number of aircraft growing from At their posts in the occupied Netherlands, the Luffer division headquarters in Germany alerts its pilots to prepare for action. Half an hour later, twin-engine heavy fighter squadrons based in the Netherlands and West Germany received the same order. Any element of surprise that existed has been lost. Even before the

bomb

ers had left England, the US Air Force faced serious difficulties in the late summer of

1943

, the Schweiner Reagens Spurg attack of 17 August was costly and resulted in the loss of 60 bombers and many more were canceled afterwards. to land on later missions.

They haven't fared much better, as enemy fighters and Flack take a huge toll on the flying fortresses that fly unescorted into the heart of Germany during the day. The H 100 Bombardment Group has had a particularly difficult time after losing almost half its strength in the attack on Reagan spbg. The eth Air Force attacked the city of Breman on October 8, just 2 days before today, during the raid, Major Gail Cevin, a veteran of the 100th H and one of its original pilots, was shot down by the loss of Buck Clevin, who had a reputation as a beloved and inspiring leader, is especially devastating to his friend Major John Egan.

Egan was not on the mission to Breman and called the base from London to find out what had happened. Speaking in code, he asked how the game had gone. baseball team informed him that Clevin had fallen swinging Egan and then asked if the team has a game scheduled for tomorrow. Yes, I want to launch the goal for today. It is a city of approximately 155,000 people just 40 million from the Dutch border. The Eighth Air Force bombs in daylight so far with hope. to hit targets with greater precision and reduce civilian casualties, but not today, the target of this raid will be the heart of the former Ward City, a marshalling yard and an adjacent neighborhood of worker housing.

This is the first time the Air Force will intentionally target eth. civilians as one of the main targets, the workers and their families who operate and maintain the marshalling yard, the town center along with the marshalling yard itself, Major Egan, who recently lost his friend, later described his reaction when Shaw announced that we were going to sock up a residential area. district I found myself standing applauding because here there is an opportunity to kill the Germans, the generators of racial hatred and oppression of minorities, it was a dream mission to avenge the death of a friend, it is worth noting that other members of the team present at the briefing did not remember applauding.

When asked after the war, Egan's Delight may have been an internal monologue, in reality other members of the Eighth Air Force crew are not so enthusiastic about their task, Lieutenant Robert Sable recalled that my parents were people oriented God. I was surprised to learn that we were going to bomb civilians as our primary target for the first time in the war. Lieutenant Howard Hamilton recalled that the basic problem in attempting to bomb a railroad system is that if enough manpower is available, the railroad tracks will collapse. They can repair in a short time. We were told that the idea of ​​bombing the homes of these railway workers was to deprive the Germans of people to do the repair work.

To quote Donald Miller's book Masters of the Air, not all of them, hundreds of them, were involved in the murder business, but most of the men trusted their leaders. This mission involves all 16 B17 heavy bomber

group

s. total of 24 47 Flying Fortresses in the 1st and 3rd Bombardment Divisions escorted by 217 p47 Thunderbolts the 2nd Bombardment Division of 39 B24 Liberators flies over the North Sea as a distraction to ward off enemy fighters because this will be a shorter trip for The p-47 Unlike previous missions, we will be able to escort the bombers all the way to the objective. Lieutenant Douglas Gordon Forbes' bombardier from the 390th Bomb Group cockpit in the sky recalled that we felt quite comfortable about the trip, it was the first time we had fighter escort at any distance. towards Germany and our confidence overflowed, the third division will reach the objective first, while the first division will drop its bombs. 15 minutes later, the force's first bombers pass over the Dutch coast on the island of Shaan, where they are joined by their fighter escorts, three squadrons of the 352 Fighter Group, a squadron of P-47s move into position. superior cover while the other two move to defend the formation's flanks, meanwhile, over the North Sea, the leading B24 in the 2nd Bombardment Division suffers technical problems and decides to return with the rest of the formation.

There will be no raids. diversion to draw away the German fighters and the first and third divisions will bear the brunt of the enemy's response to make matters worse, the reserve fighter

group

. The 355th Fighter Group has been unable to take off due to thick fog over their airfield when the 352nd turns home now there will be no Thunderbolts to carry the bombers all the way for mo

nster

s the B7s have formed into a formation measuring 75 m long the 18 b7s of the H 100th Bomb Group have been joined by two more flying fortresses from the 390th Bombardment Group to bring the unit closer to full strength, this number quickly decreased by five aircraft from the 100th and one of the two Replacements of the 390th suffer mechanical difficulties and must return which means the formation is regressed to only 13 flying fortresses this is a serious problem the loss of these aircraft means the loss of their machine guns to defend the Bombardment Group and the weakening of their combat picture with the force approaching at 2:05 p.m. the faffer elevator begins to climb his fighters for takeoff wolf 190 and bf 109 armed with cannons and machine guns while they fire rockets at me 1110 me 410 ju 88 and even daia 217 medium bombers about 350 aircraft must intercept and destroy the approaching bombers that As the Flying Fortresses take intense anti-aircraft fire as they cross the Dutch-German border to the west, the 13th Fighter Wing, a position that has been nicknamed Coffin Corner, the 100th Bombardment Group takes fire. especially intense flak one of the scrap gunners on John Eagan's plane is destroyed by a fla shatel while other bombers are damaged. 27 b7s have been forced to return to England due to mechanical problems or anti-aircraft damage, leaving 120 aircraft of the third division to continue a few minutes after 2:30 p.m.

The first German interceptors swoop in on the lead formation, Bomb Group 95, however the P-47s flying the upper deck spring into action, swooping down on the enemy fighters as they approach the elevator. The fighters quickly disconnected and managed to flee without losses. This was just a test. attack to determine the strength of the American formation at 248 p.m. The p-47s of the 352nd Fighter Group have reached the end of their fuel range and are heading home, Major Egan shouts into the radio. The Thunderbolts head back to the barn as the American fighter pilots lower their wings in good luck as the b7s pass.

Egan turns to his right to greet the departing fighter pilots before scanning the sky ahead of him. What he sees are 200 lift-silencer fighters approaching the bomber formation directly from the dreaded 12:00 high position, even as a grizzled veteran, Egan, is surprised. Given the magnitude of the enemy attack, he shouts a warning over the radio Jesus Christ Persecutions at 12:00 Stop, it seems that the 40 b7 of the 13th combat wing in front of the third bombardment division are about to be attacked attacked by a force enemy fighters five times that number, the lifting interceptors initially ignore the other two groups of bombs and go right for the h-hundredth on the first high-speed pass, the B17 leading Major Regan and Captain John Brady He is riddled with machine guns and cannon fires at a navigator in a B7 that was following him.

Captain Frank Murphy later described how he saw a horrendous explosion of fire before the stricken one went into an unrecoverable dive attacking German RI pilots through the H 100 bombing group in waves of 8 to 10 aircraft. Murphy later wrote. As one fighter element separated, another turned for a frontal attack well ahead of us, and more were forming up. One fighter after another flew directly towards our formation passing so close that we could clearly see the German pilots in their cockpits. The fighters approached at tremendous speed without taking into account the defensive fire curtain of our guns. The elevator operator is employing new tactics this time instead of spreading his attacks throughout the bomber formation.

The fighters select only one or two. bomb groups to maximize American casualties in these units for the first time, LT faffer is attempting to force an entire stream of bombers to withdraw before reaching the objective. The gunners aboard the flying fortresses are completely overwhelmed by the unprecedented attack of the bomber leading the second element. B7, nicknamed shakat, takes several direct hits and explodes in the air, only two parachutes are seen, three fors are shot down on the first pass followed by another three on the second. Captain Rodney Snow watches the massacre from his B17 in the 95th Bomb Group and remembered, I thought. that the enemy had successfully shot down our entire 100th group, certainly most of them were smoking or had exploded in the air due to direct hits.

One pilot remembers that the sky was a fantastic panorama of black Flack bursts burning and exploding. B7 spinning and falling madly. The gunner in the upper tower commented that it was like flying through an aerial junkyard. Major Egan and Captain Brady quickly determined that there was no way to save their mortally wounded bomber and ordered the crew to rescue Egan overseeing the evacuation while Brady struggles to keep the plane once level. all surviving crew members have jumped out. Brady exits the cabin and meets Egan at the open gates of Bombay. The two men then argue over who should jump first.

Egan shouts, go ahead Brady, I'm the oldest man on board, however, Brady insists that since this is his fault Egan should be the one to jump first both men continue arguing on the bomber.Flaming until a fw190 luffer fighter righted the plane with its 20mm cannon Egan looks at the holes drilled in the aluminum structure and shouts I'll see you Brady before leaping into a sky full of crashing bombers and marauding fighters. Captain Brady follows seconds later, the lift interceptors initially alternating between attacks from BF 109 and FW 190 coming from 12:00, while the heavy fighters me 110 and ju88 fire Vera Granata 21 rockets towards the middle formation from 6:00, the battle finally descends into a fused melee as the planes cross the clear October Sky Feld. fav gar fand is flying a Bf19 and lines up with a wounded B17 from 6:00, my guns thundered and immediately went big.

Pieces of metal fell off his left outboard motor. Then I had to accelerate sharply to stay behind the B7. Suddenly, from somewhere near the Tail of the Fortress, a brown object hurtled toward me, barely missing my spinning propeller and passing within inches of my cockpit. It was a human body. Now the 100th Bombardment Group only has three flying planes left. Lieutenant Rosenthal decides to follow a B17 from the 390th Bombardment Group and seek refuge in that formation's combat box. This move likely saves his crew for the time being aboard Miss Carries 390th Lt. Paul Vance continues to fly straight and level into the hurricane of enemy fire as the bombers approach the starting point, the place where the B7s line up to launch the bomb, the cabin receives a direct hit from the enemy Flack that partially cuts off Vance's left. leg at thigh height, although he is unable to fly the plane towards the monster, Vance refuses to leave the cockpit and uses the intercom cable to tie an O-ring around his leg.

With the strong approaching the target, he calmly coaches his inexperienced co-pilot during the bomb run. On the ground, the German air defense has assured the monster city that there will be no air attack that day. The Ringneck is a Verar soldier on leave at the Mster train station when the air raid siren sounds. He later said that apparently a daylight attack had never happened before in Minster and local people were not taking to the Lament. Mermaids in earnest as they strolled in the warm afternoon sun. Very soon I saw the first units of the bomber formation in the distance approaching directly towards the monster.

They were being attacked by many of our fighters and as they got closer I could see bursts of flak. We fired from our flat cannon south of the city attacking the bombers and then I saw two or three planes on fire falling out of control. However, it quickly became apparent that our air defenses were not stopping or diverting enemy bombers at 3:03 p.m. the lead B17 in the 95th Bombardment Group drops its 500b Bonds into its crosshairs in the center of the old city wall area, followed by the rest of the B7s. The 13th Fighter Wing's aiming point in the center of the city is destroyed by bombs in the On the ground, Hilgard Kosers, 14, has taken refuge in an air raid shelter and remembers the mournful wail of air raid sirens mixed with the deadly hiss of bombs descending and exploding massively around us.

The Earth trembled, vibrated, shuddered and rose from the impact of these concussions the solid concrete bunker shook and shook to its foundations the next combat The wings struck the residential area northeast of the swamp yard and the swamp yard itself Monster's main train station takes five direct hits from 500-pound bombs that barely miss the neck of the toothed ring. The shipyards sustained some damage, but the most damage occurs in the heart of downtown. The historic St Paula St cathedral in the old city is hit, destroying 16th century artwork, but fortunately escapes serious damage. Railroad workers' homes are hit hard, killing hundreds. and setting fires that will burn a 15-year-old German to the ground for days.

Otto Shuet would later say that the events of October 10, 1943 often crossed my mind and with those thoughts appear images of the friends and neighbors who died on That day, with the 3rd Division's attack complete, these bombers returned home and the 1st Division arrived at the objective 15 minutes later to continue the assault. The first division has not suffered as many casualties as the third but has faced significant difficulties. Captain Sterling Bassel of the 92nd Bombardment Group is leading the entire division when his plane is hit by Flack. The B17 makes evasive maneuvers and escapes further damage, but is now moving away from Monster and heading towards the city of Keld.

The 92nd 306th Bomb Group leaves the area. and eventually bomb Kosfeld by mistake, but the 305th Bombardment Group recognizes the mistake and pulls away to attack the monster to the northwest. They are now heading directly towards the 16 b7 of the first fighter wing who have correctly followed the initial point and are lining up for their attack. Bombing disaster is narrowly averted when the 305th pulls away from the target at the last second at 3:17 p.m. The first division begins to launch its bombs the shipyards and supply depots are damaged but not completely destroyed a group of bombs from the first division the 379th has lost its way and cannot locate mster along with the 305th which has not launched its bombs either. bombs are still heading for what they believe to be their secondary target, the city center of Ry, in northwestern Germany.

After launching their bombs, they headed home only to discover later that they, in fact, attacked the Dutch town of Enard by accident, killing 151 Dutch. civilians with much of the successful attacks on Monster by the eth air force today targeting civilian residential areas. German sources put the number of German civilians killed at 361, although some sources claim the number is as high as 750, more than 25,000 civilians have been left homeless by the Raid one of the three remaining B7s of the 100th Bomb Group in the vanishing Maiden has returned to England when the plane is hit by both Flack and enemy fighters.

Lieutenant Charles Watts is wounded while the bomber is killed, but the B17 still appears to be able to fly. Suddenly, a B7 ahead is attacked by lift fighters and one of its propellers is ejected in an extraordinary display of bad luck. The projectile spins through the air and severs the horizontal stabilizer as his plane clears the now uncontrollable bomber. The rest of his crew rescues the rest of the bombers trying to close the formation while more Lwaa fighters gather for an attack. Four p7s from the 95th Bomb Group are shot down while eight others from the 390th Bomb Group fall prey to interceptors, only Rosenthal's.

One plane and another B17 nicknamed Forever Yours remain 100th when the Always Yours is strafed and catches fire, the bomber entering a death spiral leaving Rosenthal's plane as the sole survivor of the 100th Bomb Group. Rosenthal's crew aboard the Royal Flush are now in serious trouble. Flack damage has disabled two engines and the bomber is unable to keep pace with the rest of the 390th Royal Flush as they move away from the formation until the bomber is completely alone leaving a trail of smoke and losing altitude. The fighters gather for a screaming attack towards the bomber from 12:00.

Senior Lieutenant Rosenthal launches the bomber into a series of evasive maneuvers to keep the fighters at bay with the help of the gunners on board. Gunner Bill DeBlasio fires on the fighters making a second pass from the 6:00 position waiting until the enemy closes to within 800 yards, he claims to have shot down three of the enemy planes driving the last one. Rosenthal's aggressive flying and Deblasio's precise fire have bought Royal Flush valuable and attentive time. A 5 minute pause follows as the bomber continues to lose altitude due to damaged engines with the B17 now reduced to 15,000 feet two rocket armed ju88 medium bombers used as heavy fighters swoop on the only Flying Fortress with four fw1 190 Rosenthal turns control column again to divert enemy aim as Ju 88s line up over wounded aircraft In a 2001 letter to Rosenthal, Deasio recalled that a total of eight rockets attacked us in about 1 minute, all of them missed .

I started shooting at the ju88 on the left and soon it was on fire and sliding on its right wing, the other plane had closed at 600 yards and started shooting from left to right and back during this exchange, two of the FW1 190s on the center collided with each other because I thought I had hit them both at the same time. Rose then described the experience of him going into a series of maneuvers, all kinds of evasive actions, the plane was all over the sky. I guess the German pilots finally got frustrated and decided to look for an easier target.

Target, the intense dogfight between multiple leftist fighters and the last B7 of the 100th Bombardment Group finally comes to an end when the enemy aircraft takes off to return to base, although the six deaths claimed by Bill Deblasio cannot be confirmed due to to the fact that there were no American planes nearby to witness the action for which he receives the Silver Star. Bravely, the crew begins throwing everything not nailed overboard to lighten the load in the hopes of getting the alien plane back to East Anglia without having to break up. Fortunately, the American p-47s of the 56th Fighter Group appear and move away from the last elevator.

The stream of bombers passes by the Dutch coast at ARF Thorp abotts the ground team scans the skies looking for only the 100th bomb group. B7 approaches their Royal Flush piloted by Lieutenant Rosenthal whose crew has suffered during the worst mission ever carried out by pump group 100. Two engines have been damaged. destroyed a rocket has opened a hole in the starboard wing the oxygen system has been destroyed causing hypoxia among the crew and three men are seriously injured Rosenthal fires a red flare to indicate that there are wounded on board the barely flyable bomber lands and stops at end of the runway as ambulances rush to the scene, the three wounded will survive little consolation on one of the most devastating days for the ETH Air Force: the monstrous attack of October 10, 1943 cost the American ETH 30 bombers Harry Crosby is a navigator who did not participate in the Monster mission, but sits in an empty Nissen hut at Thorp Abbott and solemnly calculates the cost of the combined bomber offensive to one hundredth of the 140 officers who arrived in England in June 1943, only three are still flying after only 4 months of combat, the American Air Force is in crisis and, at the current rate of attrition, on the verge of defeat, the ambition and strategy to conduct unescorted daylight precision bombing operations to avoid civilian casualties is a failure.

Bad weather will leave the eth immobilized for the next 3 days before they embark on an even more dangerous mission deep inside Germany, a second bombing raid to destroy the ball bearing plants. at schweiner download and play World of Warships for free using my link in the description and during registration use the promo code Bravo to receive a huge starter pack that includes 500 Delo 1.5 million credits 7 days of premium account and a free ship after completing 15 battles thanks again to our incredible patrons without whom we would not be able to see videos like this. Welcome to all our new patrons this month and a special thank you to our patron of the week Carlos Andino.

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