World War II History

Today in WW II History

World War II History for June 20

1941 - German troops entered Russia on a front from the Arctic to Black Sea.

1943 - British bombers attacked sites in Germany and Italy under Operation Bellicose. It was the first time “shuttle bombings” took place during the war.

Taking off from airbases in Britain, bombers made for the southwestern German city of Friedrichshafen, at one time the home to Zeppelin airship construction. It now was the site of steel construction works, which were heavily damaged in the British attack. The Brits then flew, not back to Britain, but to airbases in Algeria. Refueled, they then headed north for the Italian naval base in La Spezia, in Liguria. This “shuttle” strategy enabled the bombers to kill two enemies with one operation-Bellicose.

The damage done to the steel works in Germany was so extensive that the assembly line had to be completely abandoned. Unbeknownst to Britain, that assembly line included the manufacture of more than just steel, but also new V2 rockets, to be spun out at the rate of 300 a month. The Brits unwittingly spared themselves retaliation-at least from V2s.

Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, History, Today, Germany, Russia, Britain, Bombers, Operation, Bellicose, Operation Bellicose

Tags: Bellicose, Bombers, Britain, Germany, History, Operation, Operation Bellicose, Russia, Today, WWarII, WWII

This entry was posted by Steven Terjeson on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 11:11 am and is filed under Air, Today. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.