Operation Bellicose

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Operation Bellicose

Date	June 20/21, 23/24 1943
Location	Friedrichshafen, Germany La Spezia, Italy
Result	Zeppelin Works: heavy damage La Spezia naval base: damage

Belligerents

RAF Bomber Command

Luftwaffe

Strength

56 Avro Lancaster (No. 5 Group RAF)
4 Avro Lancaster Pathfinders (No. 8 Group RAF)

Operation Bellicose was a World War II British strategic bombing mission against Friedrichshafen and La Spezia.^[1] The mission was the first use of shuttle bombing, with the bombers flying from their home bases to bomb the first target in Germany and continuing to a different location where they would be refuelled and rearmed. The aircraft then bombed a second target and returned to their home bases. It was also the second use of what would become known as a Master Bomber, which was first used in the Operation Chastise.^[1]

The first target was the Zeppelin Works, the suspected manufacturing site of Würzburg radars.^[2] In early June 1943, a Central Interpretation Unit photo interpreter (Claude Wavell) at RAF Medmenham identified a stack of ribbed baskets (Würzburg radar reflectors) at the Zeppelin Works. After Winston Churchill viewed the photos at RAF Medmenham on June 14, No. 5 Group RAF received the surprise orders on June 16 to attack Friedrichshafen during the next full moon.^[3]

1 Friedrichshafen
2 La Spezia
3 V-2 Production Plant
4 References and Notes

[edit] Friedrichshafen

The Avro Lancasters took off from bases in Britain and were controlled by the Master Bomber (Group Captain Slee) of No. 97 Squadron RAF. When his aircraft developed trouble his deputy, Wing Commander Gomm of No. 467 Squadron RAF took over.^[1]

Due to heavy defences (flak) around the target the bombers dropped from 15,000 ft rather than the planned 10,000 ft.^{[citation needed]} The first stage was to drop offset markers ('offset marking'). The main bombing force would use this as a baseline for their bombing; with the guides at a distance from the target, the location would not be obscured by smoke. The second stage was to use 'time-and-distance bombing runs',^[2] with bomb drops based on measuring from a set point - a location on the lake shore - to the distance to the target.^{[citation needed]} Despite it being a full moon, for some unknown reason the bombers were not intercepted by German fighters at Friedrichshafen and fighters waiting over France for the bombers expected return to the home bases were left without targets.^{[citation needed]}

The bombers inflicted heavy damage which resulted in the closure of the assembly line.^{[citation needed]} From Friedrichshafen the planes headed toward Bilda, Algeria in North Africa for refuelling.^[4]

[edit] La Spezia

Eight of the original force of 60 remained in Algeria for repairs, and the remaining 52 bombers subsequently bombed the Italian naval base at La Spezia, Liguria, without loss on June 23/24. Bomber Command claimed damage to an armaments store and an oil depot at La Spezia.^[1]

[edit] V-2 Production Plant

In the Autumn of 1941, Zeppelin Airship Construction Ltd (German: Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH) had accepted contracts to produce A-4 propellant tanks and fuselage sections.^[5] Then by August 17, 1942, the Allies had suspected the Zeppelin Works (as well as the Henschel Raxwerke) were involved with the V-2 rocket.^[6] However, it was not until July 25, 1943 that Duncan Sandys reported that Friedrichshafen photos depicted rocket firing sites like Test Stand VII at Peenemünde.^[3] Hence, although Operation Bellicose was effectively the first Operation Crossbow mission that attacked a long-range weapon facility, Operation Bellicose was not planned for that objective and countermeasures against long-range missiles would not start until Operation Hydra in August 1943, after which Germany centralized V-2 production at the Mittelwerk.

[edit] References and Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Campaign Diary. Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. UK Crown. Retrieved on 2008-04-30.
^ ^a ^b Middlebrook, Martin (1982). The Peenemünde Raid: The Night of 17-18 August 1943. New York: Bobs-Merrill, p50.
^ ^a ^b Irving, David (1964). The Mare's Nest. London: William Kimber and Co, p65,81.
^ Etheringont, Andrew. June 24th, 1943. The Second World War - A Day by Day Account. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.
^ Neufeld, Michael J. (1995). The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. New York: The Free Press, p143.
^ Ordway, Frederick I, III; Sharpe, Mitchell R (1979). The Rocket Team, Apogee Books Space Series 36. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, p74.