October 8th, 1943 - Attack on Bremen

[Jochen Prien]

On October 8th, 1943, the 8th USAAF targeted Bremen once more. Two formations of B-17s of 1st and 3rd BD were employed, which appraoched their target on different routes. Whereas one formation made a landfall west of Groningen in the Netherlands to proceed over land the other flew over the North Sea along the coastline of the Frisian Islands. Both formations met with stiff resistance by German fighters, resulting in large scale aerial combats.

My question is: Which BD took the route over land and which was was flying in over the North Sea ? Any clue would be much appreciated.

Jochen Prien

[Jaap Woortman]

Dear Jochen,


The mission was fully described in Ab Jansen's 'Sporen aan de hemel' part 2 page 37-98. Unfortunately the book is written in Dutch. From the book I have copied the map at page 53 which gives the route of the Netherlands. If you have any further questions you can contact me or mr. Ab Jansen.

Jaap
Secr. Dutch Studygroup Airwar 1939-1945.
Webmaster www.airwar39-45

[Jochen Prien]

Dear Jaap,


many thanks. I simply forgot to look into AB Jansens' Spooren an de Hemel. Reading Dutch gives me no problems since I'm married to a Dutch woman and therefore half of the family speaks Dutch ( I could read Jansens' book even before that ).

Cheers

Jochen

[Erich]

Jochen:


am not sure if this would be of interest but several 8th AF bomb group vets do respond on this site:

www.armyairforces.com

possibly pose the question there at least for their impressions ?

Erich ~

[John Manrho]

Super, nice to see that Ab's work still comes in handy......great character, his work was responsible for my interest in air war research and we, at least in Holland, owe him much. John.