Operation Gomorrah - The Bombing of Hamburg
World War 2
•
12m
In 1943, the heart of the German air defense system was the early-warning and flak-predictor radar systems. It had proved to be a good system, as was the British radar chain that had been set up since 1935. The Germans knew, however, that strips of metal foil could blind the radar sets and they were reluctant to use this against the enemy, lest the enemy employ the same strategy against them. Despite their hesitation, by mid-1943 the British had decided to put into play this strategy of using foil strips, or chaff, to blind the German radars. The system was called Window, and it would be used for the first time on July 24th, 1943, in a bombing raid over Hamburg, in what would become a devastating blow to this major German city. This would be Operation Gomorrah.
Up Next in World War 2
-
Brutal Battles in the Colmar Pocket 1944
The Colmar Pocket would see brutal hand to hand combat between the US Army and the German Defenders of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS
The village of Sigolsheim in the Colmar Pocket would be viciously contested but would fall to the Americans of the 3rd Infantry Division in late December 1944. This i... -
Top Fighter Squadrons of WWII
Materiel losses during World War 2 were massive. According to one source, Germany produced a staggering 119,907 aircraft of all types and most were destroyed or damaged during the war. The United States lost 52,951 of their 95,000 aircraft in operations over Europe and the Pacific. The Soviet Uni...
-
Women in Defense
Narrated by Katherine Hepburn from text written by Eleanor Roosevelt, this 1941 film was made to show what women were already doing as the war effort kicked off - and helped many imagine what more they could do!