WW II B-17 Bombing Marienburg, Germany, 1943

WW II B-17 Bombing Marienburg, Germany, 1943

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This is an Army Air Forces photograph of an 8th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress as it makes a bombing run over Marienburg, Germany, 9 October 1943.

Marienburg in East Prussia was the home of a Focke-Wulf aircraft assembly plant where half of all Fw-190's were produced. The first big raid by the 8th Air Force was on this well defended plant. A survivor is quoted as saying: "Coming back, the Germans were up in full force and we lost at least 80 ships-800 men, many of them pals".

The plant was destroyed in this daylight raid by USAAF bombers that was one of the first demonstrations of the effectiveness of precision bombing. OSS’s Research and Analysis Branch (R&A), Enemy Objectives Unit worked with British and Polish intelligence to locate the factory.

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