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OUT NOW!!
MERSEBURG:
Blood, Flak & Oil
The 8th Air Force Missions
by Ray Bowden
18 USAAF daylight missions covered.
Listing of losses for more than 150 heavy bombers - almost all
of them covered in the text.
Archive material from US and German sources reveal the results,often
previously officially described simply as "unobserved".
Veterans and survivors tell their stories.
Summary of the three RAF night raids against Leuna.
The target, the defences and the reasons for the attacks.
160 pages, 100+ photographs, soft cover,
page size 210x297mm
ISBN 978-1-898575-04-7
UK Price: £22.00 (GB Pounds) including mailing to UK address and
SURFACE mailing to USA (for AIRMAIL see ordering page)
Click here to
ORDER
"If I live to be a thousand I will never
forget today, but I wish I could. Merseburg, 12 miles west of
Leipzig -- PFF -- synthetic oil refinery."
Lt William H Baker, 379th Bomb Group
(Extract from personal diary)
MERSEBURG and its Leuna synthetic oil plant - was one of the
most feared targets in Germany. The USAAF's 8th Air Force began
an 18 mission campaign against the Nazis most important oil
production site in May 1944 as part of the wider Oil Plan. Initial
attacks were successful but as the Germans began to realise
the magnitude of the threat to their vital supply of valuable
fuel and specialist oils the defences at Merseburg were expanded
to become the most feared of all - surpassing even Berlin.
Prior to the spring of 1944, few of the
8th's air crews had ever heard of Merseburg and its huge synthetic
oil plant but that soon changed. The remnants of the Luftwaffe
bolstered by the newly arrived jet fighters and the enormous
number of flak batteries which blossomed around Merseburg
reaped a vicious harvest of US heavies, almost exclusively
B17s.
Veterans and survivors from both sides tell their stories,
through recollection, diary notes, reports and official records.
Target damage analysis from USAAF and German files and detailed
post war studies reveal the results of the raids. The destruction
is revealed and the human cost - to friend and foe alike.
Heavy bomber losses over Merseburg (most are discussed in
the book).
READ WHAT HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT
MERSEBURG:
BLOOD, FLAK & OIL
For further information please contact
Ray Bowden at USAAF Nose Art Research Project
ray[NO-SPAM]@usaaf-noseart.co.uk
Please remove [NO-SPAM] from email address
USAAF Nose Art Research Project
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