| Friedrichshafen World War II bombings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofStrategic bombing campaign in Europe | |||||
 Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
 Fifteenth Air Force RAF Bomber Command |  Luftwaffe(Defence of the Reich) | ||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Carl Spaatz Arthur Harris | |||||
The German city ofFriedrichshafen was bombed during World War II as part of the Allied strategic bombing campaign againstGerman war materiel industry, particularly in thetargeting of German fighter aircraft production andlong range missile development.
Friedrichshafen lies in theBodenseekreis district onLake Constance in the extreme south of Germany, and at the time it was at the edge of the Germannightfighter defences.Targets included theDornier Flugzeugwerke aircraft works at Manzell, theMaybach tank engine factory, theLuftschiffbau Zeppelin aircraft works and itsOberraderach test facility near Raderach, and theZahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen (literally "gearwheel factory Friedrichshafen") tank gearbox factory.
In February 1944 an underground factory atImmenstaad near Friedrichshafen was suspected to be a synthetic oil and/or liquid oxygen plant.[1][2]NearÜberlingen,[2]forced labor of concentration camp prisoners in theGoldbach Tunnels,[2] KZ Nebenlager Raderach[3] and theAufkirch subcamp ofDachau concentration camp was used for constructing an underground facility for armament manufacturing (code name "Magnesit"[2]) safe from Allied air raids. A second facility (codenamed "Richard I") was established underRadobýl mountain inCentral Bohemia.
| Date | Target | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 17 August 1942 | Zeppelin Works | Allied intelligence had suspected the Zeppelin Works (German:Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH) was involved with theV-2 rocket.[4] |
| 20 June 1943 | Zeppelin Works |  Operation Bellicose targeted suspectedWürzburg radar production at Friedrichshafen.[5] (In early June, aCIU photo interpreter (Claude Wavell) had identified a stack of ribbed baskets--Würzburg radar reflectors—at the Zeppelin Works,Winston Churchill had reviewed the photos on June 14, andNo. 5 Group RAF received attack orders on June 16.)[6] The bombing hit the Zeppelin Works'V-2 production which had only produced a few V-2 tanks and fuselage sections by 20 June.[7]: 143 |
| 1944-04-2727-28 April 1944 | ZF Friedrichshafen | A night attack by 322 heavy bombers damaged several factories and destroyed the factory producing tank gearboxes. 1,234 tons of bombs were dropped causing (an estimated) 67 percent of the town's built-up area to be destroyed.[8] |
| 20 July 1944 | Zeppelin Works |  The485 BG bombedLuftschiffbau Zeppelin.[9] V-2 production planned for Zeppelin had already been moved to theMittelwerk afterthe 1943 British bombing raid on thePeenemünde Army Research Center.[7]: 193 |
| 28 July 1944 | Dornier Flugzeugwerke | The 464 BG bombed the Manzell aircraft works. |
| 3 August 1944 | Oberraderach &ZF Friedrichshafen | Oberraderach (primary target) and theZahnradfabrik secondary target were bombed.[10][11] As early as 20 September 1942Albert Speer had warned Hitler of the critical importance of Friedrichshafen tank plants andSchweinfurt ball-bearing plants.[12] |
| 16 August 1944 | Oberraderach | The 485 BG bombed the Ober chemical works. |
| 25 February 1945 | Maybach tank factory |  Mission 847: 377 B-17s are sent to hit the Maybach tank factory atFriedrichshafen (63) usingGee-H.[13]Maybach Motorenbau (Friedrichshafen) andNorddeutsche Motorenbau (Berlin) produced nearly all tank engines.[14] |
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