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Operation Crossbow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the 1965 film of the same name, see Operation Crossbow (film).
Similar to Operation Pointblank against the WWII German aircraft industry, Operation Crossbow specialized in offensive and defensive countermeasures against the Bodyline[1] and 'Peenemünde 20',[2] the British code names for the 40 ft x 7 ft object with blunt nose and three fins and the small winged aircraft that had been detected in reconnaissance photos. In December 1943, the code name ‘Bodyline’ was dropped, and ‘Crossbow’ was substituted:[3]
to designate Anglo-American operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme -- operations against German research, experimentation, manufacture, construction of launching sites, and the transportation and firing of finished missiles, and also against missiles in flight, once they had been fired.[4]
A different project for reconstructing and evaluating captured V-2 rockets was Project Big Ben.[5]
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Operation Hydra bombed Peenemünde after midnight of August 17/18 1943 and was the opening of what was subsequently named "Crossbow".[6] The Total Allied "Crossbow" offensive effort from August 1943 to March 1945 was 68,913 sorties and 122,133 bomb tonnage, including 19,584 sorties & 72,141 tons by RAF Bomber Command.[7] As with the Operation Chastise "Dambuster" missions, the US characterized Operation Crossbow bombing as a "Secondary Campaign"/"special enterprise" with the following effectiveness:
The bombing of the launching sites being prepared for the V weapons delayed the use of V-l appreciably. The attacks on the V-weapon experimental station at Peenemunde, however, were not effective; V-l was already in production near Kassel and V-2 had also been moved to an underground plant. The breaking of the Mohne and the Eder dams, though the cost was small, also had limited effect.[8]
Crossbow bombing included use of the Tallboy bomb on the following targets:
-
- Éperlecques 27 August 1943, 19 June 1944, 27 July 1944
- La Coupole (Wizernes) 24 June 1944
Siracourt 25 June 1944 - V-3 cannon (Mimoyecques) 6 July 1944
On January 2, 1944, Roderic Hill submitted his plan to deploy 1332 guns to defend London, Bristol, and Solent against the V-1 (the "Operations Room" was at Biggin Hill).[9] Wikipedia statistics indicate the following number of V-1s were downed by Fighter Command, anti-aircraft guns, and barrage balloons:
-
- Overall - 4,261 V-1s had been destroyed by fighters, anti-aircraft fire and barrage balloons.[1]
- Fighter - Tempests shot down 638 ... Mosquito (428), Spitfire XIV (303), and Mustang, (232). All other types combined added 158.[2]
- Artillery - Anti-aircraft guns destroyed 95% of the V-1 German cruise bombs.[3] 17% of all flying bombs entering the coastal 'gun belt' were destroyed by guns in their first week on the coast. This rose to 60% by 23 August and 74% in the last week of the month, when on one day 82% were shot down. The rate improved from one V-1 destroyed for every 2,500 shells fired initially, to one for every 100.[4]
- Balloon - About 100 V-1s are claimed to have been destroyed by balloons.[5]
Statistics on modified V-1s air-launched from Heinkel He 111 bombers from September 16, 1944 to January 14, 1945 indicate 865[10] were launched, with only 638 observed by the 'Diver' defenses. Guns and fighters downed 403, leaving 66 reaching the London Civil Defence Region, one reaching Manchester, and 168 falling elsewhere.[11]
Named activities of Operation Crossbow included the following:
- Bodyline Joint Staff Committee[6]
- Diver - a secret British Defense Instruction named the code word: "Enemy Flying Bombs will be referred to or known as 'Diver' aircraft or pilotless planes."[12] (often called Operation Diver without citation)
- Flying Bomb Counter Measures Committee (Duncan Sandys, chairman)[13]
- Fuel Panel of the Special Scientific Committee[14]
- No-ball - code name for V-1 launching areas, e.g.,
- Operation Aphrodite
- Operation Hydra (with associated Operation Whitebait)
- Operation Totter - The Royal Observer Corps fired ‘Snowflake’ illuminating rocket flares from the ground to identify V-1 flying bombs to RAF fighters.[16]
- ^ Irving, David (1964). The Mare's Nest. London: William Kimber and Co, p 149.
- ^ Cooksley, Peter G (1979). Flying Bomb. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, p 44.
- ^ Irving. (p 176)
- ^ The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 3., Europe: Argument to V-E Day Chicago, 1951. (p 85) (see McGovern pg 260)
- ^ McGovern, J. Crossbow and Overcast W. Morrow: New York, 1964. (p 74)
- ^ Neufeld, Michael J. The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. The Free Press: New York, 1995. (p 198)
- ^ Irving. (p 308)
- ^ United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Summary Report (European War) September 30, 1945 (chapter “Secondary Campaigns”)
- ^ Collier, Basil [1964] (1976). The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944-1945. Yorkshire: The Emfield Press, p 96,161. ISBN 0 7057 0070 4.
- ^ Pocock, Rowland F (1967). German Guided Missiles of the Second World War. New York: Arco Publishing Company, Inc., p104.
- ^ Coller. 131
- ^ Cooksley. 50,61 --Wing Commander Douglas Kendall at RAF Medmenham was the first to announce a 'Diver', although earlier V-1 flying bombs had been observed.
- ^ Cooksley. 42
- ^ Irving. 149
- ^ Cooksley. 49
- ^ Cooksley. 102
- Gruen, Adam L. The U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, Preemptive Defense, Allied Air Power Versus Hitler’s V-Weapons, 1943–1945 @ U.S. Air Force.net
- Crossbow @ Spartacus Schoolnet history project
- Operation Crossbow (the movie)