Blitz Week

During the last week of July in 1943, The Eighth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces(USAAF) launched an offensive against Germany in the form of air raids in which 1,000 combatants were either killed, injured, or went missing.^[8] The United States of America launched these air raids alongside the United Kingdom, which they called Operation Gomorrah. Hamburg was deemed an important strategic target due to its housing of U-boats and oil refineries in the region. Because the Nazis knew and understood the importance of Hamburg, the city was ringed with anti-aircraft weapons and 1,700 shelters were provided for its 230,000 citizens.^[9] To counter the radar use in Hamburg, British bomber crews applied strips of tin foil, known as Chaff, to the bomber which would be dropped to confuse the radar screen and would appear as a cluster of targets on the screen. Britain's first attack came on the 24th, with the USAAF to follow the next day, but they ran into difficulties navigating the city due to the large amount of smoke the RAF had caused on the night before.^[10]

Operation Pointblank was the code name for the main part of the Combined Bomber Offensive, and was focused on crippling Nazi Germany's aircraft production to create less resistance when invading the rest of Europe controlled by Germany.^[11] Operation Pointblank began on 14 June 1943 and lasted until 19 April of the next year.^[11] The USAAF focused on attacking aircraft factories during the day in "precision attacks” forcing the Luftwaffe into defending them and luring them into air battles; losses of trained pilots meant that even though German aircraft production rose, the combat efficiency of the Luftwaffe was reduced.^[12] During Operation Pointblank, both the USAAF and RAF had attacked several targets including: Shweinfurt, Regensburg, Oshersleben, Warnemünde, and Kassel.

During the last week of July 1943, the Eighth Air Force launched several high-effort missions against aircraft production factories in Germany. General Ira C. Eaker and Fred Anderson were crucial in the planning of these attacks and had focused on the northern part of Germany, where the Eighth Air Force had routinely operated.^[13] The factories that were targeted were the AGO Flugzeugwerke located in Oschersleben, Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in Warnemünde, and Fieseler Flugzeugbau in Kassel. These factories produced the notable Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter planes. The attack began on 28 July, but the 120 B-17s from the 4th Bombardment Wing that had set out for Oschersleben ran into poor weather and became separated.^[14]