Big Week
Big Week or Operation Argument was a sequence of raids by the United States Army Air Forces and RAF Bomber Command from 20 to 25 February 1944, as part of the European strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany. The planners intended to attack the German aircraft industry to lure the Luftwaffe into a decisive battle where the Luftwaffe could be damaged so badly that the Allies would achieve air superiority which would ensure success of the invasion of continental Europe.
The joint daylight bombing campaign was also supported by RAF Bomber Command operating against the same targets at night. Arthur "Bomber" Harris resisted contributing RAF Bomber Command so as not to dilute the British "area bombing" offensive. It took an order from Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Chief of the Air Staff, to force Harris to comply.
RAF Fighter Command also provided escort for USAAF bomber formations, just at the time that the Eighth Air Force had started introducing the P-51 long-range fighter, to take over the role. The offensive overlapped the German Operation Steinbock, the Baby Blitz, which lasted from January to May 1944.
Background
Prior to the Big Week, throughout 1943, the US 8th Air Force had been growing in size and experience and started pressing attacks deeper into Germany. It was originally believed that the defensive firepower of the ten or more.50 caliber machine guns on the B-17 and B-24 bombers would allow them to defend themselves as long as they remained arranged into tight formations, allowing for overlapping fire. In practice this proved less successful; although the bombers did claim a fair number of German fighters, losses among the bombers were unsustainable.The Schweinfurt-Regensburg missions are a famous example of the failure of the self-defence concept. On August 17, 1943, 230 USAAF bombers launched a mission against the ball bearing factories in Schweinfurt and another 146 against the aircraft factories in Regensburg. Of this force, 60 aircraft were lost before returning to base and another 87 had to be scrapped due to irreparable damage. The Germans claimed 27 fighters lost, serious enough, but small in comparison to the losses on the part of the US forces. The Second Raid on Schweinfurt on October 14, 1943, remembered as "Black Thursday", proved even more bloody; of the 291 aircraft on the mission, 60 were lost outright, with a further 17 damaged beyond repair. Daylight missions into Germany were cancelled in order to rebuild the forces.
The raids were extensively studied by both forces. The Germans concluded that their tactic of deploying twin-engine heavy fighter designs, with heavy armament to make them usable as bomber destroyers and serving primarily with the Zerstörergeschwader combat wings, was working well. Over the winter of 1943–44 they continued this program, adding to their heavy fighter ranks and developing heavier armaments for all of their aircraft. They also pulled almost all of their fighter forces back into Germany, as the majority of their losses were due to fighter actions over forward areas. There seemed to be no point in trying to attack bombers supported by enemy fighters. The Allied forces came to the same conclusion. Schweinfurt demonstrated that the bombers were not able to adequately protect themselves, and fighter cover needed to be extended over the entire mission. Luckily for the US, the P-38 Lightning, and later the P-51 Mustang, aircraft had the range needed to escort bombers to targets deep within Germany, and were starting to arrive in quantity. Over the winter they re-equipped their fighter squadrons as Mustangs arrived and longer-range versions of existing fighters were developed.
By early 1944, both forces had laid their plans and were waiting to put them into action. The US, expecting a fighter advantage, planned missions that would demand a German response. They decided to make massive raids on the German fighter factories. If the Germans chose not to respond, they would be at risk of losing the air war without firing a shot; if they did respond, they would meet new long-range fighters in the process. The Germans needed no provocation: they were ready to meet a raid with their new forces. However, the increased weight of armaments in their fighters reduced performance, making them easy targets for the new and unexpected Mustangs.
The goal of Big Week was to achieve allied air superiority over the Luftwaffe which was absolutely critical in advance of the upcoming D-Day invasion. Two tactical factors made this difficult. First, Luftwaffe fighters avoided allied fighters and would simply ignore the allied fighter sweeps. Thus, the allies could not entice the Luftwaffe fighters to engage. Second, during escort missions, allied fighters remained in close escort formation with bombers. This tactic limited bomber casualties but it also reduced allied pursuit and destruction of Luftwaffe fighters. Recognizing these problems, General Doolittle ordered bombing missions of key aircraft factories that the Luftwaffe could not ignore. In addition, allied fighters were ordered to abandon the bombers with the primary goal of shooting down Luftwaffe fighters. In effect, the primary purpose of the bombing missions was to bring up the Luftwaffe and the real role of the allied bombers was to be used and sacrificed as bait. This strategy was very effective. Freed of close bomber escort duty, allied fighters, particularly the P-51s, decimated the Luftwaffe. German aircraft and pilot losses could not be sufficiently replaced. As a result, the allies achieved air superiority by the time of the D-day invasion. Big Week was not primarily a bombing campaign. It was a campaign designed to kill Luftwaffe fighters.
Operations
The Americans flew continuously escorted missions against airframe manufacturing and assembly plants and other targets in numerous German cities including: Leipzig, Brunswick, Gotha, Regensburg, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, Stuttgart and Steyr. In six days, the Eighth Air Force bombers based in England flew more than 3,000 sorties and the Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy more than 500. Together they dropped roughly 10,000 tons of bombs.During Big Week, the Eighth Air Force lost 97 B-17s, 40 B-24s and another 20 scrapped due to damage. The operational strength of the Eighth Air Force bomber units had dropped from 75 percent at the start of the week to 54 percent, and its fighter units strength had dropped from 72 percent of establishment strength to 65 percent. The Fifteenth Air Force lost 14.6 percent of establishment strength, and RAF Bomber Command lost 131 bombers during Big Week. Although these numbers are high in absolute terms, the numbers of bombers involved in the missions were much higher than previously, and the losses represented a much smaller percentage of the attacking force. The earlier Schweinfurt missions had cost the force nearly 30 percent of their aircraft per mission.
US aircrews claimed more than 500 German fighters destroyed, though the numbers were massively exaggerated. The Luftwaffe losses were high amongst their twin-engined Zerstörer units, and the Bf 110 and Me 410 groups were severely depleted. More worrying for the Jagdwaffe than the loss of 355 aircraft was the loss of nearly 100 pilots who had been killed. In contrast to the raids of the previous year, the US losses were replaceable, while the Germans were already hard pressed due to the war in the East. Although not fatal, Big Week was an extremely worrying development for the Germans.
The actual damage to the German aircraft industry was fairly limited; during 1944 German fighter aircraft production peaked by dispersing production and reducing the production of other aircraft types. The lack of skilled pilots due to an attrition in the three-front war was the factor eroding the capability of the Jagdwaffe. The Luftwaffe had to abandon its tactic of "maximum defensive effort" to daylight bombing missions in favor of hit-and-run intercepts. While the Jagdwaffe remained formidable, air superiority had passed irrevocably to the Allies.
Aftermath
Big Week bolstered the confidence of US strategic bombing crews. Until that time, Allied bombers avoided contact with the Luftwaffe; now, the Americans used any method that would force the Luftwaffe into combat. Implementing this policy, the United States looked toward Berlin. Raiding the German capital, Allied leaders reasoned, would force the Luftwaffe to battle. On March 4, the USSTAF launched the first of several attacks against Berlin. A force of 730 bombers set off from England with an escort of 800 fighters. Fierce battles raged and resulted in heavy losses for both sides; 69 B-17s were lost but it cost the Luftwaffe 160 aircraft. The Allies, again, replaced their losses; the Luftwaffe, again, could not.The new German tactics of using Sturmböcke as bomber destroyers and Bf 109Gs to escort them in Gefechtsverband formations, were proving somewhat effective. The US fighters, kept in close contact with the bombers they were protecting, could not chase the attacking fighters before they were forced to turn around and return to the bombers. Lt. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, commander of the 8th Air Force from the end of 1943, responded by initiating a breakthrough in fighter tactics by "freeing" the fighters, allowing them to fly far ahead of the heavy bomber formations in an air supremacy "fighter sweep" mode on the outward legs; then following the USAAF heavies' bomb runs, the fighters roamed far from the bomber streams and hunted down German fighters — especially the Sturmböcke, that had limited maneuverability with their heavy underwing conformal gun pod-mount autocannons — before they could ever approach the USAAF bombers. Though the change was unpopular with the bomber crews, its effects were immediate and extremely effective.
The Combined Bomber Offensive attacks against fighter production officially ended on April 1, 1944 and control of the air forces passed to US General Dwight D. Eisenhower in preparation for the invasion of France. Allied airmen were well on the way to achieving air superiority over all of Europe. "While they continued strategic bombing, the USAAF turned its attention to the tactical air battle in support of the Normandy invasion".
Timeline
| Date | USAAF | Theatre | Notes |
| Sunday 20 February 1944 | 8 | ETO: Strategic operations | Mission 226: The Eighth Air Force begins "Big Week" attacks on German aircraft plants and airfields. For the first time, over 1,000 bombers are dispatched; 21 bombers and 4 fighters are lost hitting three areas in Germany:
Luftwaffe aircraft; one P-38 Lightning, two P-47 Thunderbolts and one P-51 Mustangs are lost, two P-47 Thunderbolts are damaged beyond repair and 4 other aircraft are damaged; casualties are 4 MIA. German losses amount to 10 Messerschmitt Bf 110s destroyed and three damaged with 10 killed and seven wounded. Total losses included 74 Bf 110s, Fw 190s and Bf 109s and a further 29 damaged. |
| Sunday 20 February 1944 | 8 | ETO | Mission 227: 4 of 5 B-17s drop 200 bundles of leaflets on Tours, Nantes, Brest and Lorient, France at 2123–2200 hours without loss. |
| Sunday 20 February 1944 | 9 | ETO: Tactical operations | 35 B-26 Marauders bomb Haamstede Airfield, The Netherlands, as a target of opportunity, after about 100 B-26s abort attacks on other airfields because of weather. |
| Monday 21 February 1944 | 8 | ETO: Strategic operations | Mission 228: 3 areas in Germany are targeted with the loss of 16 bombers and 5 fighters:
German losses were 30 Bf 109s and Fw 190s, 24 pilots killed and seven wounded. Mission 229: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets on Rouen, Caen, Paris and Amiens, France at 2215–2327 hours without loss. |
| Monday 21 February 1944 | 9 | ETO: Tactical operations | 18 B-26s bomb Coxyde Airfield, Belgium; weather causes almost 190 aborts. The Ninth Air Force's Pathfinder Squadron takes part in this operation, its first venture into combat. 185 aircraft scheduled to attack other airfields in the Netherlands and France in the afternoon are recalled because of bad weather. |
| Tuesday 22 February 1944 | 8 | ETO: Strategic operations | VIII Bomber Command is redesignated as the Eighth Air Force. |
| Tuesday 22 February 1944 | 8 | ETO: Strategic operations | Mission 230: "Big Week" continues with 799 aircraft dispatched against German aviation and Luftwaffe airfields; 41 bombers and 11 fighters are lost.
pilots are MIA; the P-51s claim 19-1-10 Luftwaffe aircraft, 3 P-51s are lost and 3 damaged, 3 pilots are MIA. |
| Tuesday 22 February 1944 | 9 | ETO | 66 B-26s bomb Gilze-Rijen Airfield, The Netherlands; bad weather causes 100+ others to abort. |
| Tuesday 22 February 1944 | 15 | MTO:Strategic operations | B-17s attack Petershausen marshaling yard and Regensburg aircraft factory in Germany and the air depot at Zagreb, Yugoslavia; a large force of B-24s hits Regensburg aircraft plants about the same time as the B-17 attack; other B-24s pound the town of Sibenik and the harbor at Zara, Yugoslavia; they claim 40 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed; 13 bombers are lost. |
| Wednesday 23 February 1944 | 8 | ETO: Strategic operations | Mission 232: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets on Rennes, Le Mans, Chartres, Lille and Orleans, France at 21:36–22:32 hours without loss. |
| Wednesday 23 February 1944 | 15 | MTO:Strategic operations | B-24s bomb the industrial complex at Steyr, Austria. Other heavy bombers are forced to abort because of bad weather; the bombers and escorting fighters claim 30+ aircraft shot down. |
| Thursday 24 February 1944 | 8 | ETO | Missions 237, 238 and 239 are flown against targets in France; 7 B-17s are lost. Heavy clouds cause over half the bombers dispatched to return without bombing. |
| Thursday 24 February 1944 | 8 | ETO | Mission 237: 49 of 81 B-24s hit the Ecalles sur Buchy V-weapon sites; 1 B-24 is damaged. Escort is provided by 61 P-47s. |
| Thursday 24 February 1944 | 8 | ETO | Mission 238: 258 B-17s are dispatched against V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais; 109 hit the primary target, 10 hit a road junction E of Yerville, 7 hit a rail siding SW of Abbeville and 6 hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-17s are lost and 75 damaged; casualties are 5 WIA and 63 MIA. Escort is provided by 81 P-38s, 94 P-47s and 22 P-51s; 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair; the P-51s claim a single German aircraft on the ground. |
| Thursday 24 February 1944 | 8 | ETO | Mission 239: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets on Amiens, Rennes, Paris, Rouen and Le Mans, France at 2023–2055 hours without loss. |
| Thursday 24 February 1944 | 9 | ETO | 180 B-26s attack NOBALL targets and Rosieres-en-Santerre, France. Bad weather makes bombing difficult and causes 34 other B-26s to abort. |
| Friday 25 February 1944 | 8 | ETO | Mission 235: In the final "Big Week" mission, 4 targets in Germany are hit; 31 bombers and 3 fighters are lost.
Mission 236: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets on Grenoble, Toulouse, Chartres, Caen and Raismes, France at 2129–2335 hours without loss. |
| Friday 25 February 1944 | 9 | ETO: Tactical operations | 191 B-26s bomb Venlo, Saint-Trond, and Cambrai/Epinoy Airfields, France in a morning raid as a diversion in support of the VIII Bomber Command heavy bombers over Germany; 36 abort, mainly because of a navigational error. 164 B-26s dispatched against military targets in France during the afternoon are recalled because of bad weather. |
| Friday 25 February 1944 | 9 | MTO: Strategic operations | Continuing coordinated attacks with the Eighth Air Force on European targets, B-17s with fighter escorts pound Regensburg aircraft factory; enemy fighter opposition is heavy. Other B-17s hit the air depot at Klagenfurt, Austria and the dock area at Pola, Italy. B-24s attack Fiume, Italy marshaling yard and port and hit Zell-am-See, Austria railroad and Graz airfield and the port area at Zara, Yugoslavia; 30+ US aircraft are lost; they claim 90+ fighters shot down. |
RAF bomber sorties
Bomber Command directly contributed to the attacks on the aircraft industry in Schweinfurt. Some 734 bombers were dispatched on the night of 24/25 February, and 695 struck the target. Of the bombs dropped, 298 hit within three miles and 22 hit inside the target area. Little damage was done. On 25/26 February 1944, Bomber Command sent 600 bombers to the aircraft assembly plant at Augsburg. The attack was accurate and destroyed some 60 percent of the industrial city.| Date | Notes |
| 19/20 February 1944 | 921 sorties, 79 aircraft lost. The major raid, by 823 aircraft, was to Leipzig; but it suffered as fighters had not been drawn off by diversion raid on Kiel. de Havilland Mosquitos bombed nightfighter airfields in the Netherlands and a further 15 made a diversionary raid on Berlin. |
| 20/21 February | 826 sorties, 10 aircraft lost. The major raid, by 598 aircraft, was to Stuttgart;. |
| 21/22 February | 17 Mosquitos to Duisburg, Stuttgart and 2 flying-bomb sites with other sorties. Including mine-laying operations, total effort for the night was 69 sorties, with 1 mine-laying aircraft lost. |
| 22/23 February | 10 Mosquitos to Stuttgart, 8 to Duisburg and 3 to Aachen with other sorties the total effort for the night was 134 sorties, no aircraft lost. |
| 23/24 February | 17 Mosquitos of 692 Squadron to Düsseldorf, with other sorties the total effort for the night 22 sorties, no aircraft lost. |
| 24/25 February | 1,070 sorties, 36 aircraft lost including two aircraft minelaying. The major raid, by 734 aircraft split into two attacks, was on Schweinfurt, home of Germany's main ball-bearing factories. American B-17s had bombed the factories the previous day. 15 Mosquitos bombed airfields in the Netherlands, 8 Mosquitos bombed Kiel and 7 Aachen. |