I've just finished re-reading Middlebrook's 'The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission' ; I read it again following my recent visits to Ridgewell, home of the 381st BG who took the heaviest losses in 'Schweinfurt 1'.

At least four ( five if you count 'Schweinfurt 2' ) books have been written about this 8th AF target and it does make for fascinating reading. The strategic issues and decision-making are absorbing in themselves but the drama, action and heartbreak of the air fighting are, for me, the central point of interest.

All the cliches of 'bloody skies' etc really do apply to Schweinfurt ; having to fly so deeply into Germany without fighter escort, having to 'sit there and take it', called for extreme courage and endurance.

No picnic for the Luftwaffe either ; having read recently about Alfred Grislawski who was in the thick of the action, made me realise that attacking B-17 groups was not for the faint-hearted and many less-experienced Luftwaffe pilots were not really equal to the task.

I'd never realised before that 'Schweinfurt' also claimed Adolf Galland's brother, 'Wutz', shot down by the 56th FG.

Schweinfurt must qualify as one of the greatest air battles ever : my admiration for the men of the 8th is undimmed.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

There are some good before and after pictures at this site.

http://www.thirdreichruins.com/schweinfurt.htm

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Sad example of money politics:

from the book by Allders and Wiebes on covering financial actions:

After the Schweinfurt bombings the SKF ( Swedish ball bearings factory ) tripled its deal with Germany ( 1943 ).

General Arnold was mad with the US foreign politics not able to stop the Swedish trade with nazi Germany:

" If you guys had even one tenth of the guts of the guys who were shot over Schweinfurt you would tell the Swedes that we will boycott them now and after the war if they send even one piece of ball bearings to Germany!"

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Superb website, fascinating how modernist many of the factories were, and the collected rubble used to build a hill/park as mentioned on this page (bottom) is an excellent illustration of the scale of destruction. Looked up 'Schuttberg' and I see they are not uncommon in German cities... and quite large. A trace of the war that I hadn't really considered.
Cheers TA,
Adam.

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

wow, those buildings looked like something built in the 60s or 70s, i wouldnt have thought they were older than that.....

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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Winston Churchill

I know there was a stone quarry in a small village named Euerbach, five miles Northwest of Schweinfurt. Does anyone know if it was damaged during the the war?

Not a definite answer but judging by the size of Schweinfurt and the photos I have seen, it does not look like the bombs went outside of Schweinfurt. Only my analysis.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Based on what I read, it sounded like a few dropped early because of battle damage. It was them I was thinking of.

which raid though are you talking about and also whether US led or Bomber Command, the whole area around Schweinfurt was one huge pot-hole.

as a kindly suggestion you could always google Euerbach.de and see what follows, usually a couple of links with fotos, so the monument may be presented

Hmm. Could not find any data on that. Would have to find the path of the bombers and compare that with the location of your town.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Thanks all, I'll do that. I might have cousins over there still. Seems like american history is just one giant family civil war.