The Bloody Hundredth

Hey all.

I've got a question about the 100th Bomb Group (Heavy), aka the Bloody Hundredth; in comparison to the loses of the other heavy bomb groups, how many more planes did the 100th BG lose during the Western European air war during 1942 to 1945?

Cheers guys!!!

 

The 100th lost 177 aircraft MIA. This was indeed very high, but not the highest ( which was the 91st with 197 MIA ). The reason for the 100th's 'Bloody' soubriquet was that they experienced very high losses on individual missions, or over short periods ( eg Schweinfurt/Regensburg in 1943, etc ).

 

Cheers for that info Martin

 

A very good summing-up of the 100ths travails in '43 can be found in Roger A Freeman's classic 'The Mighty Eighth'. In one week of October the Group lost 20 bombers and over 200 men. As Freeman says 'It was a stunning blow and no amount of bravado could conceal the gloom which descended upon Thorpe Abbotts with the Autumn mists'.

No excuse for posting this pic again, taken just before the old main runway was broken up ; -

View attachment 12946

 

also of note is to squash the myth that the 100th bg was "singled out" by the LW. Even after interviewing several former 100th bg crewmen who firmly believed it to the end, all I could do was shake my head ............the luck of the draw was all it was.

 

I remember reading that fact somewhere on an Eighth Air Force bombing mission website a while ago Digit.

 

That's true, but it's also generally accepted ( and as related by Harry H Crosby ) that the situation wasn't helped by the 100th's 'laissez-faire' attitude which led to poor formation flying and general sloppiness ( but made for colourful newpaper copy ). This changed with the arrival of Col. John M Bennett as acting CO.

 

the trailing element would not really come into play in the fall of 1943 as 85 % of the LW fighter attacks were either from the front or up high and then down low attacking from the sides as in the case of the twin engine destroyers so they could lob their inaccurate rockets and the US bomber formations. this of course changed in the summer of 44 as tactics demanded and US fighter escorts increased their range with LW attacks from the rear.

 

I thought they got the nickname from the bombing mission over Munster 10/10/1943 only 1 plane in their entire group to return to their home base at Thorpe Abbotts on that tragic, fateful day. The Group put up 18 aircraft along with 2 from the 390th BG to make it an even 20. Six Aircraft aborted over the sea, one of which being a 390th a/c. That left 13 100th Bomb Group aircraft to carry on towards Munster.

 

I highly recommend the DVD "WWII in HD: the Air War". It is a great introduction to the 8th AAF and the theory of strategic bombing....

"WWII in HD: The Air War presents the untold story of the American 8th Air Force's bloody battle to defeat the German Luftwaffe in the months leading up to D-Day.
Founded in Savannah, GA, weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 8th Air Force began with seven men and no planes. Less than a year later it is tasked with destroying the German Luftwaffe – the most powerful air force in the world – in preparation for the D-Day Normandy invasion. Without aerial supremacy, Allied leaders feared that the invasion would fail.
Told through the gripping, first person accounts of three American airmen and Stars & Stripes reporter Andy Rooney, The Air War showcases breathtaking aerial combat – original, color footage, never before seen by most Americans - of the B-17s "Flying Fortresses", P-47 "Thunderbolts" and P-51 "Mustangs" on missions such as Regensburg, Schweinfurt and Berlin. Never-before-seen 8mm footage of the airmen on the bases, the devastation in Germany, and the Luftwaffe perspective is also highlighted.
Flying 25,000 feet above the earth in oxygen-devoid air, and temperatures as low as 50 below zero, the 8th Air Force fought a war unlike anything ever before experienced. By the end, they would suffer more than 26,000 combat deaths – more than the US Marines lost in all of World War II."

 

follow up with Roger Freemans "mighty 8th" day to day diary as you can see the daily losses by each grp of the 8th

 

Will do Erich

 

One of the bloddiest raids for the ''Bloody Hundreth'' was the raid on Munster in 1943 where I beleve that the B-17 ''Rosie's Rivetters''

pilotd by Robert Rsenthal who later was the main speaker in 1986 when British Prime Minister Thatcher atteded a 100th B.G. reunion at their old base of Thorpe's Abbots-was the only plane to return form his wing from Munster, West Germany.
The Initial aiming point for this raid was given as ''the steps of Munster Cathedral...'' Ironic when yu consider tht this was the Church where Cardinal August Von Galen had preached publicly in 1941 against Hitler's Euthanasia programme.
Maybe the Almighty was displeased by the 100th's given Initial aiming point for the Munster raid?.

 

a good book on that particular raid is Ian Hawkins: The Münster Raid, Bloody skies over Germany. Had the LW twin engine destroyers not done a major "screw up" and got lost partially, and lack time of forming up they would of probably destroyed the 100th bg and another US heavy group en-masse attacks with ehavy cannon and rockets.

 

I hate to split hairs but Lt Robert Rosenthal was flying B-17F 42-6087 Royal Flush on the 10th October, 1943 Munster raid. After landing at Thorpe Abbotts, an unexploded 20mm shell was found in one of the B-17s wing tanks.....

A great book about this mission is Ian Hawkins' 'Munster- The Way It Was' ( Anaheim, 1984 )......Ooops ! Erich and I posted at once..........

 

Martin is correct. "Rosie's Riveters" was damaged on the October 8th mission to Bremen. So Rosenthal's crew flew the October 9th mission to Marienburg and the October 10th mission to Munster in "Royal Flush".

As an aside, a 7-part interview with Robert Rosenthal can be found on Youtube.
Part 1 is here: 1-Lt. Col. "Rosie" Rosenthal WWII Hero -- From Brooklyn to Berlin - YouTube

 

Yes Ihave the Ian Hwakins book on the Munser raid -that's where I obtaned the info about the steps of Munster Cathedral being the Initial Aiming Point fr the bombs.
Thanks for clarifying my confusion about ''Rossie's Rivetters'' and the plane that he was actually flying on that day over Munster

 

Good Lunchbox Lecture with a lot of information on the Bloody 100th and "Black Week" 1943.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcf9QmItPNY