Diary August 17, 1943

Shot down B-17 Fortress of the first Schweinfurt raid
Shot down B-17 Fortress of the first Schweinfurt raid. On the wings the commodore of JG 2, Mayer (left).
WW2 War Diary for Saturday, August 17, 1943:

Air War

Germany – FIRST SCHWEINFURT RAID: 230 8th USAAF B-17 Fortress bomb ball-bearing works at Schweinfurt and 146 B-17s bomb Regensburg; 60 planes lost.
PEENEMUNDE RAID: 597 RAF night bombers (40 lost) attack V-weapons experimental establishment in northeast Germany, killing 732 and halting V-2 tests until October 6.
Britain: 88 German bombers (11 lost) despatched to Lincoln; none find the target. Bombs scattered along East Coast (night August 17-18).
Pacific: US 5th AF carries out a devastating series of raids on air bases in Wewak area of New Guinea (August 17 and 18).

Home Fronts

Germany: Colonel-General Jeschonnek, Luftwaffe COS, commits suicide.

Mediterranean

Sicily – END OF SICILIAN CAMPAIGN: Americans and British enter Messina. Axis forces evacuated (Operation Lehrgang, ‘Training course’): 39,569 German and 62,000 Italian troops, with all their equipment and supplies, transported across Straits of Messina in small craft. Unprecedented flak ‘umbrella’ prevents Allied air forces from causing serious disruption during 14-day operation.

Sicily Campaign Losses:

Casualties Planes
German32,000 (mainly PoWs) 597
Italian132,000 (mainly PoWs) 144
British and Canadian 12,843 345 (incl US)
US9,968(with British)

Oval@3x 2

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