Blitz Week was a period of United States Army Air Forces

United States Army Air Forces

The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....

 (USAAF) aerial bombardment

Strategic bombing

Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...

 during the Combined Bomber Offensive

Combined Bomber Offensive

The Combined Bomber Offensive was an Anglo-American offensive of strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was against German Air Force targets which was the highest priority from June 1943 to 1944...

 of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Air raids

Strategic bombing

Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...

 were conducted on six of seven days as part of Operation Gomorrah, against targets such as the chemical plant at Herøya

Herøya

Herøya is a peninsula in the municipality of Porsgrunn, Norway. It is located between the fjords of Frierfjord to the west and Gunneklevfjord to the east, at the mouth of Telemarksvassdraget...

, Norway, which produced nitrates for explosives; and the AGO Flugzeugwerke

AGO Flugzeugwerke

AGO Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company from 1941 until 1945. The initials AGO had a variety of meanings during the company's lifetime, but in the its final version stood for Apparatebau GmbH Oschersleben...

 A. G. plant (an Operation Pointblank target) at Oschersleben

Oschersleben

Oschersleben is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2005 about 18,000.-Geography:...

, Germany that assembled Focke-Wulf 190s. The Kassel mission on the 28th was the first use of P-47 Thunderbolt

P-47 Thunderbolt

Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to...

 auxiliary fuel tanks

Drop tank

In aeronautics, a drop tank is used to describe auxiliary fuel tanks externally carried by aircraft. A drop tank is expendable and often jettisonable...

.