Friedrichshafen WWII bombings
Encyclopedia
Bombing of Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen
This article is about a German town. For the Danish town, see Frederikshavn, and for the Finnish town, see Fredrikshamn .Friedrichshafen is a university city on the northern side of Lake Constance in Southern Germany, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria.It is the district capital of the...

 in 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...

attacked 5 strategic targets in the Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...

 district 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...

 campaigns of Operation Pointblank and Operation Crossbow
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...

 against Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 manufacturing. Targets included the Dornier Flugzeugwerke
Dornier Flugzeugwerke
Dornier Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer founded in Friedrichshafen in 1914 by Claudius Dornier. Over the course of its long lifespan, the company produced many notable designs for both the civil and military markets.-History:...

 aircraft works at Manzell, the Maybach
Maybach
Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH is a German luxury car manufacturer. It was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son. The company was originally a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and was itself known as Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH until 1912.Today, the ultra-luxury car brand is owned by...

 tank factory, the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German company which, during the early 20th century, was a leader in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, specifically of the Zeppelin type. The company was founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin...

 aircraft works and its Oberraderach
Oberraderach
Oberraderach was the World War II location of Prüffeld-Anlage Raderach, a V-2 rocket test facility code named "Porcelain Factory" . Oberraderach testing ensured V-2 turbopumps did not overpressure combustion chambers and was planned for rocket motors to be installed by the nearby Zeppelin Works ...

 test facility near Raderach, and the Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen AG
ZF Friedrichshafen
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg....

 factory.
valign=top| Chronology
Date Target Description
Zeppelin Works Allied intelligence had suspected
V-1 and V-2 Intelligence
Intelligence on the V-1 and V-2 weapons developed by the Germans for attacks on the United Kingdom during the Second World War was important to countering them...

 the Zeppelin Works was involved with the V-2 rocket
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...

.
Zeppelin Works Operation Bellicose
Operation Bellicose
The Operation Bellicose strategic bombing in World War II targeted the Nazi Germany Zeppelin Works in Friedrichshafen and the La Spezia, Italy, naval base and was the first use of shuttle bombing in World War II and the second use of a Master Bomber...

 targeted suspected Würzburg radar
Würzburg radar
The Würzburg radar was the primary ground-based gun laying radar for both the Luftwaffe and the German Army during World War II. Initial development took place before the war, entering service in 1940. Eventually over 4,000 Würzburgs of various models were produced...

 production at Friedrichshafen. (In early June, a CIU
RAF Medmenham
RAF Medmenham was a Royal Air Force station based at Danesfield House near Medmenham, in Buckinghamshire, England.Activities there specialized in photographic intelligence, and it was once the home of the RAF Intelligence Branch...

 photo interpreter (Claude Wavell) had identified a stack of ribbed baskets--Würzburg radar
Würzburg radar
The Würzburg radar was the primary ground-based gun laying radar for both the Luftwaffe and the German Army during World War II. Initial development took place before the war, entering service in 1940. Eventually over 4,000 Würzburgs of various models were produced...

 reflectors--at the Zeppelin Works, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

 had reviewed the photos on June 14, and No. 5 Group RAF
No. 5 Group RAF
No. 5 Group was a Royal Air Force bomber group of the Second World War, led during the latter part by AVM Sir Ralph Cochrane.-History:The Group was formed on 1 September 1937 with headquarters at RAF Mildenhall....

 received attack orders on June 16.) The bombing hit the Zeppelin Works' V-2 production which had only produced a few V-2 tanks and fuselage sections by June 20.
1944-02 An underground factory at Immenstaad
Immenstaad
Immenstaad is a municipality in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on the north shore of Lake Constance near the Austrian and Swiss borders...

 near Friedrichshafen was suspected of being a synthetic oil and/or liquid oxygen plant.
1944-04-28 ZF Friedrichshafen A night attack by 322 heavy bombers damaged several factories and destroyed the factory producing tank gearboxes.
1944-07-20 Zeppelin Works The 485 BG bombed Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. (V-2 production planned for Zeppelin had been moved to the Mittelwerk
Mittelwerk
Central Works was a World War II factory that used Mittelbau-Dora forced labor in 2 main tunnels in the Kohnstein. The underground facility produced V-2 rockets, V-1 flying bombs, and other Nazi weapons.-Mittelwerk GmbH:...

 after Operation Hydra (1943) bombed the Peenemünde Army Research Center.)
1944-07-28 The 464 BG bombed the Manzell aircraft works.
1944-08-03 Oberraderach
Oberraderach
Oberraderach was the World War II location of Prüffeld-Anlage Raderach, a V-2 rocket test facility code named "Porcelain Factory" . Oberraderach testing ensured V-2 turbopumps did not overpressure combustion chambers and was planned for rocket motors to be installed by the nearby Zeppelin Works ...

 & ZF Friedrichshafen
Oberraderach (primary target) and the Zahnradfabrik (gearwheel factory) secondary target were bombed. As early as September 20, 1942, Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...

 had warned Hitler of the critical importance of Friedrichshafen tank plants and Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt is a city in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria in Germany on the right bank of the canalized Main, which is here spanned by several bridges, 27 km northeast of Würzburg.- History :...

 ball-bearing plants.
1944-08-16 Oberraderach The 485 BG bombed the Ober chemical works.
1944-10 Goldbacher Stollen In an underground tunnel near Friedrichshafen, forced labor of KZ-Häftlinge im Goldbacher Stollen, KZ Nebenlager Raderach and the Aufkirch subcamp of Dachau concentration camp provided forced labor for constructing a facility for armament manufacturing (code name "Magnesit") safe from Allied air raids.
1945-02-25 Maybach
Maybach
Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH is a German luxury car manufacturer. It was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son. The company was originally a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and was itself known as Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH until 1912.Today, the ultra-luxury car brand is owned by...

 tank factory
Mission 847: 377 B-17s are sent to hit the Maybach tank factory at Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen
This article is about a German town. For the Danish town, see Frederikshavn, and for the Finnish town, see Fredrikshamn .Friedrichshafen is a university city on the northern side of Lake Constance in Southern Germany, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria.It is the district capital of the...

 (63) using Gee-H. Maybach Motorenbau (Freidrichshafen) and Norddeutsche Motorenbau (Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

) produced nearly all tank engines.
1945-04 Goldbacher Stollen The incomplete underground facilities were captured by French troops (~170 forced laborers died during the construction).,

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