Operation+Pointblank

On May 14, 1943, U.S. and Great Britain chiefs of staff had a meeting in Washington, D.C. where they approved and plot out Operation Pointblank. This was a joint bombing offensive to be organized from British airbases. Operation Pointblank’s aim was intended to set the stage for one fatal blow that would bring Germany to its knees.The immediate targets of Operation Pointblank were to be military transport-vehicle factories, Aircraft factories, store submarine construction yards and bases, and military transport-vehicle factories.

Operation Pointblank was put into effect in June 1943, and put German fighter strength at the top of the target list. This directive ordered the Eighth Air Force to destroy the German aviation industry and secure air superiority over the continent. General Eaker continued to believe his fast growing group of bombers would be able to successfully reach, bomb, and return from targets over the Reich itself.

On August 17, 1943, the Eighth Air Force launched its deepest raid against factories at Schweinfurt and aircraft production factories at Regensburg. The Luftwaffe destroyed or damaged much of the bomber force. After more raids against Luftwaffe airfields, the Eighth Air Force made another massive effort sometime in the next month. On September 6, Eaker sent 262 bombers against Stuttgart. The American's losses in unescorted raids suggested that the Eighth Air Force might not find planes and crews to replace those losses and maintain efficiency and morale.

The Eighth Air Force once again flew unescorted into the industrial part of Germany. The results were again disastrous. Losses in the second week of ‘Black October’ climbed until the second major strike against the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt completed the slaughter. On October 14, a force of 291 B-17s flew into Germany and lost 60 aircraft. Of the survivors, another 138 bombers suffered casualties or damage.

Operation Pointblank ended up being a success. The war for air superiority over Western Europe had been won. It had been won by a combination of fighters actively hunting down and killing Germany’s air force and Allied bombers damaging the factories that were being utilized to create the machinery needed by the German military for the war. Operation Pointblank proved that American air power’s first mission should always be the establishment of air superiority through the destruction of the enemy’s air force.