World War II in Photographs
Подождите немного. Документ загружается.
1943
OPPOSITE PAGE
A Lancaster over Hamburg on the night of
January 30, 1943, silhouetted against the
glow of fires and the bright smears of flak.
ABOVE
The Americans initially championed the
concept of the self-defending bomber. This
B-17G carried thirteen .5-inch machine
guns: here the right waist-gunner scans
the sky for German fighters. However,
1943 demonstrated that even these Flying
Fortresses needed fighter escort if they
were to survive in daylight over Germany.
FOLLOWING PAGES
B-17s of the US Army Air Force's 8th
Air Force over Germany in mid-1943.
Above them are the criss-crossed
vapour trails of the escorting fighters.
271
1943
ABOVE
Three P-51D Mustangs of 361st
Fighter Group with an older P-51B in
the background. With auxiliary drop
tanks for fuel under each wing, the
Merlin-engined Mustangs could
eventually escort B-17 and B-24
bombers to Berlin and beyond.
274
1943
ABOVE
Pilots of P47 Thunderbolt fighters which,
by the end of 1943, were making a real
difference to the air battle over Germany.
275
1943
^IGHT
The port city of Hamburg was raided
repeatedly. This photograph shows damage
in July 1943: much worse was to come.
BELOW
An 88mm battery strikes back during an
RAF raid. Heavy guns like this did not
generally engage individual aircraft, but
fired a barrage of shells fused to burst at
the height of the incoming bomber stream.
276
1943
ABOVE
Berlin, December 1943. Victims of a
bombing raid are laid out for identification
in a gymnasium decorated with Christmas
trees. The strategic bomber offensive killed
between 750,000 and a million Germans.
277
1943
THE SURRENDER OF ITALY
After the fall of Mussolini Marshal Pietro Badoglio formed a
government which clandestinely agreed an armistice with the Allies.
The Allies landed in southern Italy on September 3, Italy's surrender
was announced on the 8th and on the following day the Allies
landed at Salerno, south of Naples. After narrowly beating off a
vicious German counterattack the Allies pushed northwards, but the
Germans defended the difficult ground from a series of well-prepared
defensive lines and the campaign became a grim attritional slog.
I'. I I OW
Badoglio (second left) after signing full armistice
terms aboard HMS Nelson on September 29.
Eisenhower is on his left: immediately
behind them, from left to right, are Air Chief
Marshal Tedder, Lieutenant General Mason-
MacFarlane, and a nattily-dressed Alexander.
278
1943
ABOVE
British troops coming ashore at Salerno
on September 9, from a landing craft
which is creating its own smoke screen.
279
1943
280