Bombers over Sand and Snow: 205 Group RAF in World War II by Alun Granfield

Author:Alun Granfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Aviation
ISBN: 9781844687084
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2011-05-09T16:00:00+00:00

During the fighting in Sicily the Wellingtons at Kairouan operated on thirty-five nights and flew 2,647 sorties against targets on the island and in Southern Italy. The key date for No. 205 Group during this period came on 15 July 1943, when it assumed full operational control of Nos 330 and 331 Wings. The force now comprised nine squadrons: No. 231 Wing (Nos 37 and 70 Squadrons) at Kairouan North/Temmar; No. 236 Wing (Nos 40 and 104 Squadrons) at Hani West; No. 330 Wing (Nos 142 and 150 Squadrons) at Kairouan West/Allani; and No. 331 Wing at Zina (Nos 420 and 425 Squadrons) and Pavillier (No. 424 Squadron).1

A significant proportion of the effort during the period (714 sorties – 27 per cent) was directed at railway targets in Italy in an attempt to disrupt the flow of supplies and reinforcements to the island. The vast fleet assembled for the invasion and now lying in easy range of the enemy air forces provided an excellent target, and the bomber airfields were another major target for the Wellingtons. The airfields on Sicily were attacked early in the campaign; attention then switched to the airfields across the straits of Messina and on the toe and heel of Italy, and finally airfields in and around Naples were bombed. In all, 582 sorties were despatched to the airfields, comprising 22 per cent of the total effort. However, the greatest proportion of the Wellington’s sorties during the period came between 5/6 and 16/17 August, and were directed at beaches around Messina, from where it was believed that the enemy was embarking troops and equipment being evacuated from Sicily. A total of 857 sorties (32 per cent) were despatched to the beaches, but failed to halt the flow.

On the night of 9/10 July, as the airborne troops were on their way to Sicily, a big and complicated set of bombing operations was aimed at Catania and Syracuse, intended to cover the glider operations by the British 1st Airborne Division. Seventy-nine aircraft were to attack Syracuse, and, of these, six were to attack the seaplane base and six the marshalling yards. The remainder were to attack an area selected to create a diversion for the airborne troops while they formed up to prepare for the assault on the town. Another force of nineteen Wellingtons was to attack Catania marshalling yards and military installations, while Bostons dropped dummy paratroops in that area to mislead the enemy into thinking that Catania was the objective. Nineteen Wellingtons were given the task of preventing enemy reserves from resisting the invading forces at Canicatti, Caltanissetta, Caltagirone and Palazzolo. Lastly, twelve aircraft of No. 331 Wing were to carry out a Mandrel operation to swamp enemy radar off the south coast of Sicily to swamp enemy radar, and Rome and Naples were allotted one Wellington each for nickelling (leaflet dropping). Gunby records that the bombing at Syracuse ‘had to be done without flares, to avoid illuminating the airborne operations, and at low level to achieve the necessary accuracy’.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.