HAMBURG AFTER HEAVY RAF RAID 
March 5/6 1943 RAF raid on Essen. Night raid on Krupp works. Of 442 planes involved 14 destroyed 38 damaged. Heavy damage to Krupps, 160 acres of Essen devastated. First use of "Oboe" radar device which helped to overcome industrial haze in the Ruhr area.
May 16/17 1943 RAF Dams raid, the famous precision raid on the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams. A new invention, the "Bouncing Bomb" was used. 19 Lancasters were involved, 8 were destroyed 6 damaged. The Mohner and Eder dams were breached, the Sorpe only damaged. Some 1.000 people were drowned as a result of the severe flooding. This was a landmark raid in the development of precision bombing techniques.
July 24/25 RAF raid on Hamburg. A night area raid on the city centre. Of the 791 planes involved 12 were lost, 31 damaged. Over 2.200 tons of bombs dropped. Widespread damage to residential areas. Fires were still burning 24 hours after the raid. This raid was a major success for RAF Bomber Command. German radar was confused by "Window" strips of tinfoil used for the first time. This raid was followed by mass attacks on the city on the nights of July 27,29 and August 2 1943, Hamburg was left in ruins. Over 42.000 people were thought to have been killed.
October 14 1943 8th US Air force raid on Schweinfurt. A daylight precision raid on the ball-bearing works. Of the 291 planes involved 60 were destroyed 138 damaged. This was the most damaging of the 16 Schweinfurt raids. Crippling losses caused by German fighters, exploded the theory of a self-defending bomber, and forced the US to curtail the daylight bombing offensive.
November 18/19 1943. RAF raid on Berlin. Night area raid on city centre. Of 444 planes involved 9 lost. Some 1.500 tons of bombs dropped. Damage unknown but probably considerable. This was the first of 16 mass raids on Berlin, involving over 9.000 planes in all.
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