This illustrated study explores in detail the RAF's first concentrated air campaign of World War II against one of the hardest and most important targets in Germany -- the industrial heartland of the Ruhr that kept Hitler's war machine running. Between March and July 1943, RAF Bomber Command undertook its first concentrated bombing campaign, the Battle of the Ruhr, whose aim was nothing less than the destruction of the industry that powered the German war machine. This campaign has often been overshadowed by its most famous single raid - the "Dambusters" attack on the Ruhr dams. However, it was much larger, more complex, and more important than a single raid. This mighty, industrial Ruhr region contained not just some of the most famous and important arms makers, such as the gunmakers Krupp of Essen, but also many of the other industries that the German war economy relied on, from steelmakers to synthetic oil plants. As such a valuable target, the Ruhr was one of the most heavily defended regions in Europe. This book examines how the brutal Ruhr campaign was conceived and fought, and how Bomber Command's relentless pursuit of this objective drew it into raids on targets beyond the Ruhr, from the nearby city of Cologne to the Skoda works in Czechoslovakia. Drawing on a wide-range of primary and secondary sources, this is the story of the first titanic struggle in the skies over Germany between RAF Bomber Command and the Luftwaffe, as the British bombers set out to destroy industrial Germany.

Drawing on a wide-range of primary and secondary sources, this is the story of the first titanic struggle in the skies over Germany between RAF Bomber Command and the Luftwaffe, as the British bombers set out to destroy industrial Germany.