Combined Round The Clock Bombing Offensives - Attacking Nazi Germany (Images Of War - Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives)

The Combined Bombing Offensive or CBO was the official term for what was later known as The Round The Clock Bombing Offensive (because it took place at night and in daytime on the same targets), and it involved the use of Allied Aircrews in a coordinated series of operations from July 1943 through to VE-Day. The Allied Air Force Commanders were ordered by their respective governments in the 'Pointblank Directive' of 1943 to principally operate from this point on only against a list of specific targets as detailed in the directive, and in turn removed any form of autonomy in target selection that those self same commanders had once been permitted. The directive was issued in preparation for the upcoming invasion and future liberation of Europe from the occupation of the Reich, and in time, for the invasion of the Reich itself. The Targets selected were aimed at facilitating these goals and the highest priority ones were; Luftwaffe Airfields, Production and Support Units, Petroleum-Oil-Lubrication Production Plants and Storage Depots, V-Weapon Facilities and Production Locations, Railway and Transport Hubs and Repair Yards, U-Boat Construction and Repair Facilities, Dedicated Military targets like the KMS Tirpitz and Panzer Production and Repair Facilities. This collection of rare archival photographs collated by Aviation Author and Photographer Philip Kaplan concentrates on this period of the Air War and provides a pictorial history of some of the major operations in this period of the Air War with supporting text from Allied bomber Aircrews and Groundstaff involved. Some of the Operations covered include, Peenemunde (1943), The Ruhr (1943-44), Hamburg (1943) and Berlin (1943-44). The success of the long running Pen & Sword Images Of War series is due chiefly to its use of some of the worlds best known photographic archives, in concert with other less well known sources like survivors or associations.