SOLDIERS PLACING A BANGALORE TORPEDO under barbed wire during a training problem in England, August 1943. When fired, the charge would explode and clear a path through the obstruction. This method was not only faster than cutting through the wire, but also did not expose the men unnecessarily to enemy fire.
ENGLAND
MEMBERS OF AN AIRBORNE DIVISION loading a ¼-ton 4x4 truck into a British Horsa glider (top). By removing the tail section, the glider could be unloaded in approximately seven minutes. Airborne infantrymen in a U. S. glider (bottom). In this picture men are armed with .30-caliber U. S. rifles M 1903A 3; .30-caliber U. S. rifles M 1; .45-caliber Thompson submachine gun M 1; 2.36-inch rocket launcher M 1A 1; and .30-caliber Browning automatic rifle M 1918A 2. Machine guns, mortars, and light artillery weapons were dropped by parachutes and brought in by gliders along with other supplies which made the airborne troops a compact fighting unit.
GERMANY
AERIAL VIEW OF SCHWEINFURT, GERMANY, October 1943. This city was the center of the ball-bearing factories, one of the target priorities picked for destruction by the strategic air force. The order of these priorities was as follows: (1) submarine construction yards and bases, (2) aircraft industry, (3) ball-bearing industry, (4) oil industry, (5) synthetic rubber plants, and (6) military transport vehicle industry. The Schweinfurt raid had considerable significance at this time because the Americans were still trying to prove the feasibility of daylight precision bombing. This crucial raid was made by a force of 228 heavy bombers and there ensued one of the greatest battles in Eighth Air Force history. From the German frontier at Aachen, where the fighter escort had to leave the bombers because of limited gasoline capacities, to Schweinfurt and return wave after wave of enemy fighters attacked the bombers.
GERMANY