Operation Crossbow

World War II Operation Crossbow vs Eisbär (V-1) & Pinguin (V-2)
Part of Strategic bombing campaigns in Europe
La Coupole (Wizernes) "Heavy Crossbow" target
Date August 1943 – May 2, 1945 Location Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands Result "limited effect"
Belligerents
United Kingdom  United States  Canada	Nazi Germany
Strength
Sorties/bomb tonnage: Total: 68,913/122,133 RAF: 19,584/72,141 USAAF: 17,211/30,350	V-1 launches: 9,251 against (>8000 @London), 2,448 @Antwerp V-2 launches: 1664, 1402, 76, 19, 11 (Ludendorff Bridge)
Casualties and losses
Airmen/aircraft: 700 KIA/154 British civilians killed/ seriously injured: V-1: 6,184/17,981 V-2: 2,754/6,523	V-1: 4,261 destroyed by AA guns (1,878), barrage balloons (231), and fighters (1,846): Tempest–638, Mosquito–428, Spitfire–303, P-51–232 V-2: 51/117 killed/wounded, 48/69 rockets/vehicles damaged

External images

1944 Crossbow Network (map) USSBS Crossbow Exhibits

Sorties/bomb tonnage:
Total: 68,913/122,133
RAF: 19,584/72,141

Airmen/aircraft:

British civilians killed/
seriously injured:

V-1: 4,261 destroyed
by AA guns (1,878),
barrage balloons (231),
and fighters (1,846):

Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme. It included operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight".

The original 1943 code name Bodyline was replaced with Crossbow on November 15, 1943.Post-war, Crossbow operations became known as Operation Crossbow as early as 1962, particularly following the 1965 film of the same name.

In May 1943 Allied surveillance observed the construction of the first of 11 large sites in northern France for secret German weapons, including six for the V-2 rocket. In November it discovered the first of 96 "ski sites" for the V-1 flying bomb. Officials debated the extent of the German weapons' danger; some viewed the sites as decoys to divert Allied bombers, while others feared chemical or biological warheads. When reconnaissance and intelligence information regarding the V-2 became convincing, the War Cabinet Defence Committee (Operations) directed the campaign's first planned raid (the Operation Hydra attack of Peenemünde in August 1943).

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Wikipedia