parsifal
Colonel
According to Historynet.com, Bari was planned by Von Richthofen, with the primary target designated as the docks, rather than the ships. The first waves of the attack stuck to that plan, however, as subsequent aircraft arrived, and the vulnerability and ease with which the ships could be attacked. According to the article "The Germans arrived at Bari on schedule. First Lieutenant Gustav Teuber, leading the first wave, could hardly believe his eyes. The docks were brilliantly lit; cranes stood out in sharp relief as they unloaded cargo from the ships' gaping holds, and the east jetty was packed with ships."
It appears at this stage that the Germans switched at least some of their aircraft to the "secondary " targets, the ships themselves. The Germans were unaware that some of the ships in the harbour were ammunition ships, and that one contained deadly mustard gas bombs. The hits on the ammunition ships set off a series of secondary explosions that had a devastating impact. A reasonable estimate on the number of aircraft switching their attentions to the moored shipping, might be 70 out of the 96 participating aircraft
I think it has to be conceded that that Bari was a devastating raid, well planned, researched, and executed. It would also be wrong to discount the Ju88 as anything other than a very capable weapon system, or that Dive bombing was not effective as a technique. However it's a real stretch to argue that the raid on Bari was somehow better or more efficient than many other precision raids. And I do not think the Ju88 or divebombing was even the main factor in the achievement of that success. To me the factors leading to the devastation in rough orfder of importance are
1) Poor planning and defence preparedness by the allies
2) Excessive congestion and backlogs in the port. Excess ship should have been sent out to sea rather than allow the port to back up so badly
3) Excellent recon by the Germans
4) The development of an excellent tactical plan by Richthofen
5) And finally, the efficiency of the Ju-88 and divebombing as a weapons platform.
However, before allowing ourselves to get too carried away about how remarkable this raidwe need to consider some things . The overwhelming majority of the damage wasn't even the direct result of Axis activity, most of the losses were due to explosions from the exploding allied ships. Moreover as a tonnage return per aircraft, the German raid was not that efficient at all...it was under 2000 tons per aircraft actually. If 70 aircraft were needed to sink 17 ships, and each aircraft was carrying 4 or 5 bombs each, that's an average hit ratio of about 1 bomb hit per 19 dropped, or that about 5.3% accuracy, assuming each ship was hit was hit at least once. But in fact it was less than that, since many of the ships were in fact sunk by the secondary explosions coming from the ammunition ships.
I cannot help comparing that effort to the achievements of the swordfish attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto in 1940. In that attack, 21 British aircraft carried attacked the Italian fleet (their primary target) and also the oil storage farms of the port. Some of the attackers carried flares and bombs, and one of the torpedo carrying aircraft was forced to turn back. Of the twenty one aircraft involved , I think 11 carried torpedoes, the remainder carried bombs or flares. Of these 11 torpedoes launched, there were at least 6 hits, for strike accuracy of 54.5%. The tonnage sunk or seriously damaged per aircraft was roughly 7500 tons per aircraft.
Whilst these comparisons are rough, and not of great value in terms of working out the real accuracy of each type, it also brings into sharp focus just where Bari lies in terms of its accuracy levels…….a long way down the scale to put it bluntly.
It appears at this stage that the Germans switched at least some of their aircraft to the "secondary " targets, the ships themselves. The Germans were unaware that some of the ships in the harbour were ammunition ships, and that one contained deadly mustard gas bombs. The hits on the ammunition ships set off a series of secondary explosions that had a devastating impact. A reasonable estimate on the number of aircraft switching their attentions to the moored shipping, might be 70 out of the 96 participating aircraft
I think it has to be conceded that that Bari was a devastating raid, well planned, researched, and executed. It would also be wrong to discount the Ju88 as anything other than a very capable weapon system, or that Dive bombing was not effective as a technique. However it's a real stretch to argue that the raid on Bari was somehow better or more efficient than many other precision raids. And I do not think the Ju88 or divebombing was even the main factor in the achievement of that success. To me the factors leading to the devastation in rough orfder of importance are
1) Poor planning and defence preparedness by the allies
2) Excessive congestion and backlogs in the port. Excess ship should have been sent out to sea rather than allow the port to back up so badly
3) Excellent recon by the Germans
4) The development of an excellent tactical plan by Richthofen
5) And finally, the efficiency of the Ju-88 and divebombing as a weapons platform.
However, before allowing ourselves to get too carried away about how remarkable this raidwe need to consider some things . The overwhelming majority of the damage wasn't even the direct result of Axis activity, most of the losses were due to explosions from the exploding allied ships. Moreover as a tonnage return per aircraft, the German raid was not that efficient at all...it was under 2000 tons per aircraft actually. If 70 aircraft were needed to sink 17 ships, and each aircraft was carrying 4 or 5 bombs each, that's an average hit ratio of about 1 bomb hit per 19 dropped, or that about 5.3% accuracy, assuming each ship was hit was hit at least once. But in fact it was less than that, since many of the ships were in fact sunk by the secondary explosions coming from the ammunition ships.
I cannot help comparing that effort to the achievements of the swordfish attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto in 1940. In that attack, 21 British aircraft carried attacked the Italian fleet (their primary target) and also the oil storage farms of the port. Some of the attackers carried flares and bombs, and one of the torpedo carrying aircraft was forced to turn back. Of the twenty one aircraft involved , I think 11 carried torpedoes, the remainder carried bombs or flares. Of these 11 torpedoes launched, there were at least 6 hits, for strike accuracy of 54.5%. The tonnage sunk or seriously damaged per aircraft was roughly 7500 tons per aircraft.
Whilst these comparisons are rough, and not of great value in terms of working out the real accuracy of each type, it also brings into sharp focus just where Bari lies in terms of its accuracy levels…….a long way down the scale to put it bluntly.