SZ/AEAF/1/8/1a - Air attack on the enemy's railways, 28/7/43

Reference code

SZ/AEAF/1/8/1a

Level of description

Item

Title

Air attack on the enemy's railways, 28/7/43

Date/s

1943

Quantity & Format

1 leaf

Personal name

Vasse, Gordon Herbert, 1899-1965

Creator

Great Britain. Ministry of War Transport. Railways (Maintenance) Division.

Scope and content

Sent to SZ by Air Commodore Vasse, Air Ministry, 4/2/44. The paper was produced at the request of the Air Ministry and reviews "the priority of choice of Railway Targets" and sets out the order of priority of strategic railway targets as: a)motive power (plants building or maintaining locomotives; locomotive depots; water and coaling facilities and turntables; destruction of power stations feeding railways); b) traffic facilities (vital junctions; larger signal-boxes; telegraph and telephone centres; marshalling yards; goods yards). Tactical target priorities are identified as: a) long viaducts and multiple-span bridges, embankments and tunnels; b) vital junctions; c) locomotive running sheds, water supplies and turntables; d) moving trains, especially engines, preferably on the approach to bridges or tunnels.

The paper concludes by stressing the importance of repeated attacks "at frequent intervals".

SZ/AEAF/1/8/1

Headed "Copy".

SZ - Zuckerman Archive
- SZ/AEAF - [Allied Expeditionary Air Force]
  - SZ/AEAF/1 - [AEAF Planning]
    - SZ/AEAF/1/8 - [AEAF Planning. Central Railway Executive and Railway Research Service (C in C's meeting with Railway Executive)]
      - SZ/AEAF/1/8/1a - Air attack on the enemy's railways, 28/7/43

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