13. Hamburg’s industry recovered quickly, despite the devastation from the British raids
Hamburg’s aircraft production industry returned to over 91% of what it was before the bombing by the end of the year. British strategy destroyed the homes of the workers, but not the facilities in which they worked, for the most part. By the end of the year, much of Hamburg’s industrial capacity was producing at levels which surpassed those before the British raids. The submarine building capacity at Blohm & Voss was restored in less than two months, and a German U-boat which had been under construction during the raids was launched in September. The British raids had neither demoralized the Germans nor significantly damaged production for more than a few weeks.
The same was true in other German cities. German fighter aircraft production increased in 1942, increased further in 1943, and reached its peak wartime production levels in 1944. The same was true of U-boats. Tanks and other armored vehicles continued to roll off German production lines, destined for the Russian Front and the fighting in Italy. The Allied bombing offensive through 1943 did little other than inflict casualties on civilians, Luftwaffe fighter pilots, and Allied airmen. Without control of the sky over France, the cross-channel invasion of occupied Europe was too risky to consider. The Allied air offensive had to seize control of Europe’s skies.
