page_title: Schweinfurt
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Schweinfurt / History / World War II
context_page_description: Schweinfurt is a town in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative center of the surrounding district of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban agglomeration has 100,200 and the town's catchment area, including the Main-Rhön region and parts of South Thuringia, 759,000 inhabitants.
  Schweinfurt was first documented in 791 and is one of the oldest cities in Bavaria. Around 1000 the Margraves of Schweinfurt Margraves controlled large parts of northern Bavaria, from the 12th century until 1802 Schweinfurt was Free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, around 1700 a humanistic center and in 1770 began the 250-year industrial history.
  During the Second World War, the Americans suffered their biggest air defeat over Schweinfurt in the Second Raid on Schweinfurt. On April 11, 1945, the US Army invaded the city. During the Cold War, the 1945 founded USAG Schweinfurt had the highest concentration of US combat units in the Federal Republic of Germany.
context_section_description: In 1939, Schweinfurt produced most of Nazi Germany's ball bearings, and factories such as the Schweinfurter Kugellagerwerke became a target of Allied strategic bombing during World War II to cripple tank and aircraft production.  Schweinfurt was bombed 22 times during Operation Pointblank by a total of 2,285 aircraft.
  The Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission caused an immediate 34% loss of production and all plants but the largest were devastated by fire. Efforts to disperse the surviving machinery began immediately and the Luftwaffe deployed large numbers of interceptors along the corridor to Schweinfurt. Bombing also included the Second Raid on Schweinfurt on 14 October 1943 ("called Black Thursday because of the enormous loss of aircraft (60) and lives (600+)") and Big Week in February 1944. 
  Although losses of production bearings and machinery were high and much of the industrial and residential areas of the town were destroyed, killing more than a thousand civilians, the factories were restored to production and the industry dispersed. Although German planners initially thought it essential to purchase the entire output of the Swedish ball-bearing industry, losses in the production of bearings were actually made up from surpluses found within Germany in the aftermath of the first raid.  The decentralized industry was able to restore output to 85% of its pre-bombing level.  Hitler made restoration of ball bearing production a high priority and massive efforts were undertaken to repair and rebuild the factories, partly in bomb-proof underground facilities.
  The 42nd Infantry Division (United States) entered Schweinfurt on 11 April 1945 and engaged in house-to-house fighting.  On 12 April an internment camp at Goethe-Schule held male civilians aged 16–60.
caption: Operation Overlord with combined bomber offensive June 1944: Schweinfurt (checkered hatching in the German center) was the only primary target of the Allies in Bavaria
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