The story
Aircraft of the British No. 617 Squadron made an attack on the Antheor Viaduct, a bottle-neck on the main railway line between Marseille, France and Genoa, Italy. It had been attacked three times before without success and 100,000 tons of German supplies crossed it every week to keep Albert Kesselring's Italian armies in action. Cheshire in one Lancaster bomber and Martin in another, were to mark the target. They were met by a hail of flak and the night was completely black. The attack failed, although there were several near misses. This convinced Cheshire that they needed Mosquito aircraft instead of Lancaster bombers if low-level bombing was to achieve success.
There's more to discover
You have arrived at just one small part of Back to Normandy — a personal project dedicated to preserving stories, images, music and memories of the Second World War.
Every record is a doorway to a larger story. Explore Back to Normandy to discover more, or visit Fred Vogels' personal website to learn about the person and the projects behind it.