Today in World War II History

  Barrage balloon, Parris Island, South Carolina, May 1942
(US Library of Congress)70 Years Ago—Aug. 18, 1943: Luftwaffe chief of staff, Hans Jeschonnek, commits suicide after previous day’s RAF raid on Peenemünde and US 8th AF raids on Schweinfurt and Regensburg. Army Air Force barrage balloon battalions inactivated in US.