8. Amiens Jailbreak

Officially, France surrendered to the Nazis two weeks after the invasion. However, the French resistance movement put up a fight to the very end. Germans had to free up Amiens Prison to fit all the captured partisans.

The Allies knew that freeing them would be the most effective step toward liberating France. But Amiens was located far from the front lines so ground forces wouldn’t get there any time soon.

vintag.es

Somehow, the captured resistance fighters were able to pass along a message to Allied forces. They encouraged the idea of an air strike, which is insane considering the 1940’s “precision” technology. Bombs were literally dropped from an aircraft and hitting a target was 90% luck and 10% wind speed.

To take down one of the inner walls, a pilot had to lower his plane within (literary) arm’s reach of his target.