Zuckerman Archive: British Bombing Survey Unit

This series contains correspondence concerning the establishment of the British Bombing Survey Unit; correspondence relating to, and drafts and final versions of, BBSU reports; French and German railway and industry documents; pre- and early-war air plans; background papers for the BBSU's work; papers from the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS), the BBSU's American counterpart; and a large amount of material relating to Albert Speer, including interrogation reports and correspondence relating to Speer's meeting with Solly Zuckerman in 1974. Speer was a German architect who became a close confidant of Hitler and served as armaments and munitions minister from 1942 to 1945. From 1943 Speer had overall responsibility for Germany's war economy and under him German armaments production tripled between 1942 and 1944. At the Nuremberg Trials Speer was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for his use of forced labour.

The BBSU, of which Zuckerman was Scientific Director, was formed in June 1945 and took over the tasks of the Bombing Analysis Unit (BAU, to which Series SZ/BAU refers) and the British Bombing Research Mission (BBRM, to which Series SZ/BBRM refers). The BBSU's task was to assess the impact of the allied air offensive on the German war machine, with particular reference to transport, oil, and the economy

• SZ/BBSU/1 Correspondence and memoranda, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/2 Correspondence and memoranda, 1946
• Correspondence and memoranda, 1947
• SZ/BBSU/4 Correspondence and memoranda, 1948-1981
• SZ/BBSU/5 Press-cuttings, 1944-45
• SZ/BBSU/6 Planning Committee on Bombing Research, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/7 A note on certain aspects of the methodology of operational research, 1943
• SZ/BBSU/8 The organisation of German military transport by rail, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/9 BBSU overall report part I - drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/10 BBSU overall report part I - drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/11 BBSU overall report part I - bombing policies and directifs, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/12 BBSU overall report part II - drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/13 BBSU overall report part II - drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/14 BBSU overall report part II - the scale and distribution of the bomber effort, drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/15 BBSU overall report part II - drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/16 BBSU overall report part III - an appreciation of the effects of the combined bomber offensive, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/17 BBSU overall report part III - attacks on railways, drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/18 BBSU overall report part III - oil, drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/19 BBSU overall report part IV - discussion, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/20 BBSU overall report preface - drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/21 BBSU overall report glossary - drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/22 BBSU overall report contents lists - drafts, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/23 BBSU overall report rules for indexing, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/24 BBSU overall report index, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/25 The strategic air war against Germany 1939-1945, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/26 The results of the strategic air war 1939-1945, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/27 BBSU overall report proofs, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/28 BBSU overall report correspondence, 1945-1968
• SZ/BBSU/29 BBSU overall report - comments by Air Staff, 1946-47
• SZ/BBSU/30 BBSU Towns Panel Report on the effects of strategic air attacks on German towns, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/31 BBSU Oil Panel papers, 1945-1946
• SZ/BBSU/32 Oil as a factor in the German war effort 1939-1945, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/33 BBSU German Aircraft Industry Panel The effects of bombing on the German aircraft industry, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/34 BBSU Shipbuilding Panel The effects of bombing on the production of German U-boat, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/35 BBSU Towns Panel - correspondence, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/36 BBSU Inland Communications Panel Air attack on inland communications - introduction - drafts, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/37 BBSU Inland Communications Panel The effects of air attack on inland communications - proof, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/38 BBSU Inland Communications Panel The effects of air attack on inland communications - proofs and notes, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/39 BBSU Inland Communications Panel The effects of air attack on inland communications - proofs, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/40 BBSU Inland Communications Panel The effects of air attack on inland communications, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/41 BBSU Inland Communications Panel - miscellaneous data and notes, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/42 BBSU Inland Communications Panel - correspondence, 1946-1947
• SZ/BBSU/43 Socit Nationale des Chemins de Fer documents, 1944
• SZ/BBSU/44 Socit Nationale des Chemins de Fer documents, 1941-1944
• SZ/BBSU/45 Socit Nationale des Chemins de Fer documents, 1944
• SZ/BBSU/46 Socit Nationale des Chemins de Fer de Belge documents, 1944
• SZ/BBSU/47 Reichsbahn documents, 1947
• SZ/BBSU/48 Report on the findings of the Weapon Effectiveness Panel of the British Bombing Survey Unit, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/49 Power station data, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/50 BBSU Underground Structures Panel German experience in the underground transfer of war industries, 1947
• SZ/BBSU/51 BBSU Sea Communications Panel - report and correspondence, 1946-1949
• SZ/BBSU/52 Potential and actual output of German armaments in relation to the combined bomber offensive, 1947?
• SZ/BBSU/53 The effect of the allied air offensive on steel production in the Ruhr - draft, 1947?
• SZ/BBSU/54 Air Ministry files - notes and summaries made by SZ, 1943-1945?
• SZ/BBSU/55 Pre-war and early war air plans - summarised, 1937-1940
• SZ/BBSU/56 Air Ministry files - documents used in the BBSU overall report I, 1940-42
• SZ/BBSU/57 Air Ministry files - documents used in the BBSU overall report II, 1943-45
• SZ/BBSU/58 Air Ministry files - documents used in the BBSU overall report III, 1944-45
• SZ/BBSU/59 Speer minutes - extracts and summaries, 1945, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/60 Speer minutes - September-October 1944, 1944
• SZ/BBSU/61 Speer minutes - November 1944, 1944
• SZ/BBSU/62 Speer minutes - December 1944-January 1945, 1944-45
• SZ/BBSU/63 Speer minutes - speech at Rechlin 1944, 1944
• SZ/BBSU/64 Dr Rolf Wagenfuhr's report on the German war economy, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/65 Dr Passauer's report on German transport during the war, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/66 Speer interrogation - correspondence, 1946-1974
• SZ/BBSU/67 Speer interrogation - Glcksburg 17.5.45, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/68 Speer interrogation - Glcksburg 18.5.45, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/69 Speer interrogation - Glcksburg 19.5.45, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/70 Speer interrogation - Glcksburg 20.5.45, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/71 Speer interrogation - Glcksburg 21.5.45, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/72 Speer interrogation - Glcksburg 22.5.45, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/73 Minutes of interrogations of Albert Speer, Will Nagel, and Karl Saur, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/74 Speer interrogation - Kransberg 23 June 1945-6 September 1945, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/75 Goering interrogation, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/76 Miscellaneous prisoner of war statements, 1945-1946
• SZ/BBSU/77 Speer reports - FIAT indexes, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/78 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 1-15, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/79 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 16-19, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/80 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 20-30, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/81 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 31-40, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/82 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 41-49, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/83 Speer interrogation report No. 50, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/84 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 51-59, 1945-46
• SZ/BBSU/85 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 60-69, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/86 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 70-79, 1945-46
• SZ/BBSU/87 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 80-84, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/88 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 85-89, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/89 Speer interrogation reports Nos. 90-93, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/90 SZ-Speer meeting 28-29 August 1974 - correspondence and preliminary papers, 1973-76
• SZ/BBSU/91 SZ-Speer meeting 28-29 August 1974 - briefing papers, 1974
• SZ/BBSU/92 Advantages and defects of European transport networks (railways, roads, and inland waterways), and their significance as internal lines of communication in wartime, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/93 Attitudes of Germans to coal mining, 1946
• SZ/BBSU/94 Bochum documents, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/95 Rheinmetall-Borsig documents, 1938-1945
• SZ/BBSU/96 Essen documents, 1942-1945
• SZ/BBSU/97 Krupp documents, 1942-1945
• SZ/BBSU/98 Ruhrgas Aktiengesellschaft documents, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/99 Rheinische Westphalische Elektrizitatswerke documents, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/100 Vereinigte Elektrizitatswerke Westfalen documents, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/101 Analysis of MEW estimates of German war production,1945?
• SZ/BBSU/102 Germany's war effort and its failure, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/103 Nicholas Kaldor's German war economy papers, 1945-1947
• SZ/BBSU/104 Report on the work of the Weapons Doctrine Panel, 1947
• SZ/BBSU/105 Reunion of war-time scientific advisers, AAEE, Boscombe Down September 1946, 1946-47
• SZ/BBSU/106 USSBS Overall report (European War), 1945
• SZ/BBSU/107 USSBS Summary report (European War), 1945
• SZ/BBSU/108 USSBS Summary report (Pacific War), 1946
• SZ/BBSU/109 The effects of strategic bombing on the German war economy - Extracts, 1945?
• SZ/BBSU/110 The effects of strategic bombing on the German war economy, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/111 USSBS Special papers Nos. 1-4, 1946?
• SZ/BBSU/112 USSBS Transportation Division The effects of strategic bombing on German transportation, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/113 USSBS Oil Division Final report German oil, chemical, rubber, explosives and propellants industries, 1945
• SZ/BBSU/114 The German oil industry, 1945?
• SZ/BBSU/115 USSBS Oil, Chemicals, and Rubber Division Huels synthetic rubber plant, 1946

Please refer to the fonds-level description for GB 1187 SZ.

BG; DNS

Please refer to the fonds-level description for GB 1187 SZ.

The work of the British Bombing Survey Unit is described and reviewed in Annex V of Sir Charles Webster and Noble Frankland: The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany 1939-1945, Volume V, HMSO,  1961 . The overall report of the Unit was published with introductory material by Sebastian Cox as The Strategic Air War Against Germany, 1939-1945 : Report of the British Bombing Survey Unit, London ; Frank Cass, 1998  (Studies in air power; no.4).