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List of strategic bombings over Germany in World War II

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A list of strategic bombing over Germany in World War II includes cities and towns in Germany attacked by RAF Bomber Command and the Eighth Air Force. This list is not complete.

History

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Defence of Germany

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German defensive strategy of their country, and neighbouring occupied countries, against strategic bombing was conducted by the Defence of the Reich.

In February 1944, the RAF and USAAF air raids of Big Week notably limited the offensive capability of the Luftwaffe, from which it would never recover. On the first day of Big Week, 127 German fighters were shot down for the loss of one P-51 Mustang fighter.[citation needed] 434 German fighter pilots were killed in February 1944, which was 17% of the total, and many were the more-experienced fighter pilots.

The German air defence had advanced radar and was often impenetrable, or only penetrable at great cost; only aircraft such as the de Havilland Mosquito could completely outwit the German defences; the Mosquito was almost impossible to shoot down, being able to outrun most German fighter aircraft too, and it carried no discernible defensive armament. Around fifteen German cities were firebombed, in which destruction of the cities was almost total; the temperatures created in the firestorm were huge. Many north-western German cities were bombed in late 1943 in the Battle of the Ruhr.

On 27 May 1940, a 10 Sqn Armstrong Whitworth Whitley on German raid, becomes first time that a RAF rear gunner shot down a German fighter. On 5 May 1943, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt escorted for the first time. On 26 July 1944, the first time that a jet fighter shot down an aircraft occurred in air combat history, when a Me 262 shot down a reconnaissance Mosquito of 540 Sq.

Destruction

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Approximately 410,000 German civilians were killed in the strategic bombing.[1] Within the 1937 borders of Germany, industrial capacity was greater at the end of the war than at the beginning. British and American raids often deliberately targeted the highly flammable medieval and early modern city centres, which had no military value. The raids intensified in the final months of the war, when Germany's defeat was effectively inevitable.

42 22,000lb Grand Slam devices were dropped over Germany.

Strategic bombing

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Darmstadt after the firebombing of 11 September 1944

B

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  • Bombing of Berlin in World War II; in the first four months of the RAF campaign, the RAF lost around 1,000 aircraft; the USAAF joined the Berlin campaign from March 1944, with Mustang fighter support; the Luftwaffe fighter pilots were deeply alarmed by the numbers of the Mustangs; on 6 March 1944, the first large US raid drops 1600 tons of bombs from 600 bombers, with around 160 of the 800 defending German fighters being shot down; the largest USAAF raid of the entire war, with 1,500 bombers of the Eighth Air Force, was on the morning of 3 February 1945, with 2,300 tons dropped, causing a firestorm, killing 2,500
  • Bombing of Braunschweig (15 October 1944); the main raid was on 14/15 October 1944 by No. 5 Group RAF and part of the 24-hour Operation Hurricane, where around 10,000 tons were dropped.
  • Bombing of Bremen in World War II, on 13 April 1943, 115 B-17s destroy half of the Focke-Wulf factory; on 8 October 1943 the raid caused a firestorm

C

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D

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E

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  • Bombing of Emden, on 31 March 1941, the first 4,000lb cookie was dropped, and was the 37th raid on the town, dropped by two Wellingtons of 149 Sqn at RAF Mildenhall, piloted by Sqn Ldr K Wass and Pilot Off Franks; the propaganda film Target for Tonight was being filmed at this time at Mildenhall; the 4,000lb device was described as five-times more powerful than previous RAF ordnance[2]; the largest raid on 6 September 1944, destroys 80% of the city
  • Bombing of Essen in World War II, on 8 March 1942 was the first carpet bombing raid by RAF, with the first electronic navigation of the RAF, with 211 aircraft, and the Gee radio navigation system; on 5 March 1943, there was a huge raid, with 160 acres destroyed in a firestorm; this was the first raid of the 'Battle of the Ruhr', with 442 aircraft; and from this moment on, due to advanced ground radar, the targets were mostly found; on 10 April 1943, the first 8,000lb ordnance was dropped, by a Halifax of 76 Sqn, piloted by Pilot Off M. Renault

H

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K

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See also: Attacks on parachutists
  • Bombing of Kassel in World War II; on the raid on 22 October 1943, Operation Corona was first implemented, whereby native German speakers would give confusing orders to the Luftwaffe fighter pilots from Hollywood Manor at West Kingsdown, Kent; the raid resulted in a firestorm, destroying 23 square miles; this destroyed the Fieseler factory, which made the V-1, which the Germans had wanted to target London with, in January 1944, so the V-1 would have to be deployed later in June 1944; the Kassel Mission by the USAAF occurred on 27 September 1944, and was one of the largest air battles between the Luftwaffe and the USAAF, and 118 American aircrew were killed, of which 11 were murdered after parachuting to safety
  • Bombing of Königsberg in World War II
  • Bombing of Krefeld in World War II, a firestorm was caused on 21 June 1943

L

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M

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N

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  • Bombing of Nuremberg in World War II; on 2 January 1945, 521 Lancasters, with around 6,000 high-explosive bombs, a million incendiaries, caused a firestorm, destroying 90% of the Altstadt, killing 1835 people. Before the war 400,000 lived there, but after the war 200,000 lived there

P

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  • Bombing of Pforzheim in World War II, on February 23 1945, 17,600 people were killed, 31% of the population, when 367 Lancasters dropped bombs during twenty two minutes from 7.50pm

S

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W

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "University of Exeter". Archived from the original on 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  2. ^ Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph Wednesday 2 April 1941 page 6
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