Early RAF raids on Bremen beginning in May 1940 had sought out these industrial and military targets but the efforts proved costly and, given limited navigation and target-location capabilities, impractical.[1]
From September 1941 the RAF switched to night-time "area bombing". In the spring of 1942 new directives from Bomber Command under Air Marshal Arthur Harris formalised the change of strategy. Purporting to draw lessons from the German Blitz on Britain, Bomber Command concluded that rather than being "collateral damage", the destruction of residential districts and the killing of civilians served the legitimate purpose of weakening enemy morale.[2][3]
To demonstrate the effectiveness of area bombing, Bomber Command sought to overwhelm city defences with "1,000 bomber" raids.[1] The first of these mounted against Bremen was on 25 June 1942. Six hundred houses were destroyed but civil defence measures kept civilian casualties to 88. Flak and Luftwaffe fighters were able to shoot down 49 RAF bombers. Subsequent attacks were carried out by fewer but improved aircraft, and as Bremen's air-defence depleted (fighter aircraft were redeployed to the eastern front), these caused significantly more damage.[4]
At the beginning of 1943, the daytime targeting of industrial and military facilities returned with the arrival over Bremen of the 8th US Air Force. In the first year, the "Mighty Eighth" suffered considerable losses.[5] The German authorities began to evacuate industrial facilities from the city as a precaution.
On 8 October 1943, the British began a new wave of heavy night attacks. The heaviest air raid of the entire war hit the city on the night of August 18–19, 1944. In just 34 minutes 274 aircraft dropped 1,120 tons of bombs over the densely built-up west of the city killing 1,059 people, destroying 8,248 residential buildings, and leaving 50,000 homeless.[6][4]
In just over five years, the Allies carried out a total of 173 air raids on Bremen, dropping 5,513 tons of explosive devices, and killing more than 4,000 residents. In addition to the city center, almost 65,000 houses and apartments were destroyed, corresponding to around 62 percent of the city's residential accommodation. The west of Bremen with the districts of Walle and Gröpelingen was particularly hard hit.[9][10]
The primary military formation tasked with the defense of Bremen's air space was the 8th Flak Division.[11]
8 of 83 dispatched aircraft bombed the primary target at Bremen. Some of the aircraft attacking alternative targets reached Hamburg, which reports 11 fires and casualties of 5 dead and 12 injured. 3 Wellingtons were lost and one Short Stirling crashed England after being fired at and damaged by a British convoy.
Following a Hamburg raid, Bremen reports a load of incendiaries dropped very accurately on the Bremer Vulkan shipyard where 4 U-boats and several surrounding buildings were damaged by fire.
1942-06-043-4 June 1942
RAF
170 aircraft attacked on the first large raid to Bremen since October 1941. 11 aircraft - 4 Wellingtons, 2 Handley Page Halifaxes, 2 Avro Lancasters, 2 Stirlings, 1 Avro Manchester - lost. Bremen recorded this as a heavy attack, the results of which exceeded all previous raids. Housing areas were heavily hit with 6 streets affected by serious fires. Damage to the U-boat construction yards (Valentin submarine pens) and the Focke-Wulf factory is described as 'of no importance' but there were hits in the harbour area which damaged a pier, some warehouses and the destroyer Z25.[clarification needed] 83 people dead, 29 seriously and 229 slightly injured (Bremen's third heaviest casualty toll in the war).
1942-06-2625-26 June 1942
RAF
Using every available aircraft in RAF Bomber Command and some of other commands, a thousand-bomber raid was mounted against Bremen. 1,067 aircraft (472 Wellingtons, 124 Halifaxes, 96 Lancasters, 69 Stirlings, 51 Blenheims, 50 Handley Page Hampdens, 50 Whitleys, 24 Douglas Bostons, 20 Manchesters and de Havilland Mosquitos), 102 Lockheed Hudsons and Wellingtons of RAF Coastal Command, and 5 RAF Army Cooperation Command. Those of No. 5 Group RAF - 142 aircraft–bombed the Focke-Wulf factory; 20 Blenheims were allocated to the AG Weser shipyard; the RAF Coastal Command aircraft were to bomb the DeSchiMAG shipyard; all other aircraft were to carry out an area attack on the "town and docks". The limited success was entirely due to the use of GEE, which enabled the leading crews to start marker fires through the cloud cover. 696 Bomber Command aircraft were able to claim attacks on Bremen. 572 houses were completely destroyed and 6,108 damaged. 85 people were killed, 497 injured and 2,378 bombed out. At the Focke-Wulf factory, an assembly shop was completely flattened, 6 buildings were seriously damaged and 11 buildings lightly so. The Atlas Werke, the Bremer Vulkan shipyard, the Norddeutsche Hütte, the Korff refinery, and two large dockside warehouses were also damaged. 48 Bomber Command aircraft were lost (a new record[clarification needed] 5% of those dispatched), including 4 which came down in the sea near England from which all but 2 crew members were rescued. This time, the heaviest casualties were suffered by the OTUs of No. 91 Group RAF, which lost 23 of the 198 Whitleys and Wellingtons provided by that group, a loss of 11.6 per cent. 5 of the 102 Coastal Command aircraft were also lost.
1942-06-2829-30 June 1942
RAF
144 aircraft - 55 Wellingtons, 39 Halifaxes, 26 Stirlings, 24 Lancasters. 9 aircraft - 4 Wellingtons, 2 Halifaxes, 2 Lancasters, 1 Stirling - lost. 119 aircraft bombed blindly through cloud after obtaining GEE fixes. Bremen records that two of the large firms hit in the recent Thousand raid - the Atlas Werke and the Korff refinery - were damaged again, as well as several smaller firms and dockside warehouses. A hospital and an unrecorded number of houses were also hit. Seven people were killed and eighty injured.
Mission Number 52:[19] 115 B-17s were dispatched on the Eighth Air Force's largest mission to that date. 63-15-17 Luftwaffe aircraft claimed; 15 B-17s downed by fighters, 1 by flak, 39 damaged; 2 killed in action, 4 wounded in action and 159 missing in action. Bombs destroyed at least half of the Focke-Wulf factory buildings.[20] German losses in combat were three fighters from (two from JG 1 and one from JG 11).[21]
1943-10-088 October 1943
VIII
The 381st Bombardment Group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for its performance for bombing the Bremen shipyards accurately in spite of persistent Luftwaffe fighter attacks and extremely heavy and accurate flak.[22][23] One B-17 had two bombs that failed to release and received a flak hit which caused them to explode (8 KIA, 2 POW).[24] 30 bombers were lost.[5]:280
1943-11-1713 November 1943
VIII
Mission 130: 79 of 159 B-17's, 61 of 109 B-24's and 3 of 4 B-17 PFF aircraft hit the port area at Bremen and targets of opportunity in the Kiel-Flensburg area at 1120–1145 hours; 100+ aircraft abort the mission due to weather; they claim 20-14-13 Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 B-17s and 13 B-24s are lost; 3 B-17s a
1943-11-2626 November 1943
VIII
Mission 138: 350 of 390 B-17s, 77 of 101 B-24s and 13 of 14 B-17 PFF aircraft attack the port area of Bremen at 1145–1228 hours; they claim 16-3-10 Luftwaffe aircraft; 22 B-17s and 3 B-24s are lost; 3 B-17s and 1 B-24 are damaged beyond repair and 139 B-17s, 19 B-24s and 7 PFF B-17s are damaged; casualties are 10 KIA, 35 WIA and 215 MIA.
1943-11-2929 November 1943
VIII
Mission 140: 154 of 360 B-17's hit the port of Bremen and targets of opportunity in the area at 1429–1450 hours; unfavorable cloud conditions and malfunction of blindbombing equipment cause 200+ B-17's to abort; they claim 15-11-10 Luftwaffe aircraft; 13 B-17's are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 43 damaged; casualties are 2 KIA, 13 WIA and 131 MIA. The B-17's are escorted by 38 P-38's and 314 P-47's; they claim 15-4-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 7 P-38's and 9 P-47's are lost; 1 P-47 is damage beyond repair and another damaged; casualties are 1 WIA and 16 MIA.
Mission 438: Of 340 B-17s, 213 hit oil industry targets in Bremen, 53 hit an aircraft factory at Wesermünde and 40 attack Bremen; 1 B-17 is lost and 105 damaged; 2 airmen are WIA and 9 MIA. Escort is provided by 6 fighter groups (185 P-38s and 85 P-47s); 1 group strafes an airfield and rail transport in the Munster and Hamm areas and claims 2-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; no losses.
1944-06-2929-30 June 1944
RAF
253 aircraft - 108 Wellingtons, 64 Lancasters, 47 Stirlings, 34 Halifaxes - dispatched, the first time that 4-engined bombers provided more than half of the force on a major raid. 11 aircraft - 4 Stirlings, 4 Wellingtons, 3 Halifaxes - were lost. Bremen reported that 48 houses were destroyed and 934 damaged, mostly lightly. Extensive damage occurred in 5 important war industries, including the Focke-Wulf factory and the AG Weser U-boat construction yard, and at the local gasworks, a museum and a merchant-navy college, mostly fire.
1944-07-2929 July 1944
RAF
During Mission 503 to the Bremen/Oslebshausen oil refinery, Torpedo boat T2 (type 35) was bombed and sunk at Bremen
16 September 1944
VIII
As part of Mission 635, P-47s and 149 P-51s bomb and strafe the Bremen area.[25]
1944-09-1818-19 September 1944
RAF
Of a force of 213 dispatched, 208 Lancasters of No. 5 Group and a number of Mosquitoes dropped 863 tons of bombs, including 420,000 4lb incendiaries, on Bremerhaven, destroying 297 acres of the port's total built up acreage of 375. One Lancaster and one Mosquito were lost.[26]
26 September 1944
VIII
As part of Mission 648, 381 B-17s bomb the armoured vehicle factories at Bremen, another 13 bombed Bremerhaven and one hit another target. Of the 420 B-17 sent on the mission four B-17s were lost and 208 damaged. 10 airmen were wounded and a further were 21 were reported as missing in action. The escort was provided by 133 P-51s, one was lost with the pilot reported missing in action and two were damaged beyond repair.[25]Schichau SeebeckwerftUnterseeboot 3509 was damaged during a Bremerhaven bombing raid.[27]
1944-10-1212 October 1944
VIII
Mission 674: 262 Eighth Air Force B-17s bomb Borgward and Goliath plants producing armored fighting vehicles and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 components plant.[28] 267 bombing visually; 1 other hits a target of opportunity; 1 B-17 is lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 59 damaged. 7 airmen are KIA, 1 WIA and 9 MIA. Escort is provided by 273 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 17-2-1 aircraft; 5 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA).[29]
24 February 1945
VIII
As part of Mission 845, 200 B-17s were sent to bomb the Deschimag U-boat yards at Bremen and another 134 to bomb the Bremen W rail bridge. Of the total of 383 sent on the mission one B-17 was lost, one damaged beyond repair and a further 162 damaged; seven airmen were wounded and nine were reported missing in action. The bombers were escorted by 93 P-51s. The fighters claim they destroyed one and damaged three German aircraft on the ground, for the loss of two P-51s with their pilots missing in action.[30]
11 March 1945
VIII
As part of Mission 881, 406 of 413 B-17s bombed the Deschimag U-boat yard at Bremen. Nine B-17s were damaged, and one of the 255 P-51 escorting fighters was lost.[31]
1945-03-2727 March 1945
RAF
115 Lancasters of No. 5 Group RAF attacked an oil-storage depot (95 aircraft) and a U-boat shelter (20 aircraft of No. 617 Squadron RAF) at Farge. Two Grand Slam bombs penetrated two metres and detonated,[32] which rendered the shelter unusable. No aircraft were lost.
1945-03-3030 March 1945
VIII
303rd BG (H) Combat Mission No. 348: 38 aircraft were dispatched to bomb Bremen. The submarine building yards were the first priority target[33]
Related Research Articles
The Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II included numerous attacks on civilians and civic infrastructure. As a large city and industrial centre, Hamburg's shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg area oil refineries were attacked throughout the war.
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bombing campaign against Germany became less restrictive and increasingly targeted industrial sites and the civilian manpower base essential for German war production. In total 501,536 operational sorties were flown, 2.25 billion pounds of bombs were dropped and 8,325 aircraft lost in action. Bomber Command crews also suffered a high casualty rate: 55,573 were killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew, a 44.4% death rate. A further 8,403 men were wounded in action, and 9,838 became prisoners of war.
The second Schweinfurt raid, also called Black Thursday, was a World War II air battle that took place on 14 October 1943, over Nazi Germany between forces of the United States 8th Air Force and German Luftwaffe fighter arm (Jagdwaffe). The American bombers conducted a strategic bombing raid on ball bearing factories to reduce production of these vital parts used in all manner of war machines. This was the second attack on the factories at Schweinfurt. American wartime intelligence claimed the first Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission in August had reduced bearing production by 34 percent but had cost many bombers. A planned follow-up raid had to be postponed to rebuild American forces.
No. 460 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force intelligence unit active within the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation (DIGO). It was first formed as a heavy bomber squadron during World War II on 15 November 1941 and disbanded on 10 October 1945 after seeing extensive combat over Europe. The squadron was a multinational unit, but most personnel were Australian. No. 460 Squadron was reformed on 2 July 2010 and is currently located in Canberra.
The German city of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids by the Allies during World War II, all by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A total of 34,711 long tons (35,268 t) of bombs were dropped on the city, and 20,000 civilians died during the war in Cologne due to aerial bombardments.
A submarine pen is a type of submarine base that acts as a bunker to protect submarines from air attack.
Royal Air Force Polebrook or more simply RAF Polebrook is a former Royal Air Force station located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east-south-east of Oundle, at Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England. The airfield was built on Rothschild estate land starting in August 1940.
Operation Hurricane was a 24-hour bombing operation to "demonstrate to the enemy in Germany generally the overwhelming superiority of the Allied Air Forces in this theatre" and "cause mass panic and disorginazation [sic] in the Ruhr, disrupt frontline communications and demonstrate the futility of resistance".
No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron "Land of Pomerania" was a Polish Air Force squadron formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish government-in-exile and the United Kingdom in 1940. It was one of 15 squadrons of the Polish Air Force in exile that served alongside the Royal Air Force in World War II. It was a bomber unit from 1940 to 1943, and special duties squadron from 1944 until it was disbanded in 1946. It operated from RAF airfields in the United Kingdom and Italy.
The city of Vienna in Austria was bombed 52 times during World War II, and 37,000 residences of the city were lost, 20% of the city's housing stock. Only 41 civilian vehicles survived the raids, and more than 3,000 bomb craters were counted.
The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) was an Allied offensive of strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was directed against Luftwaffe targets which were the highest priority from June 1943 to 1 April 1944. The subsequent highest priority campaigns were against V-weapon installations and petroleum, oil, and lubrication (POL) plants. Additional CBO targets included railyards and other transportation targets, particularly prior to the invasion of Normandy and, along with army equipment, in the final stages of the war in Europe.
During World War II, the city of Lübeck was the first German city to be attacked in substantial numbers by the Royal Air Force. The attack on the night of 28 March 1942 created a firestorm that caused severe damage to the historic centre, with bombs destroying three of the main churches and large parts of the built-up area. It led to the retaliatory "Baedeker" raids on historic British cities.
No. 467 Squadron RAAF was a Royal Australian Air Force bomber squadron, active over North West Europe during World War II. Formed in November 1942 as an Article XV Squadron in Britain, the squadron was notionally an Australian squadron under the command of the Royal Air Force, and consisted of a mixture of personnel from various Commonwealth nations. After becoming operational in early 1943, the squadron flew operations in Occupied Europe until the end of the war flying Avro Lancaster heavy bombers. It was scheduled to deploy to the Far East to take part in further operations against Japan, but the war ended before it could complete its training and the squadron was disbanded in September 1945.
The 350th Air Refueling Squadron is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the 22nd Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. It operates Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft conducting air refueling missions.
Wiener Neustadt, a city in Austria, was the target of bombing raids during World War II by the Allies.
The 360th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It last was assigned to the 303d Bombardment Wing, stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. It was inactivated on 15 June 1964.
The 915th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 72d Bombardment Wing at Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico where it was inactivated on 30 June 1971 when the Air Force transferred Ramey to Military Airlift Command.
During the German occupation of the Netherlands between 1940 and 1945, during the Second World War, Allied air forces carried out a number of operations over Rotterdam and the surrounding region. They included bombing strategic installations; leaflet-dropping; and during, the last week of the war, dropping emergency food supplies.
The term "thousand-bomber raid" was used to describe three night bombing raids by the Royal Air Force against German cities in summer 1942 during World War II. The term was a propaganda device, whereby Arthur Harris reached the number of bombers by including not only bombers that were currently operational as part of RAF Bomber Command, but also aircrews from Operational Training Units to accumulate a force of 1,000 bombers as a demonstration of the RAF's power. The bulk of the bomber force was twin-engined medium bombers like the Vickers Wellington. While the number of heavy bombers in the RAF increased, greater tonnage could be dropped on a target with fewer aircraft. Later mass RAF raids used between 400 and 700 four-engined bombers, and on some nights, Bomber Command sent two forces of 400-bomber each to separate targets. Operation Gomorrah in 1943 and the Attack on Dresden in 1945 each used nearly 800 aircraft. Nearly 900 were sent to Berlin in February 1944; with aircraft on other missions that night more than 1,000 bombers were active, but 1,000 bombers were never sent against a single target after June 1942.
1 2 Coffey, Thomas M. (1977). "Decision over Schweinfurt: The U.S. 8th Air Force Battle for Daylight Bombing" (Document). New York: David McKay Company. pp.186, 280.
↑ Tessin, Georg (1967). Die Landstreitkräfte 006–014. Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945 (in German). Vol.3. Frankfurt/Main: Verlag E. S. Mittler & Sohn GmbH. p.116.
↑ Hancock, Ian (2007). The Lives of Ken Wallis (Fourthed.). Ian Hancock. p.61. ISBN978-0-9541239-4-9.
↑ McKillop, Jack, "Combat Chronology November 1942", U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, retrieved 29 March 2009– via Federal Depository Library Program Electronic Collection of the United States
1 2 McKillop, Jack, "Combat Chronology September 1944", U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, retrieved 29 March 2009– via Federal Depository Library Program Electronic Collection of the United States
↑ Gurney, Gene (Major, USAF) (1962). "The War in the Air: a pictorial history of World War II Air Forces in combat" (Document). New York: Bonanza Books. p.220.{{cite document}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ McKillop, Jack (11 February 2009). "October 1944". Combat Chronology of the USAAF. Archived from the original on 7 March 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2007.
↑ McKillop, Jack, "Combat Chronology February 1945", U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, retrieved 29 March 2009– via Federal Depository Library Program Electronic Collection of the United States
↑ McKillop, Jack, "Combat Chronology March 1945", U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, retrieved 29 March 2009– via Federal Depository Library Program Electronic Collection of the United States
↑ Grube, Christel (28 February 2006). "Submarine-Valentin, Bremen-Farge". Interessengemeinschaft für historische Militär-, Industrie- und Verkehrsbauten. lostplaces.de. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
