The bombing of Dietzenbach in 1941 was an air attack by the Royal Air Force, against the then-rural village of Dietzenbach in Hesse. It is believed that the bombers involved could not find their intended target, either Frankfurt or Offenbach, and therefore attacked the village of Dietzenbach, populated by roughly 3,000 inhabitants, as an opportunity target, or in error.
Late on the evening of Saturday, 20 September 1941, four bombers attacked the central part of Dietzenbach. Many villagers had just enjoyed a performance of a harmonica club in the atrium of the Neue Löwe inn and were gradually making their way home. When the air-raid alarm sounded, it was not initially taken very seriously, because the attack was believed to be directed at either Frankfurt or Offenbach. But then explosive bombs, incendiary bombs and phosphorus canisters began falling on the village and within ten minutes, large parts of the town center were on fire.
The volunteer fire department of the village, with its two motorized water hoses, could not contain the large fire. Even when firefighters from the neighbouring villages came to help, the water supply that was available was inadequate. Only with the arrival of fire trucks from Offenbach at 1:30 in the morning were the fires gradually brought under control, and at about 11:00 the next morning, the fires were finally extinguished. Two residents were killed, three houses were destroyed, thirty others were severely damaged, and twelve barns and their contents were burned down.
Since bombs fell neither on Frankfurt nor on Offenbach that night, but rather on some smaller towns in the Rhine-Main area, and since the Royal Air Force later announced attacks on Frankfurt, it is assumed that the aircraft scheduled for Frankfurt did not find their target and then sought out alternative targets. The light shining from the door of the inn at random intervals as departing concert-goers left may have given the bomber crews some guidance.
Further reading
Alfred Kurt, Otto Schlander: Der Kreis Offenbach und das Dritte Reich: Leben und Politik, Verfolgung und Widerstand im Kreisgebiet in den Jahren von 1930 bis 1945 (English translation: The District of Offenbach and the Third Reich: Life and Politics, Persecution and Resistance in the District in the Years 1930-1945), Published May 1991 ISBN978-3-87936209-7, pg. 292
The Luftwaffe was the aerial-warfare branch of the German Wehrmacht before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the Luftstreitkräfte of the Imperial Army and the Marine-Fliegerabteilung of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force.
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematically organized and executed attack from the air which can utilize strategic bombers, long- or medium-range missiles, or nuclear-armed fighter-bomber aircraft to attack targets deemed vital to the enemy's war-making capability.
The bombing of Dresden was a British-American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 722 heavy bombers of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city. The bombing and the resulting firestorm destroyed more than 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of the city centre. An estimated 22,700 to 25,000 people were killed. Three more USAAF air raids followed, two occurring on 2 March aimed at the city's railway marshalling yard and one smaller raid on 17 April aimed at industrial areas.
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term Blitzkrieg, the German word for 'lightning war'.
Strategic bombing during World War II involved sustained aerial attacks on railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory during World War II (1939–1945). Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close air support of ground forces and from tactical air power. During World War II, many military strategists of air power believed that air forces could win major victories by attacking industrial and political infrastructure, rather than purely military targets. Strategic bombing often involved bombing areas inhabited by civilians, and some campaigns were deliberately designed to target civilian populations in order to terrorize them and disrupt their usual activities. International law at the outset of World War II did not specifically forbid the aerial bombardment of cities – despite the prior occurrence of such bombing during World War I (1914–1918), the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
Berlin, then the capital of Nazi Germany, was subject to 363 air raids during the Second World War. It was bombed by the RAF Bomber Command between 1940 and 1945, by the USAAF Eighth Air Force between 1943 and 1945, and the French Air Force between 1944 and 1945, as part of the Allied campaign of strategic bombing of Germany. It was also attacked by aircraft of the Red Air Force, in 1941 and particularly in 1945 as Soviet forces closed on the city. British bombers dropped 45,517 tons of bombs, while American aircraft dropped 23,000 tons. As the bombings continued, more and more people fled the city. By May 1945, 1.7 million people had fled.
The Bombing of Würzburg in World War II was a large-scale air attack on the city of Würzburg, and was part of the strategic bombing campaign by the Allies against Nazi Germany. Although lacking major armaments industries and hosting around 40 hospitals at the time, Würzburg was targeted as a traffic hub and as part of the attempt by Bomber Command to break the spirit of the German people. The major raid occurred on March 16, 1945, when Royal Air Force bombers dropped incendiary bombs that set fire to much of the city, killing an estimated 5,000 people and almost completely obliterating the historic town. Almost 90% of the buildings were destroyed by a raid that lasted less than 20 minutes.
During World War II, Braunschweig was attacked by Allied aircraft in 42 bombing raids. On the night of 14/15 October 1944, the attack by No. 5 Group Royal Air Force (RAF) marked the high point of the destruction of Henry the Lion's city during the war. The air raid was part of Operation Hurricane, which was designed to demonstrate the capabilities of the Allied bombing campaign. The attack caused a massive conflagration, that might have developed into a firestorm, and resulted in Braunschweig burning continuously for two and a half days from 15 to 17 October. More than 90 percent of the medieval city centre was destroyed, changing the city's appearance to the present day.
Darmstadt was bombed a number of times during World War II. The most devastating air raid on Darmstadt occurred on the night of 11/12 September 1944 when No. 5 Group of the Royal Air Force (RAF) bombed the city. 66,000 of the 110,000 inhabitants of Darmstadt at the time became homeless. Darmstadt lost between 12,500 and 13,500 inhabitants during World War II. The calligraphic memorial Darmstädter Brandnamen lists about 4,000 names. Darmstadt had several major industrial targets including Merck and Rohm and Haas chemical works as well as military communications networks.
The Battle of Berlin was a series of attacks on Berlin by RAF Bomber Command along with raids on other German cities to keep German defences dispersed. Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, AOC-in-C Bomber Command, believed that "We can wreck Berlin from end to end if the USAAF come in with us. It will cost us between 400 and 500 aircraft. It will cost Germany the war".
The German city of Mannheim in the state of Baden-Württemberg saw bombing during World War II from December 1940 until the end of the war. Mannheim saw over 150 air raids.
During World War II, the German city of Heilbronn was bombed numerous times by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces. The largest air-raid occurred on December 4, 1944, but Heilbronn was targeted several times before and after until the end of World War II. Altogether, an estimated 7,000 inhabitants of the city lost their lives during bombings.
Bombings of Switzerland in World War II consisted of initially sporadic bombing and aerial combat events that became more frequent during the later stage of World War II.
The Defence of the Reich is the name given to the strategic defensive aerial campaign fought by the Luftwaffe air arm of the combined Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany over German-occupied Europe and Nazi Germany during World War II. Its aim was to prevent the destruction of German civilians, military and civil industries by the Western Allies. The day and night air battles over Germany during the war involved thousands of aircraft, units and aerial engagements to counter the Allied strategic bombing campaign. The campaign was one of the longest in the history of aerial warfare and with the Battle of the Atlantic and the Allied Blockade of Germany was the longest of the war. The Luftwaffe fighter force defended the airspace of German-occupied territory against attack, first by RAF Bomber Command and then against the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the Combined Bomber Offensive.
Jagdgeschwader 4 was a Luftwaffe fighter wing of World War II.
The Battle of the Heligoland Bight was the first "named" air battle of the Second World War, which began the longest air campaign of the war, the Defence of the Reich. On 3 September 1939, the United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany after the German invasion of Poland, which started the European War. The British did not assist Poland by land or sea but RAF Bomber Command flew several missions against German targets. A number of these air raids were directed at Kriegsmarine warships in German ports to prevent their use in the Battle of the Atlantic. With the front lines static between September 1939 and May 1940, a period known as the "Phoney War" set in, with little fighting on land or in the air.
Operation Gisela was the codename for a German military operation of the Second World War. Gisela was designed as an aerial intruder operation to support the German air defence system in its night battles with RAF Bomber Command during the Defence of the Reich campaign. It was the last major operation launched by the LuftwaffeNachtjagdgeschwader during the conflict.
The German city of Mainz was bombed in multiple air raids by the Allies during World War II by the Royal Air Force (RAF), as well as the United States Army Air Forces. These led to numerous victims and heavy damage throughout the cityscape.
The Bombing of Hanover was a series of eighty-eight air raids by RAF Bomber Command and the United States Army Air Forces on the German city of Hanover during World War II. 4,748 residents and 2,034 others were killed. Around 1,000 aerial mines, 34,000 high explosive bombs, 900,000 incendiary bombs and 50,000 fire bombs were dropped. The heaviest raid was that by the RAF on the night of 8/9 October 1943, killing 1,245 people. This was an example of the carpet bombing of suburban and residential civilian targets laid out in the 14 February 1942 Area Bombing Directive.
The bombing of Munich took place mainly in the later stages of World War II. Munich was, and is, a significant German city, as much culturally as well as industrially. Augsburg, thirty-seven miles to the west, was a main centre of diesel engine production, and was also heavily bombed during the war. Although some considerable distance from the United Kingdom, Munich is not a difficult city to find from the air, mainly due to its size, and possibly its proximity to the Austrian Alps to the south-east as a visual reference point. Munich was protected (initially) by its distance from the United Kingdom.
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.
