The bombing of Stuttgart in World War II was a series of 53 air raids that formed part of the strategic air offensive of the Allies against Germany. The first bombing (by 20 aircraft of the Royal Air Force) occurred on August 25, 1940, and resulted in the destruction of 17 buildings. The city was repeatedly attacked over the next four and one-half years by both the RAF and the 8th Air Force as it had significant industrial capacity (including the Daimler and Porsche automotive factories) and several military bases, and was also a center of rail transportation in southwestern Germany. Stuttgart endured 18 large-scale attacks by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war (the first and last of which were on 5 March 1942 and 13 February 1945 respectively),[1] during which 21,016 long tons (21,353t) of bombs were dropped on the city,[2] but the RAF concluded that its attacks against Stuttgart were not as effective as they could have been:[3]
Stuttgart's experience was not as severe as other German cities. Its location, spread out in a series of deep valleys, had consistently frustrated the Pathfinders and the shelters dug into the sides of the surrounding hills had saved many lives.
Even before World War II, in 1916, Stuttgart had been a potential target for air raids because of its short distance from the Western Front of the First World War.[4] In the next two years, the city would be attacked by Allied aviators on several occasions throughout 1917 and 1918, the Daimler plant in Stuttgart being of special interest to them.[5][6][7] When the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command began its strategic bombing command during the Second World War, it initially targeted airstrips in Norway and France and U-boat pens in northern France, but soon added civilian targets, such as Stuttgart, to its target list in March 1940.[8] As early as May of that year, the RAF attempts to bomb targets in Württemberg, of which there were two among the mostly rural region: Stuttgart and Friedrichshafen. Nicknamed the "German Coventry," Stuttgart was an important rail hub and a center of industry, home to the Bosch, Daimler-Benz, and the SKF ball bearings factories. However, actually reaching these targets was difficult because of their great distance from Britain and because of Württemberg's topography of hills and valleys, which befouled the accuracy of British bomb crews. The workaround was to attack in force, starting in 1942–43, but these raids sometimes struck false targets and were costly in life and material.[9]
On 14 February 1942, the Royal Air Force lifted all constraints from Bomber Command, and Stuttgart was on Bomber Command's list of "Alternative Industrial Areas" with Frankfurt, Schweinfurt, and Kiel.[10]
Stuttgart's defenses
Preparations to protect Stuttgart's citizens from British air raids, though they were downplayed, were made in September 1939 with the establishment of twenty first aid stations. The 31 May 1940 issue of the local Nazi Party newspaper NS-Kurier[de] boasted that the Reichsluftschutzbund had taken advantage of Stuttgart's "natural physical conditions," and that no civilian fatalities were expected. In the first air raid on the city of the war on the night of 25 August 1940, four were killed and five injured. The next two raids resulted in no fatalities. As a result, Stuttgart was deemed safe enough to receive evacuees from cities already heavily damaged by British bombings such as Hamburg, Essen, and Düsseldorf.[11]
By 1944, Stuttgart was defended by 11 heavy (88mm) and 38 light (20mm to 40mm) anti-aircraft gun batteries.[13] There was also a Luftwaffe fighter base south of the city at Echterdingen. The landmark Observation Tower Burgholzhof was used by anti-aircraft spotters during raids.[14] The Pragstattel Flakturm stands just north of central Stuttgart along a busy highway, decorated with signage,[15] and the bullet-shaped Winkel Towers built around the city also remain.[citation needed]
Raids
World War II RAF photograph of the devastated Stuttgart city center.
On the night of 4–5 May 1942, Stuttgart endured its first large-scale attack, as 121 RAF bombers conducted a strategic bombing of the city to destroy the Bosch factory, which produced components for the Luftwaffe. Extremely dense cloud coverage of the city foiled the raid, and the flotilla's bombs were scattered over the city, though a decoy site at Lauffen am Neckar was hit. Not a single bomb struck the Bosch factory but 13 civilians were killed and 37 more were injured. One Stirling was lost.[16] The next night, another 77 bombers marshaled against Stuttgart but again were troubled by poor visibility, as the city was obscured by haze. The closest bombs came was the Kräherwald to the west of the city, and three Wellingtons and another Stirling were lost.[17] Another raid was launched on the night of 6–7 May containing 97 aircraft, but the crews again couldn't identify Stuttgart and instead attacked the Lauffen decoy, which may have led the flotilla to Heilbronn, 20 miles (32km) away, where seven civilians were killed and more than 150 buildings were destroyed.[18]
On the night of 22–23 November 1942, 222 bombers made for Stuttgart, but the city was obscured by clouds and the Pathfinders could not identify the city center. The southern districts of the city, namely Rohr, in Vaihingen, Plieningen, and Möhringen were heavily bombed; 88 houses were destroyed and another 334 severely damaged, and 28 people were killed and another 71 injured.[19] In total, thirty tonnes of bombs had been dropped on the city.[20]
Several months later on 11 March 1943, a massive fleet of 314 RAF bombers arrived at Stuttgart. Pathfinder units claimed to have spotted the city, but most of the bombs dropped that night fell in open country and on dummy Pathfinder indicators, the first use thereof by the Germans, but still 112 died and 386 were injured when Vaihingen and Kaltental were hit, resulting in the destruction of 118 houses. Six Halifaxes, three Stirlings, and two Lancasters, 3.5% of the total force, were lost during the operation.[21] The next month, 462 bombers marshaled against Stuttgart and again the Pathfinders claimed to have accurately identified Stuttgart, but the actual bombardment occurred to the northeast of the city. This mission proved a costly failure, as eight Stirlings and Wellingtons, four Halifaxes, and three Lancasters were lost.[22] That October, the RAF changed gears and sent a force of 343 Lancasters for a nighttime attack with the 101st Squadron equipped with the "Airborne Cigar" jamming device and supplemented with several diversionary flights, all together ensuring that only four Luftwaffe night fighters made their way to Stuttgart by the end of the raid. For a loss of only four Lancasters,[23] the raid was a massive success, killing 104 civilians and injuring 300 more. A further 31 deaths and 156 injuries were sustained the next month on 26 November 1943,[24] as a diversionary force of 178 bombers conducted a scattered raid on Stuttgart to draw night fighters away from Berlin for a cost of six Halifaxes lost to the Luftwaffe.[25]
1956 photo of the New Palace, destroyed during the war.
On the morning of 6 September 1943, 388 B-17 Flying Fortresses gathered over southern England and the English Channel, bound for Stuttgart to destroy its industrial sector, where American intelligence in 1943 estimated 90% of Germany's magnetos and fuel injection nozzles were being produced.[26] A fifth of this flotilla aborted because of the weather or mechanical failure, leaving the remainder of the formation to carry on into France,[27] where it began splitting into different diversionary flights to draw away the staffeln from Jagdgeschwader 2.[28] This was the first daylight attack on Stuttgart, the United States Army Air Force's first attack on Stuttgart, and the eleventh raid on the city.[11] Of the 262 B-17s that made it to Stuttgart, 45 were lost. Two airmen were killed on the operation while a further 333 went missing in action.[29]
As the bombers flew over Cambrai, a number of Luftwaffe fighters attacked the formation and exchanged blows with its escorting P-47 Thunderbolts before ceasing their action at 8:44 AM. At this time, the escorting P-47s signaled that they were running low on fuel and had to return to base, meaning that the bombers would be on their own until they returned to current Allied fighter range.[30] After a short period of calm,[31] Luftwaffe fighter aircraft of every make and unit (even some Ju 87 Stukadive bombers) descended upon the force,[32] inflicting high casualties for some losses.[33] These attacks abruptly ceased when the bomber flotilla arrived over Stuttgart, where the city's anti-air Flak cannons began to open fire on the bombers.[34] Unfortunately for the Americans, the Stratus clouds covering the city that day were impossible for the men operating their respective Norden bombsights to spot through,[35] forcing the various bomber groups, under the command of Brigadier GeneralRobert F. Travis, to circle over the city three times with their bomb bay doors open, slowly using up fuel and being subjected to the German anti-aircraft guns.[36] Before the fourth run, the 96th and 388th Bomb Groups began leaving to attack the secondary objective of Strasburg, but again failed to spot it and instead deposited their bombs into the Black Forest.[37] Moments later, Luftwaffe fighters returned to engage the bombers,[38] and would continue to harry them until they returned to fighter range. 45 bombers were lost during the mission, and the American doctrine of daylight precision bombing would die after the second raid on Schweinfurt later that year.[39] In Stuttgart, 108 had been killed and 165 injured.[11]
Out of 21 crews from the 388th crew to embark on the mission, dubbed by the unit as "Black Monday," 13 returned.[40]
On 3 November 1943, Arthur Harris listed Stuttgart among 19 cities he claimed had been "seriously damaged" in a report of Bomber Command's activities to Prime Minister Winston Churchill.[41]
1944
The most devastating year of the war for Stuttgart opened with a massive British attack against the city on 21 February 1944 by 598 bombers, losing only seven Lancasters and a single Halifax to German action thanks to two diversionary flights over the North Sea and to Munich two hours prior.[42] Over the next two nights, a total of 27 Mosquito night fighters made flights to Stuttgart.[43]
On 25 February 1944, in the final mission of the Big Week, 268 B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 1st Bombardment Division were launched to attack Augsburg and Stuttgart. 50 bombers of that formation struck the latter.[44]
Stuttgart's luck ran out with three raids in five nights in mid-July 1944. 514 RAF bombers appeared over the city center on 25 July and caused immense damage for the loss of 21 planes.[45] The RAF returned the next night with 550 bombers and annihilated the city center in the most successful attack against Stuttgart of the war. 12 planes were lost during the operation.[46] A reconnaissance flight of 30 Mosquitoes passed over the city on 28 July without loss,[47] and were followed by the third and final July 1944 attack. On 28–29 July, 494 Lancasters and two Mosquitoes, from RAF Groups Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 8, took off to attack Stuttgart.[48] Lack of cloud cover left the bomber stream exposed to elements of Nachtjagdgeschwader 2,[49] who intercepted and shot down 39 Lancasters – 19% of the force total.[48] But the July raids had been devastating; nearly 1000 people had been killed and over 100,000 displaced. Among the dozens of buildings destroyed was the Nazi Party headquarters in the city.[50]
On the night of 12–13 September, 204 Lancasters and 13 Mosquitoes from Groups Nos. 1 and 5 attacked Stuttgart. For the cost of 4 Lancasters, a firestorm was effected in the city.[51]
Four Mosquitoes flew over Stuttgart on 13–14 October.[52] Later in the month, on 565 Lancasters and 18 Mosquitoes from Groups Nos. 1, 3, 6, and 8 attacked Stuttgart in two forces on the night of 19–20 October. Six Lancasters were lost while immense damage was dealt to the central and eastern sections of the city. Among the buildings hit was the Bosch works.[53]
The next month, 65 Mosquitoes attacked Stuttgart in two waves on 5–6 November,[54] followed by another 29 Mosquitoes on 21–22 November.[55] Nine more Mosquitoes visited the city on 25–26 November.[56] No planes were lost from any of these raids.[57]
1945
Stuttgart was attacked twice on the night of 28–29 January 1945 by a force of 602 aircraft. In the first attack, 226 planes bombed the railyards of Kornwestheim, north of the city. Three hours later, the second force appeared over Zuffenhausen to destroy what had been identified as the Hirth aircraft engine factory. The target was obscured by clouds and as a result the actual bombing was scattered. Bombs fell across northern, exploding in Feuerbach, where the Bosch plant was hit, and Weilimdorf. 11 aircraft were lost in the RAF's last major attack against Stuttgart.[3]
Legacy
A sketch of the destruction in the city center by Walter Kittel, dated 1950.
A total of 27,000 tons[vague] of bombs fell on Stuttgart; 20,000 high explosive bombs and 1.3 million incendiary devices.[61] An estimated 12000 bombs remain undetonated in the city limits. On 4 June 2014, a residential area near Degerloch and Sillenbuch, was evacuated so that police could disarm two 250kg (550lb) bombs.[59]
The 15,000,000 cubic meters (530,000,000cuft) cubic meters of rubble leftover from the war was gathered on the Birkenkopf from 1953 to 1957 to form a Schuttberg.[62] On 9 August 2018, a monument to two teenage Flakhelfer was unveiled at the cemetery in Degerloch, a municipality of Stuttgart.[63]
Canadian painter Carl Schaefer, then a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force as a war artist, depicted No. 6 Squadron RAF as it prepared to leave to bomb Stuttgart on 7 October 1943. Schaefer used the date in the watercolor painting Marshalling Lancasters Against Stuttgart, 7 October 1943, though he most likely finished the piece later. This piece would become one of five of his works to be put on public exhibition.[64]
The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids was a series of bombing raids in April and May 1942 by the German Luftwaffe on English cities during World War II. The name derives from Baedeker, a series of German tourist guide books, including detailed maps, which were used to select targets for bombing.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:
The Pathfinders were target-marking squadrons in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. They located and marked targets with flares, at which a main bomber force could aim, increasing the accuracy of their bombing. The Pathfinders were normally the first to receive new blind-bombing aids such as Gee, Oboe and the H2S radar.
Berlin, the capital of Germany, was subject to 363 air raids during the Second World War. It was bombed by the RAF Bomber Command between 1940 and 1945, the United States Army Air Forces' Eighth Air Force between 1943 and 1945, and the French Air Force in 1940 and 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 22,090.3 tons. As the bombings continued, more and more people fled the city. By May 1945, 1.7million people had fled.
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.
During the latter stages of World War II, Pforzheim, a town in southwestern Germany, was bombed several times. The largest raid, one of the most devastating area bombardments of the war, was carried out by the Royal Air Force (RAF) on the evening of February 23, 1945. Some 17,600 people, or 31.4% of the town's population, were killed. About 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed, two-thirds of the complete area of Pforzheim and between 80% and 100% of the inner city.
In the early hours of 15 October 1944, No. 5 Group of the Royal Air Force (RAF) carried out the most destructive of 42 attacks on Braunschweig (Brunswick) during World War II. The attack was a part of Operation Hurricane, which was designed to demonstrate the capabilities of the Allied bombing campaign. It caused a massive conflagration that developed into a firestorm, and resulted in Braunschweig, the city of Henry the Lion, burning continuously for two and a half days from 15 to 17 October. More than 90 percent of the medieval city centre was destroyed.
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 bombing campaign against Berlin by British RAF Bomber Command, along with raids on other German cities to keep German defences dispersed, and which was a part of the bombing of Berlin during the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (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 bombing of Königsberg was a series of attacks made on the city of Königsberg in East Prussia during World War II. The Soviet Air Force had made several raids on the city since 1941. Extensive attacks carried out by RAF Bomber Command destroyed most of the city's historic quarters in the summer of 1944. Königsberg was also heavily bombed during the Battle of Königsberg, in the final weeks of 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 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.
Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) was a German Luftwaffe night fighter-wing of World War II. NJG 1 was formed on 22 June 1940 and comprised four Gruppen (groups). NJG 1 was created as an air defence unit for the Defence of the Reich campaign; an aerial war waged by the Luftwaffe against the bombing of the German Reich by RAF Bomber Command and the United States Air Force. In 1941 airborne radar was introduced with radar operators, and standardised in 1942 and 1943. Consequently, a large number of German night fighter aces existed within NJG 1.
The Battle of the Ruhr was a strategic bombing campaign against the Ruhr Area in Nazi Germany carried out by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. The Ruhr was the main centre of German heavy industry with coke plants, steelworks, armaments factories and ten synthetic oil plants. The British attacked 26 targets identified in the Combined Bomber Offensive. Targets included the Krupp armament works (Essen), the Nordstern synthetic oil plant at Gelsenkirchen and the Rheinmetall–Borsig plant in Düsseldorf, which was evacuated during the battle. The battle included cities such as Cologne not in the Ruhr proper but which were in the larger Rhine-Ruhr region and considered part of the Ruhr industrial complex. Some targets were not sites of heavy industry but part of the production and movement of materiel.
The de Havilland Mosquito was a British light bomber that served in many roles during and after the Second World War. Mosquito-equipped squadrons performed medium bomber, reconnaissance, tactical strike, anti-submarine warfare and shipping attack and night fighter duties, both defensive and offensive. Mosquitos were widely used by the RAF Pathfinder Force, which marked targets for night-time strategic bombing. Despite an initially high loss rate due to low-level daylight attack operations, the Mosquito ended the war with the lowest losses of any of the aircraft types in RAF Bomber Command service.
Gerhard Ferdinand Otto Raht was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II, a night fighter ace credited with 58 aerial victories claimed in 171 combat missions making him the tenth most successful night fighter pilot in the history of aerial warfare. All of his victories were claimed over the Western Front in Defense of the Reich missions against the Royal Air Force's (RAF) Bomber Command.
Georg-Hermann Greiner was a Luftwaffe night fighter ace who served during World War II. Greiner was recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves—the fourth highest German award by war's end. He was also a squadron commander in the prestigious Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, the most successful night fighter interceptor unit of any nation in the history of aerial warfare.
Ernst-Georg Drünkler was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II, a night fighter ace credited with 47 aerial victories, including two by day, claimed in 102 combat missions making him the thirtieth most successful night fighter pilot in the history of aerial warfare. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Western Front in Defense of the Reich missions against the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command.
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 big operation launched by the Luftwaffe Nachtjagdgeschwader during the conflict.
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