Bombing of Darmstadt in World War II
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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 the Royal Air Force (RAF) bombed the city.
[edit] Minor raids
On the night of 23/24 September 1943 Darmstadt was bombed by 21 Avro Lancasters and 8 De Havilland Mosquitos of No. 8 Group RAF. Although it was a diversionary raid to draw night fighters away from for the main raid on Mannheim with 628 aircraft, the small force of bombers caused extensive damage in the university town that had little industry and which had not been seriously bombed before. [1]
On the night of 24/25 April 1944, some RAF planes bombed Darmstadt and other towns when, due to low cloud, they failed to find the main target of the night which was Karlsruhe. [2]
An attack on the night of 25/26 August 1944 by 90 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group RAF was a failure, because the pathfinders' flares were dropped too far to the west. 95 buildings were hit in Darmstadt and 8 people were killed by the scattered bombs which did hit the town. [3]
After the main raid there was a further diversionary raid to draw night fighters away from the main target of Pforzheim by 4 RAF Mosquitos on the night of 23/24 February 1945.[4]
[edit] Main raid
The main raid on Darmstadt was by No. 5 Group RAF on the night of the 11/12 September 1944, when 226 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitos, started a fierce fire in the centre and in the districts immediately to the south and east. Property damage in this area was almost complete [5]. The raid killed an estimated 12,300 inhabitants and rendered 66,000 homeless[citation needed]. The RAF lost 12 Lancasters, 5.3 per cent of the Lancaster force[5].
Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary Campaign Diary for September 1944 states that:
- The Darmstadt raid, with its extensive fire destruction and its heavy casualties, was held by the Germans to be an extreme example of RAF 'terror bombing' and is still a sensitive subject because of the absence of any major industries in the city. Bomber Command defended the raid by pointing out the railway communications passing through Darmstadt; the directive for the offensive against German communications had not yet been issued to Bomber Command, although advance notice of the directive may have been received. Darmstadt was simply one of Germany's medium-sized cities of lesser importance which succumbed to Bomber Command's improving area-attack techniques in the last months of the war when many of the larger cities were no longer worth bombing.[5]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Royal Air Force Bomber Command: Campaign Diary September 1943
- ^ Royal Air Force Bomber Command: Campaign Diary April 1944
- ^ Royal Air Force Bomber Command: Campaign Diary August 1944
- ^ Royal Air Force Bomber Command: Campaign Diary February 1945
- ^ a b c Royal Air Force Bomber Command: Campaign Diary September 1944
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