Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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The "Baedecker Raids"!
On the night of March 28-29, 1942, the "Royal Air Force" attacked the German city of Lübeck and bombed its historic center.
In this first area bombing of a large city, a total of 320 people are killed and 1,044 buildings are destroyed or damaged, including the Marienkirche, the Petrikirche and the cathedral ...:
The election of the Chief of British Bomber Command, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Travers Harris ...
... had fallen on the old Hanseatic city because it was easy to find on this full moon night due to its location on the river Trave (which shone brightly in the moonlight) ...:
In addition, Lübeck's Harris Old Town, built almost entirely of wood, appeared suitable for testing a special mix of explosive and incendiary bombs and air mines that British scientists had developed:
First, air mines are thrown off, they blow away the roofs and turn the buildings - now open to the top - into chimneys.
Then it "rains" a huge number of small phosphor canisters that set fire to the ruins. Due to the "pull" of the "house chimneys", the individual fires spread quickly and grow together into one major fire. Here we have an aerial mine being dropped - and a lot of phosphorus incendiary bombs - and in the picture on the right the high-explosive bombs are leaving the bomb bay ...:
Finally, explosive bombs are thrown afterwards - here an explosive bomb compared to an aerial mine ...
High-explosive bombs destroy the streets and the water pipes mostly laid underneath. The fire brigade cannot get close to the fires - and if they do, they have no water to extinguish the fire.
Harris is quite satisfied with the arson of Lübeck's old town from the air, but orders that the bomb "cocktail" be refined before further attacks ...
Here the "cocktail" in the bomb bay of a" Lancaster "...:
Hitler foams with rage and assigns air force chief Hermann Göring with immediate retaliation!
But first the German air strategists have to identify suitable targets!
Finally, British cities are selected that are each marked in the 1937 edition of the famous "Baedecker" travel guide with three stars for "historically valuable buildings" ...:
The retaliatory action of the German Air Force is then officially called "Baedecker Blitz"!
The first "Baedecker" attack hit the city of Exeter on the night of April 23rd to 24th, 1942:
25 German bombers are guided to their target for the first time with radar beams.
The attack, which went without loss for the Luftwaffe, kills about 70 people in Exeter ...:
(On May 4th, Goering's bombers will return and 40 bombers will drop 75 tons of high explosive bombs and about 10,000 incendiary bombs over the city within an hour and a half, leaving 161 dead and 476 injured.)
**continued next post**
On the night of March 28-29, 1942, the "Royal Air Force" attacked the German city of Lübeck and bombed its historic center.
In this first area bombing of a large city, a total of 320 people are killed and 1,044 buildings are destroyed or damaged, including the Marienkirche, the Petrikirche and the cathedral ...:
The election of the Chief of British Bomber Command, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Travers Harris ...
... had fallen on the old Hanseatic city because it was easy to find on this full moon night due to its location on the river Trave (which shone brightly in the moonlight) ...:
In addition, Lübeck's Harris Old Town, built almost entirely of wood, appeared suitable for testing a special mix of explosive and incendiary bombs and air mines that British scientists had developed:
First, air mines are thrown off, they blow away the roofs and turn the buildings - now open to the top - into chimneys.
Then it "rains" a huge number of small phosphor canisters that set fire to the ruins. Due to the "pull" of the "house chimneys", the individual fires spread quickly and grow together into one major fire. Here we have an aerial mine being dropped - and a lot of phosphorus incendiary bombs - and in the picture on the right the high-explosive bombs are leaving the bomb bay ...:
Finally, explosive bombs are thrown afterwards - here an explosive bomb compared to an aerial mine ...
High-explosive bombs destroy the streets and the water pipes mostly laid underneath. The fire brigade cannot get close to the fires - and if they do, they have no water to extinguish the fire.
Harris is quite satisfied with the arson of Lübeck's old town from the air, but orders that the bomb "cocktail" be refined before further attacks ...
Here the "cocktail" in the bomb bay of a" Lancaster "...:
Hitler foams with rage and assigns air force chief Hermann Göring with immediate retaliation!
But first the German air strategists have to identify suitable targets!
Finally, British cities are selected that are each marked in the 1937 edition of the famous "Baedecker" travel guide with three stars for "historically valuable buildings" ...:
The retaliatory action of the German Air Force is then officially called "Baedecker Blitz"!
The first "Baedecker" attack hit the city of Exeter on the night of April 23rd to 24th, 1942:
25 German bombers are guided to their target for the first time with radar beams.
The attack, which went without loss for the Luftwaffe, kills about 70 people in Exeter ...:
(On May 4th, Goering's bombers will return and 40 bombers will drop 75 tons of high explosive bombs and about 10,000 incendiary bombs over the city within an hour and a half, leaving 161 dead and 476 injured.)
**continued next post**
