First 1.2C000 bomber raid Bombing of Cologne in World War II

innenstadt, cologne in 1945



official british war art imagining bombing raid on cologne. city s cathedral visible. survived war, despite being hit dozens of times allied bombs.

the first ever 1,000 bomber raid raf conducted on cologne on night of 30/31 may 1942. codenamed operation millennium, massive raid launched 2 primary reasons:

it expected devastation such raids might enough knock germany out of war or @ least severely damage german morale.
the raids useful propaganda allies , particularly raf bomber command head arthur harris s concept of strategic bombing offensive. bomber command s poor performance in bombing accuracy during 1941 had led calls force split , diverted other urgent theatres i.e. battle of atlantic. headline-grabbing heavy raid on germany way harris demonstrate war cabinet given investment in numbers , technology bomber command make vital contribution victory.

at stage of war bomber command had regular front line strength of around 400 aircraft, , in process of transitioning twin engined medium bombers of pre-war years newer more effective four-engined heavy bombers such handley page halifax , avro lancaster. using bombers , men operational training units (otus), 250 raf coastal command , flying training command, harris make 1,000 aircraft. however, before raid took place, royal navy refused allow coastal command aircraft take part in raid. admiralty perceived propaganda justifications weak argument against real , pressing threat of u-boats in battle of atlantic. harris scrambled around and, crewing 49 more aircraft pupil pilots , instructors, 1,047 bombers took part in raid, 2 , half times more previous raid raf. in addition bombers attacking cologne, 113 other aircraft on intruder raids harassed german night-fighter airfields.

cologne not harris s first choice; wanted bomb hamburg. poor weather made hamburg poor choice; in addition, harris advised dr. basil dickins, scientist section head of raf s bomber command s operations research, choose cologne, within gee range.

raf bomber h2s radar display 30/31 october 1944 cologne attack post-attack annotations

this first time bomber stream tactic used , of tactics used in raid remained basis standard bomber command operations next 2 years , elements remained in use until end of war. expected such large number of bombers flying in bomber stream through kammhuber line overwhelm german night fighters control system, keeping number of bombers shot down acceptable proportion. recent introduction of gee allowed bombers fly given route @ given time , height. british night bombing campaign had been in operation months, , statistical estimate made of number of bombers lost enemy night fighters , flak, , how many lost through collisions. minimising former demanded densely packed stream, controllers of night fighter flying defensive box direct maximum of 6 potential interceptions per hour, , flak gunners not concentrate on available targets @ once. earlier in war 4 hours had been considered acceptable mission; raid bombers passed on cologne , bombed in window of 90 minutes, first having arrived @ 00:47 of 31 may. anticipated concentration of bombing on such short period overwhelm cologne fire brigades , cause conflagrations similar inflicted on london luftwaffe during blitz.

in raid, 868 aircraft bombed main target 15 aircraft bombing other targets. total tonnage of bombs dropped 1,455 tons two-thirds of being incendiaries. 2 , half thousand separate fires started 1,700 classed german fire brigades large . action of fire fighters , width of streets stopped fires combining firestorm, nonetheless of damage done fire , not directly explosive blasts. 3,330 non-residential buildings destroyed, 2,090 damaged , 7,420 lightly damaged, making total of 12,840 buildings of 2,560 industrial or commercial buildings. among buildings classed totally destroyed were: 7 official administration buildings, 14 public buildings, 7 banks, 9 hospitals, 17 churches, 16 schools, 4 university buildings, 10 postal , railway buildings, 10 buildings of historic interest, 2 newspaper offices, 4 hotels, 2 cinemas , 6 department stores. military installation damaged flak barracks. damage civilian homes, of them apartments in larger buildings, considerable: 13,010 destroyed, 6,360 damaged, 22,270 lightly damaged.

the raf lost 43 aircraft (german propaganda claimed 44), 3.9% of 1,103 bombers sent on raid. 22 aircraft lost on or near cologne, 16 shot down flak, 4 night fighters, 2 in collision, , 2 bristol blenheim light bombers lost in attacks on night fighter airfields. posthumous victoria cross awarded flying officer leslie thomas manser sacrificed himself crew abandon aircraft.