“Bombing of Essen in World War II”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

During World War II, the industrial town of Essen, was a target of Allied strategic bombing.

The Krupp factory was an important industrial target, Essen was a "primary target" designated for area bombing by the February 1942 British Area bombing directive.

As part of the campaign in 1943 known as the Battle of the Ruhr, Essen was a regular target.

In the period 1939 to 1945 the Royal Air Force (RAF) dropped a total of 36,429 long tons of bombs on Essen.^[1]

Bombing

Essen World War II bombings^[2]

Date

Target

Notes

March 8/9, 1942

211 RAF aircraft destroy a few Essen houses and a church, 10 people killed and 19 missing.

March 9/10, 1942

187 RAF aircraft destroy 2 buildings in Essen (72 damaged) and cause damage in 24 other Ruhr towns (particularly Hamborn and Duisburg). In Essen, 10 people were killed, 19 were missing and 52 were injured. In other towns, 74 people were killed and 284 injured

March 10/11, 1942

62 crews claimed to have bombed Essen, with 2 bombs hitting on an industrial target (railway lines near the Krupp factory). 1 house was destroyed and 2 damaged in residential areas. 5 Germans were killed and 12 injured and a Polish worker was killed by a Flak shell which descended and exploded on the ground. No. 106 Squadron RAF was one of the bombing units.

March 17, 1942

1 RAF Wellington on a cloud-cover raid to Essen dropped its bombs somewhere in the Ruhr.

March 18, 19, & 21, 1942

RAF Wellingtons to Essen returned because of lack of cloud.

March 25/26, 1942

In the largest force sent to 1 target so far (254 aircraft), much of the Essen effort was drawn off by the decoy fire site at Rheinberg and 1 house was destroyed and 2 seriously damaged. 5 people were killed and 11 injured.

March 26/27, 1942

2 Essen houses destroyed, 6 people killed and 14 injured. 11 of the 115 RAF bombers were lost.

March 31/April 1, 1942

4 RAF Wellingtons, with selected crews, to Essen but only random targets were bombed by 2 aircraft. No losses.

June 2/3, 1942

The second of thousand-bomber raids on German cities: 956 RAF bombers took part.^[3]

March 2/3, 1943

Krupp

6 RAF Mosquitos to the Ruhr without loss. The aircraft which bombed Essen scored direct hits in the middle of the main Krupp factory.

March 5/6, 1943

Krupp

160|acre|km2}} of destruction with buildings within the Krupp works hit by bombs.

March 10/11 1943

2 RAF Mosquitos to Essen

March 12/13, 1943

457 RAF aircraft fly a successful Oboe-marked raid. The centre of the bombing area was across the giant Krupp factory, just west of the Essen centre, with later bombing drifting back to the north-western outskirts. Going by photographic evidence, it was believed by Bomber Command that Krupp received 30 per cent more damage on this night than on 5/6 March.

25/26 July 1943

Last raid on Essen during the Battle of the Ruhr. 705 aircraft of which 3.7 were lost. The raid had been planned to take advantage of the recent introduction of "Window". "The Krupps works suffered what was probably its most damaging raid of the war".

December 12/13, 1943

During the RAF campaign against Berlin, Essen was attacked by 18 Mosquitos.

January 13/14, 1944

Small raids on Essen, Duisburg, Aachen, and Koblenz by 25 Mosquitos. One aircraft was lost.

26/27 March 1944

705 aircraft. German fighter defences were unprepared for the attack on Essen and only 1.3% of the bomber force is lost. Bombing was by Oboe marked through cloud and Bomber Command recorded the attack as "successful".^[4]

31 March/1 April 1944

nuisance raid by three Mosquitos^[4]

8/9 April 1944

40 Mosquitos attack Krupp works without loss^[5]

26/27 April 1944

493 bombers attack Essen in an "accurate attack". Another 226 attack Schweinfurt and 217 against Villeneuve St Georges

October 8, 1944

marshalling yards

396 two- and 1,250 four-engined bombers support the American XIX Corps "battle for the Westwall" by attacking Kassel, Hamm, and Cologne marshalling yards at the edge of the battle area.^[6]

March 8, 1945

coking plant

In Essen, 114 aircraft bombed the Emil coking plant, and 109 bombed the marshalling yards.^[7]

References

1. ^http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1945/1945%20-%201571.html
2. ^Bomber Command Campaign Diary
3. ^{{cite book |last= Hodyra|first=Piotr |title=301 Dywizjon Bombowy 1940-1943 |year= 2016|publisher=Oficyna Wydawnicza Alma-Press|location=Warsaw |pages=68||isbn=978-83-7020-664-2 |language=pl}}
4. ^¹"Campaign Diary March 1944" {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20070706011932/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/mar44.html |date=2007-07-06 }} Bomber Command 60th Anniversary
5. ^Campaign Diary April 1944
6. ^{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Eddy (original text) |origyear=1972|year=1966 |title=Illustrated World War II Encyclopedia |location= |publisher=H. S. Stuttman Inc. |isbn=0-87475-520-4 |page=1921}}
7. ^Historisches Centrum Hagen : Chronik 1945

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20120310002148/http://moving-conflict.com/al-murrays-road-to-berlin/ Al Murray's Road to Berlin, Episode 6], "examine[s] in detail the RAF’s efforts to destroy the German Krupp armament factories in Essen in the Ruhr Valley, and the raid of 23 October 1944"

4 : Essen|Krupp|World War II strategic bombing lists|Germany–United Kingdom military relations

Bombing

References

Further reading

External links