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Day-by-Day Timeline of Events. Wednesday, May 15th, 1940. The RAF sends up its first night-time bombing raid against Germany. Of the 99 aircraft sent, only one fails to return home. Monday, August 26th, 1940. The first RAF attack on the German capital of Berlin takes place. Some 81 aircraft are part of the airborne raid.
- Overview
- Air warfare, 1942–43
Early in 1942 the RAF bomber command, headed by Sir Arthur Harris, began an intensification of the Allies’ growing strategic air offensive against Germany. These attacks, which were aimed against factories, rail depots, dockyards, bridges, and dams and against cities and towns themselves, were intended to both destroy Germany’s war industries and to deprive its civilian population of their housing, thus sapping their will to continue the war. The characteristic feature of the new program was its emphasis on area bombing, in which the centres of towns would be the points of aim for nocturnal raids.
Already in March 1942 an exceptionally destructive bombing raid, using the Germans’ own incendiary method, had been made on Lübeck; and intensive attacks were also made on Essen (site of the Krupp munitions works) and other Ruhr towns. In the night of May 30–31 more than 1,000 bombers were dispatched against Cologne, where they did heavy damage to one-third of that city’s built-up area. Such operations, however, became highly expensive to the bomber command, particularly because of the defense put up by the German night fighter force. Interrupted for two months during which the bombers concentrated their attention on U-boat bases on the Bay of Biscay, the air offensive against Germany was resumed in March 1943. In the following 12 months, moreover, its resources were to be increased formidably, so that by March 1944 the bomber command’s average daily operational strength had risen to 974 from about 500 in 1942. These numbers helped the RAF to concentrate effectively against major industrial targets, such as those in the Ruhr. The phases of the resumed offensive were: (1) the Battle of the Ruhr, from March to July 1943, comprising 18,506 sorties and costing 872 aircraft shot down and 2,126 damaged, its most memorable operation being that of the night of May 16–17, when the Möhne Dam in the Ruhr Basin and the Eder Dam in the Weser Basin were breached, (2) the Battle of Hamburg, from July to November 1943, comprising 17,021 sorties and costing 695 bombers lost and 1,123 damaged but, nevertheless, thanks in part to the new Window antiradar and “H2S” radar devices, achieving an unprecedented measure of devastation, since four out of its 33 major actions, with a little help from minor attacks, killed about 40,000 people and drove nearly 1,000,000 from their homes, and (3) the Battle of Berlin, from November 1943 to March 1944, comprising 20,224 sorties but costing 1,047 bombers lost and 1,682 returned damaged and achieving, on the whole, less devastation than the Battle of Hamburg.
Early in 1942 the RAF bomber command, headed by Sir Arthur Harris, began an intensification of the Allies’ growing strategic air offensive against Germany. These attacks, which were aimed against factories, rail depots, dockyards, bridges, and dams and against cities and towns themselves, were intended to both destroy Germany’s war industries and to deprive its civilian population of their housing, thus sapping their will to continue the war. The characteristic feature of the new program was its emphasis on area bombing, in which the centres of towns would be the points of aim for nocturnal raids.
Already in March 1942 an exceptionally destructive bombing raid, using the Germans’ own incendiary method, had been made on Lübeck; and intensive attacks were also made on Essen (site of the Krupp munitions works) and other Ruhr towns. In the night of May 30–31 more than 1,000 bombers were dispatched against Cologne, where they did heavy damage to one-third of that city’s built-up area. Such operations, however, became highly expensive to the bomber command, particularly because of the defense put up by the German night fighter force. Interrupted for two months during which the bombers concentrated their attention on U-boat bases on the Bay of Biscay, the air offensive against Germany was resumed in March 1943. In the following 12 months, moreover, its resources were to be increased formidably, so that by March 1944 the bomber command’s average daily operational strength had risen to 974 from about 500 in 1942. These numbers helped the RAF to concentrate effectively against major industrial targets, such as those in the Ruhr. The phases of the resumed offensive were: (1) the Battle of the Ruhr, from March to July 1943, comprising 18,506 sorties and costing 872 aircraft shot down and 2,126 damaged, its most memorable operation being that of the night of May 16–17, when the Möhne Dam in the Ruhr Basin and the Eder Dam in the Weser Basin were breached, (2) the Battle of Hamburg, from July to November 1943, comprising 17,021 sorties and costing 695 bombers lost and 1,123 damaged but, nevertheless, thanks in part to the new Window antiradar and “H2S” radar devices, achieving an unprecedented measure of devastation, since four out of its 33 major actions, with a little help from minor attacks, killed about 40,000 people and drove nearly 1,000,000 from their homes, and (3) the Battle of Berlin, from November 1943 to March 1944, comprising 20,224 sorties but costing 1,047 bombers lost and 1,682 returned damaged and achieving, on the whole, less devastation than the Battle of Hamburg.
Apr 11, 2024 · The Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Force (USAAF) had already conducted a Combined Bomber Offensive and made repeated attacks on the Ruhr industrial area of Germany (Battle of the Ruhr, March-July 1943) and on Hamburg with the utterly devastating Operation Gomorrah (July-August 1943). Typically, the RAF bombed by night and the USAAF by day in these combined operations.
- Mark Cartwright
- 1939. © IWM (CH 17) In 1939 RAF Bomber Command had 23 operational bomber squadrons, with 280 aircraft. This modest force gave Britain the means to immediately strike back at Nazi Germany, but only against strictly military targets at first.
- 1940. © IWM (CH 364) In 1940, after Hitler's invasion of France, the RAF began a night-time bombing campaign against German industry, especially synthetic oil production.
- 1941. © IWM (CH 3175) In 1941 Bomber Command grew in strength, but navigation over blacked-out Europe was still a major problem. Setbacks in the Battle of the Atlantic meant a major effort was needed against German warships and U-boats.
- 1942. © IWM (CH 6071) In 1942 Bomber Command received a new aircraft – the Avro Lancaster – and a new leader – Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris. Accepting that precision bombing was proving impossible, the War Cabinet sanctioned 'area bombing' – the targeting of whole cities to destroy both factories and their workers.
October 23, 2024. Top Photo: P-47 fighter-bomber pilots at a rough airstrip near St. Mere Eglise on June 15, 1944. By the end of August, all 18 of the 9th Air Force’s fighter-bomber and four of its medium bomber groups were based on the continent. U.S. Air Force photo 091002-F-1234S-012. From the landings in Normandy through the liberation of ...
Germany. In February 1945, over 1,200 Allied bombers of the RAF and the US Army Air Forces launched four aerial attacks against Dresden. It was the final months of the war in Europe, and would become one of the most controversial Allied attacks of the Second World War. The raids destroyed 75,000 homes and around 25,000 people were killed.
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Jun 1, 2015 · During World War II the British Royal Air Force (raf) and the U.S. Army Air Forces (usaaf) waged an aerial war against National Socialist Germany, its allies, and occupied territories that resulted in the deaths of approximately 600,000 civilians, seriously injured 1 million physically and mentally, and left much of continental Europe's cities and countryside a desolate landscape.
