Luftwaffe london 1944

Skip to content. Quick links. Luftwaffe operations over Britain Discussions on all non-biographical aspects of the Luftwaffe air units and general discussions on the Luftwaffe. Luftwaffe operations over Britain Post by tobias » 29 Feb I've recently read of the 'Mini-Blitz' of spring where smallish raids on London took place.

What was the extent of Luftwaffe operations over Britain beteween mid and May Also when and where for example did the very last raids take place? This raid marked the end of the Germans' Operation Steinbock, which the British mockingly referred to as a "baby blitz. The IX. The Fliegerkorps had lost aircraft. Post by paukenschlager » 01 Mar With the almost untouchable Arado jet bomber, which I believe flew its first missions against Liege?

But I've never heard of it, other than Goebbels mentioning it in his diary in February or March 45, hoping that the Londoners would be forced to turn out the lights at night with negative psychological effects. It might've been a plan which didn't materialized, or a propaganda lie, or maybe Goebbels was just misinformed.

Post by tobias » 02 Mar Is it accurate to say therefore that no Luftwaffe operations over Britain took place after D-Day?. Each acquired a familiar nighttime routine. After the power was switched off, people slept on the platforms and in the tunnels on the tracks. Apart from platform sleeping spaces or prefabricated bunks, most Underground stations offered chemical lavatories in others just buckets behind screens , refreshments, even library facilities.

As an example, City of Westminster libraries donated 2, books for use in their borough shelters. Shelterers in the London Underground stations - memorably captured by wartime artists such as Henry Moore and Edward Ardizzone — may have felt safer but they were by no means free from danger. From September to May , civilians were killed in Underground stations across the city.

Several stations took direct hits. On 3 March , died in a stampede at Bethnal Green Station. In the City of Westminster, Green Park Station was also badly damaged and on 12 November bombs fell on Sloane Square Station, hitting a passing train, wrecking the platforms and killing or seriously injuring All mainline overground termini in London, 23 other railway stations, 12 trolleybus and tram stations and 15 bus stations were hit during London Transport reported staff deaths in the Blitz and over 9, separate damage incidents.

The Blitz witnessed concerted night bombing of British regional cities, industrial and aircraft production centres and the main ports which supplied the British population from the sea.

On 14 November , Coventry - a centre for aircraft, weapons and automotive production — was devastated by German aircraft in a twelve-hour attack. On the night of 2 January , German bombers attacked Cardiff in a ten-hour raid, dropping 14, incendiaries and hundreds of high explosive bombs.

On 3 January, Bristol received similar Luftwaffe attention: were killed with over injured. The campaign against the provinces was unrelenting: Portsmouth January , 68 killed, over injured , Swansea February , killed, injured , Cardiff 26 February, 3 and 4 March and further raids between 12 March and 11 May , Plymouth March , killed.

Belfast was raided on April, 15 April and 4 May , inflicting over fatalities. On 8 May it was Nottingham's turn. From April to May , Hull and Liverpool. During April , the British government estimated that over 6, British civilians had been killed in air raids. In London, the Blitz became ever more destructive as ended. A major raid took place on 8 December German bombers dropped over tons of high explosive bombs and at least , incendiaries.

On 29 December the centre of the City of London was consumed by fire after German aircraft delivered over 20, incendiaries and tons of high explosive. The Guildhall and eight Wren churches were burnt out and five mainline rail stations suffered direct hits. From January , London was attacked a further four times.

Much worse was to come. A large raid - tons of high explosive and 25, incendiaries dropped - took place on 8 March On the night of 19 March, tons of high explosives and , incendiaries struck the East End and the docks. Over 1, people were killed or seriously injured. Further very heavy night raids on London took place on April tons of high explosive and , incendiaries dropped with 1, killed and on April 1, tons of high explosive and , incendiaries dropped with 1, killed.

The Blitz reached its crescendo on May when German aircraft wrought unprecedented destruction across the city. Under a full moon, Luftwaffe bombers attacked the capital, unloading tons of high explosive and 86, incendiaries.

At least 2, separate incendiary fires were started. Major disruption was caused to London's transport infrastructure: all but one mainline railway terminus and four bridges across the Thames were temporarily closed.

In total, acres of the capital were burnt down or pounded into rubble. By mid-May , German aircraft had dropped over 18, tons of high explosive bombs on the capital.

Yet, London was a huge target. Prime Minister Churchill calculated that the city could absorb great punishment possibly for years as he tried to secure direct American entry into the war.

Respite came as Hitler turned eastwards. By May the Nazi leader was finalising his grand strategic plan: the invasion and defeat of the Soviet Union. This invasion — Operation Barbarossa — was launched on 22 June , diverting many German aircraft from attacks on Britain. The nation breathed a sigh of relief. Luftwaffe bombers continued to attack British cities but from mid-May to late January the number and intensity of raids dropped dramatically.

These were individual attacks on provincial English cities and towns conducted in reprisal for RAF bombing of the undefended German Baltic port cities of Lubeck on 28 March and Rostock on April During the rest of and during , the Luftwaffe carried out additional precision air raids on port cities such as on Cardiff on 30 June and 2 July , 7 May and May and so-called 'tip and run' attacks.

These were fast, low-level raids on coastal towns and on specific military and industrial targets. Focke-Wulf FW fighters, modified to carry lb bombs, were sent on strafing sorties against southern England including London from January Further raids on the capital took place on 17 and 20 January, 3 March, 17 June, 7 October and 7 November London and south east England were singled out for attack in retaliation for British saturation bombing of major German cities, particularly Berlin.

Around aircraft from this force were airworthy. During four months of raids — fourteen on London seven on Westminster and others on Bristol, Hull and Cardiff - approximately 1, people were killed with almost 3, seriously injured. In London, people flocked again to the Underground stations, as they had done in deep public shelters were still not available. On the night of January the 'Little Blitz' began. On 28 January, bombers attacked the Surrey Commercial Docks, in the process causing major fires.

Additional air raids on London took place on 29 January and on 19, 20, 23, 24 and 29 February In a heavy raid on 19 February, the Luftwaffe dropped phospherous incendiaries on Whitehall, hitting the 'Fortress', a reinforced concrete extension of the War Office. Windows were shattered in No 10 Downing Street. Hyde Park and Pall Mall were also struck. On March, German aircraft again dropped phospherous incendiaries and high explosives across London.

On 21 March, Paddington Railway Station was bombed. But the Luftwaffe bomber force was mauled and progressively depleted during the 'Little Blitz'. In four months, aircraft were either lost or redeployed. Over were lost to interception, ground defensive fire, crew inexperience and maintenance problems. Reichsmarschall Goering then diverted squadrons to oppose the allied landings at Anzio, Italy, from 22 January , and to support German occupation forces in Hungary from mid-March Thereafter, Goering devoted what was left of his bomber strength in France to preparations for the expected allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.

Casualties had been comparatively light. Yet those who lived through it remembered the extra strain on British civilian morale it caused. Londoners accepted this resumption of the air raids stolidly, but people were just that much wearier; three years of the sheer slog of wartime life since the first Blitz had inevitably taken their toll.

Even as battered Britain glimpsed victory on the horizon, following the successful D-Day landings in north western France on 6 June , a final, vicious, air assault began: the V-Weapons. Over 3, of these hit the capital and its suburbs. Almost 9, people were killed. At least 24, others were seriously injured. The V1s were pilotless bombs with a range of miles km , powered by an Argus pulse engine and launched by catapult from static ramps in occupied Europe.

Each V1 was divided into five sections: pulse engine, control compartment, ball-shaped compressed air tanks, alcohol fuel tank and nose warhead.

Each flew at around mph kmph and were guided to their targets by autopilot and gyrocompass. After launch from northern France or Holland, V1s could reach London in 25 minutes. They arrived by day and by night. A small nose airscrew air log measured a set range — every V1 sent against the capital was calibrated for the exact distance to Tower Bridge — after which the droning pulse engine cut out and the V1 dived down, silently and menacingly, onto London.

Each V1 delivered a powerful warhead: 1, lb kg of high explosive. The public were first informed about the dangers from flying bombs on 16 June. Of over 10, V1s launched, approximately 9, were fired against London during an eighty day campaign. Around 2, V1s hit London a rate of 50 to a day in late June In the final stages of the campaign, V1s were also air launched against Britain from Heinkel HE bombers.

The last V1 to hit Britain landed near Datchworth, Hertfordshire on 29 March none killed or injured. In the City of Westminster, from 18 June to 27 August , thirty V1s killed people, seriously injured and otherwise injured over 1, others.

Six V1s hit the area around the Strand during Two of the worst V1 incidents of the war took place in Westminster in June , at Aldwych 46 killed and at the Guards' Chapel, Wellington Barracks SW1 killed, including 63 soldiers. More evidence of the horrendous destructive power of V1s came on 28 July , when one hit Lewisham SE13 killing 51 and injuring From 8 September to 28 March , an even more advanced V-weapon was deployed against London: the V2.

The ton 12,kg , ft They were guided by their own on-board gyroscope systems and by four external rudders on their tail fins. The first V2 was launched from Holland against Paris on 8 September In London, no defensive response to the V2 was possible.

British radar stations picked them up on their screens - for a second window after launch - but their speed presaged the missile warfare of the future. After launch from occupied Holland or Germany, V2s could hit the capital in five minutes.

Londoners did not even hear them coming. The first V2 to hit London fell on Chiswick on 8 September killing 3 and injuring Another fell into the River Thames, east of Waterloo Bridge. A fourth exploded at high altitude over Victoria on 12 November In all, 1, V2s hit England an average of five a day. Each V2 damaged an average of properties. Many dreams and future hopes had been blighted by air raids forever.

Hundreds of thousands of people in London and across Britain had lost everything, their homes and businesses gone for good. Bomb sites remained weed-choked, open spaces well into the s and in some cases into the s. Britain endured a period of prolonged peacetime austerity between and Food rationing remained in place until Only by could economists and politicians point to a return to prosperity.

Their words are supplemented by the many often visceral written and oral recollections of ordinary Britons — living and dead- caught up the mass bombing of their country during the Blitz years.

Today, the public appetite for all aspects of Blitz history shows little sign of diminishing. Contemporary literature, websites, multi-media resources, school events, newsreel libraries, archive and museum collections, history books and popular television programmes all preserve the Blitz story.

Its central position in British collective historical memory persists. I remember so vividly all you have written, I remember too how tired I always felt, the lack of sleep and having to go to work the next day. Fascinating read, so well put together. My mum was born in the East End, This gave me a clearer insight as to what her younger years were like.

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