The Bombing of Braunschweig (or Brunswick) in World War II on 15 October 1944 by the Royal Air Force's No. 5 Bomber Group marks the high point of the destruction of Henry the Lion's city in the Second World War. The air raid on this night caused a massive firestorm because of which Braunschweig burnt continuously for two and a half days. Moreover, the attack destroyed Braunschweig's mediaeval downtown core (more than 90% of it) thereby changing the city's appearance right down to the present day. Braunschweig (English Brunswick, Low Saxon Brunswiek) is a city of 245,500 people (as of December 31, 2004), located in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in Leap years). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Coronation of Henry the Lion and Matilda of England (1188) Henry the Lion (face of statue on his tomb in Brunswick Cathedral) Henry the Lion (1129 - August 6, 1195; in German, Heinrich der Löwe) was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony as Henry III since... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... A firestorm is the mass movement of air resulting from fire, creating a fire of extreme intensity over a wide area. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

Braunschweig in 1944

The first bombing of Braunschweig by the RAF came on 17 August 1940, and killed 7 people. From that day on the air raids became ever more numerous, precise and devastating in their effect. Beginning on 27 January 1943, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bombers attacked German cities by day as well as night. From February 1944 ("Big Week"), Braunschweig was a regular target for British and American bomber squadrons, with the RAF doing the nighttime raids, and the USAAF doing the daytime ones. This sharing of duty was set forth in the 1943 Casablanca Conference and was known as the combined bomber offensive (CBO), a joint action of the United Kingdom's and the United States' bombing forces. August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Strategic bombing is a military strategem used in a total war style campaign that attempts to destroy the economic ability of a nation-state to wage war. ... January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... The United States Army Air Forces, or USAAF, was a part of the U.S. military during World War II. The direct precursor to the U.S. Air Force, the USAAF formally existed between 1941 and 1947. ... The Big Week (20 February - 25 February 1944) was an Allied bombing campaign during World War II. Approximately 3,300 bombers were dispatched from England and 500 from Italy, with 137 of the former and 89 of the latter being lost. ... The Casablanca Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the European strategy of the Allies during World War II. Present were Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle. ...

Armament industry in and around Braunschweig

All together, Braunschweig – at the beginning of the twentieth century mainly a working-class industrial city – was subjected to 42 air raids by British and American bombers during the Second World War. The raids were aimed at munitions works (particularly at warplane, tank, and optical and precision instrument production) in and around Braunschweig, the harbour, various research institutions, canneries, railway stations and the railway maintenance works, as well as at the German Research Centre for Aviation. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ... Materiel (from the French for material) is the equipment and supplies in Military and commercial supply chain management. ... A harbor (or harbour) or haven is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. ... Passengers bustle around the typical grand edifice of Londons Broad Street Station in 1865. ... The German Aerospace Center (DLR) (German: ) is the national research center for aviation and space flight of the Federal Republic of Germany and of other member states in the Helmholtz Association. ...

As a centre of the German armament industry, the city was ringed by a strong and well-manned belt of anti-aircraft guns, making the town a fearsome target for Allied bombers, who could look forward to heavy losses. American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defense, is any method of engaging military aircraft in combat from the ground. ... The group of countries known as the Allies of World War II came together, to fight the Axis Powers, as World War II unfolded and progressed. ...

Arms works in and around Braunschweig (selection)

• Braunschweiger Blechwarenwerke (steel plate maker)
• Braunschweigische Maschinenbauanstalt (BMA) (machine manufacturer)
• Büssing (motor vehicles)
• Francke & Heidecke (precision optical instruments, such as cameras)
• Karges-Hammer (machine manufacturer)
• Lanico Maschinenbau (machine manufacturer)
• Luther-Werke (aircraft)
• Mühlenbau und Industrieaktiengesellschaft (MIAG) (installation and machine manufacturer, armour)
• Niedersächsische Motorenwerke (NIEMO) (aircraft engines)
• Schmalbach-Lubeca
• Schuberth-Werke
• Selwig & Lange (machine manufacturer)
• Voigtländer (precision optical instruments, such as telescopic sights)
• Wilke-Werke (machine manufacturer)
• Wullbrandt & Seele (machine manufacturer)

Right near Braunschweig also lay: Rolleiflex medium format camera Rollei is a German manufacturer of optical goods, and maker of the well-known Rolleiflex and Rolleicord series of cameras. ... A camera is a device used to take pictures (usually photographs), either singly or in sequence, with or without sound recording, such as with video cameras. ... Voigtländer is an optical company founded in 1756 by Johann Friedrich Voigtländer in Vienna and thus the oldest name in cameras. ... View through a 4x rifle scope A telescopic sight, commonly referred to as a scope, is a device used to give an accurate point of aim for a firearm. ...

• the Reichswerke Hermann Göring in Salzgitter
• the Volkswagen Works near Wolfsburg-Fallersleben

Furthermore, the airfields at Braunschweig-Waggum, Braunschweig-Broitzem and Braunschweig-Völkenrode as well as, by and by, the whole city, were swallowed up in the destruction. Categories: Germany geography stubs | Cities in Germany | Towns in Lower Saxony ... Volkswagen, pronounced folksvagen meaning: peoples car (also known as VW) is an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany in the State of Lower Saxony. ... Weser watershed Wolfsburg is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Fallersleben is a district in the City of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, with about 12,000 inhabitants (2004). ...

Preparation for the 15 October 1944 air raid

Raid's purpose

On 13 October, the RAF received orders to carry out Operation Hurricane. The purpose of this action was on the one hand to demonstrate the Allied bomber forces' destructive might, and on the other hand also to make clear Allied air superiority. The orders included the following passage: October 13 is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years). ... The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

“In order to demonstrate to the enemy in Germany generally the overwhelming superiority of the Allied Air Forces in this theatre … the intention is to apply within the shortest practical period the maximum effort of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command and the 8th United States Bomber Command against objectives in the densely populated Ruhr.”

(quoted from RAF journal)

Operation Hurricane foresaw Duisburg as its main goal for the RAF's thousand or so bombers, and Cologne for the USAAF's 1,200 or so bombers. A further 233 RAF bombers were detailed for Braunschweig. In October 1944, the city had about 150,000 inhabitants. Map of the Ruhr Area The Ruhr Area (German Ruhrgebiet, colloquially Ruhrpott or Kohlenpott) is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, consisting of a number of large (former) industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. ... Duisburg is a German city and port in the western part of the Ruhr Area (Ruhrgebiet) in North Rhine-Westphalia. ... Cologne Cathedral with Hohenzollern Bridge Cologne (German: (help· info) [kœln]; Kölsch: Kölle) is Germanys fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of...

The planning for the attack on Braunschweig was finalized as of 15 August 1944. After Darmstadt became one of the first German cities to be destroyed using a new tactic (a special target marking technique, fan-shaped flying formation, staggering of explosive bombs and firebombs) on 11 September 1944, resulting in about 11,500 deaths, the Allies turned their attention to Braunschweig on 15 October 1944. August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining. ... Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hessen in Germany. ... September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ...

Braunschweig was to be largely destroyed not only as an important centre of the armament industry, but also, and above all, as a living place, thereby making it uninhabitable and useless. The goal, namely the greatest possible destruction, was to be reached through detailed attack plans and careful execution thereof, and also using the attributes of the materiel that was to be deployed (see under 14 October 1944 mission orders and RAF Bomber Command military journal: 15/10/1944). The means whereby the goal was to be reached would be the aforesaid firestorm, whose production was no accident; it was scientifically based (see under Literature, Jörg Friedrich) and developed through painstakingly detailed work.

On 13 October, the chief meteorologist at High Wycombe advised RAF Bomber Command Headquarters of the weather forecast for the weekend of 14-15 October: Slight cloudiness, good visibility throughout the night, moderate winds. The next day, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Arthur "Bomber" Harris issued the orders to carry out the attack on Braunschweig and other cities. The operation was codenamed "SKATE". Satellite image of Hurricane Hugo with a polar low visible at the top of the image. ... High Wycombe in the UK High Wycombe, (previously Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe) South Buckinghamshire, is 29 miles (46. ... Marshal of the RAF sleeve/shoulder insignia Marshal of the Royal Air Force was the highest rank in the Royal Air Force. ... Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet (April 13, 1892 - April 5, 1984), commonly known as Bomber Harris, and often within the RAF as Butcher Harris, was commander of RAF Bomber Command and later a Marshal of the Royal Air Force during the latter half...

RAF No. 5 Bomber Group

The 5th Bomber Group (Motto: "Undaunted") was founded in 1937 and during the war upgraded and modernized. Arthur Harris himself, then an Air Vice-Marshal, commanded the group from 1939 to 1940 before he became supreme commander of RAF Bomber Command. In 1943, the headquarters of the group, which towards the end of the war expanded to 15 squadrons, were moved to Morton Hall, Swinderby. At the time of the attack on Braunschweig, the group was commanded by Air Vice-Marshal Ralph Cochrane. The group was made responsible for various specialized missions, such as bombing dams. Sir Ralph Alexander Cochrane GBE KCB CBE (24 February 1895–17 December 1977) was a British pilot and Royal Air Force officer, perhaps best known for his role in Operation Chastise–the famous Dambusters raid. ... Scrivener Dam, in Canberra, Australia, was engineered to withstand a once-in-5000-years flood event A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment. ...

The following were some of the group's most important missions:

• First "thousand-bomber attack" on Cologne on 30 May 1942 (shared)
• "Dambuster" attack on the dams at the Möhne Reservoir and the Edersee on 17 March 1943 (without backup)
• Attack on Heilbronn, 4 December 1944 (without backup)
• Attack on Dresden on 13 February 1945 (without backup on the first attack)
• Grand Slam attack on Bielefeld on 14 March 1945 (without backup)
• Air raid on Würzburg, 16 March 1945 (shared)

RAF Bomber Command had sought four times in vain during 1944 to inflict lasting destruction upon Braunschweig, failing each time as a result of, among other things, bad weather and strong defences. Cologne Cathedral with Hohenzollern Bridge Cologne (German: (help· info) [kœln]; Kölsch: Kölle) is Germanys fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of... May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ... This article is about the year. ... Operation Chastise was the official name for the attacks on German dams on May 17, 1943 in World War II using a specially developed bouncing bomb. The attack was carried out by Royal Air Force No. ... The Möhne Reservoir is an artificial lake in North Rhine-Westphalia, some 45 km east of Dortmund. ... The Eder barrier, which creates the Edersee. ... March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, near Stuttgart. ... December 4 is the 338th day (339th on leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... From left to right: Brühls Terrace; the Hofkirche and the castle; the Semper Opera House. ... February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... A British 22,000 lb Grand Slam bomb The Grand Slam (Earthquake) bomb was a very large bomb developed by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis in late 1944. ... Bielefeld is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in Leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year. ... During World War II, on March 16, 1945, 89% of the city was laid to ruins by a British Royal Air Force bombing raid. ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). ...

On Saturday 14 October 1944 at No. 5 Bomber Group's headquarters at Morton Hall, the preparations for the attack were finalized. October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in Leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

14 October 1944 mission orders

First page of the SKATE mission orders for RAF No. 5 Bomber Group

Partial transcription of mission orders with slight, handwritten alterations:

• Mission: At least 220 aircraft from No. 5 Group will attack the target. Furthermore 1000 aircraft from No. 1, 3, 4 and 6 Groups COD (codename for Duisburg) at 0129 and 0325 hours.
• Mission goal: To complete destruction of an enemy industrial centre.
• Mission date: Night of 14/15 October 1944.
• Mission forces: 53 Base – more than 80 aircraft; 55 Base – more than 100 aircraft; 49 Squadron – more than 18 aircraft; 54 Base – 13 aircraft (106 Squadron) plus flare and marker forces.
• Target: SKATE (codename for Braunschweig).
• H-Hour (attack time): Provisionally 0230 hours; Time over target H to H + 6 (six minutes after H-Hour) (2 × 3 min. waves); Aircraft are to be spread evenly over the Time over target, but aircraft with the longer delays are to attack in the first wave.
• Bomb load and fusing: 51 aircraft: 1 × 2000 HC (Blockbuster bombs) plus Maximum "J"-Cluster (firebombs).

Remainder: 1 × 1000 MC/GP (explosive bombs with impact fuses) plus maximum inc (ie incendiary) bombs preferably in scattering containers, otherwise clusters.

(Note: A Lancaster's maximum bomb load was somewhat more than 6 tonnes. The given bomb load of "1 × 1000 MC/GP [ie 1000 lb., or 454 kg] plus maximum inc bombs" means that the room for the bomb load was filled with firebombs up to the highest allowable starting weight, making the available fuel a factor for consideration. It follows that more than 80% of the Lancaster bomb loads for the attack on Braunschweig consisted of firebombs.

• Photography: All aircraft are to carry night cameras and flashes fused to explode at point 6 of aircraft height.
• Attack: The target radiates in places from the marking point outwards, to be attacked with delayed bombing.
• Target marking: Attack time-10 (minutes): blind marking. Green target markers are to be dropped into the middle of the target. They are to be refreshed at Attack time-5; Red marking bombs are to be dropped over the target at Attack time -9, -7 and -5.
• Bombardment allocation: Crews are to target red target markers so that the middle bomb in their load strikes the target's centre.

Duisburg is a German city and port in the western part of the Ruhr Area (Ruhrgebiet) in North Rhine-Westphalia. ... Braunschweig (English Brunswick, Low Saxon Brunswiek) is a city of 245,500 people (as of December 31, 2004), located in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... The Blockbuster was the name of the largest conventional bomb used in World War II by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF). ... The Avro Lancaster was a four-engine World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force (RAF). ...

Air raid's progress

Overflying the target

Lancaster Bomber (2003)

Mosquito

According to plan, the RAF's No. 5 Bomber Group began its flight to the target, Braunschweig, towards 2300 hours local time on 14 October. At the same time, a further thousand RAF bombers from other groups began bombing Duisburg. The group bound for Braunschweig took a course leading far south of the target that lay ahead to avoid the Ruhr area, which was defended quite heavily by a band of anti-aircraft batteries. Near Paderborn it turned towards the north, overflew Hanover, and then proceeded to Braunschweig. The group consisted of 233 heavy, four-engine bombers – Lancasters, types I and III – each with a bomb load of about six tonnes. The Lancasters were guided by seven Mosquitos. Avro Lancaster at the Rougham Air Show (UK) in September 2002. ... Avro Lancaster at the Rougham Air Show (UK) in September 2002. ... Image File history File links Mosquito_600pix. ... Image File history File links Mosquito_600pix. ... Duisburg is a German city and port in the western part of the Ruhr Area (Ruhrgebiet) in North Rhine-Westphalia. ... Map of the Ruhr Area The Ruhr Area (German Ruhrgebiet, colloquially Ruhrpott or Kohlenpott) is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, consisting of a number of large (former) industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. ... Position of Paderborn in Germany Paderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Paderborn. ... Hanover (German: Hannover []), on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany. ... The Avro Lancaster was a four-engine World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force (RAF). ... The correct title of this article is de Havilland Mosquito. ...

Eliminating German air defences through deception

One hundred and forty-one training craft flew simulated attacks on Heligoland, 20 Mosquitos went to Hamburg, eight to Mannheim, 16 to Berlin and two to Düsseldorf. Moreover, 140 further craft were deployed for other diversionary manoeuvres. Also, strips of tinfoil were scattered into the air in great amounts to jam the German air defence system's radar stations, thereby rendering them very nearly useless on this night. This operation's codename was "Windows". Birdseye view, Helgoland, Germany, ca. ... Alster Lake at dusk Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and with the Hamburg Harbour, its principal port. ... Basic information Country: Germany Federal state: Land Baden-Württemberg Regions: Rhein-Neckar District: Independent municipality Population: 324,787 (Mai 2005) Additional information Area: 144. ... (help· info), IPA: , is the capital city as well as a state of Germany, and also the countrys largest city. ... Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and (together with Cologne and the Ruhr Area) the economic center of Western Germany. ... Tin foil or tinfoil is a thin leaf made of tin. ... M*A*S*H , see Corporal Walter (Radar) OReilly. ...

Marking the target

The Mosquitos were responsible for a technique, specially developed by No. 5 Bomber Group, of marking the innermost areas of the target. The target marking technique had undergone ongoing improvements through the war years and had now been perfected. Once over the city, the Pathfinder aircraft dropped their markers of various colours, brightly lighting the target up. Southwest of the downtown core fell the first red flare. Over the Dom-Insel – the site of Braunschweig Cathedral, and also the target point of the attack – a green flare was dropped, a so-called "blind marker". These craft in turn gave forth about 60 flares from a height of 1 000 m, which then slowly floated down to the ground, each burning for about 3 to 7 minutes. These lit markers were called "Christmas tree" by the local people for their characteristic appearance. Given the clear night (report from filmed intelligence: "Visibility: excellent"), the problem-free overflight, the flawless marking of the target, the conditions for this attack were, from the British point of view, optimal. The Pathfinder squadrons of the Royal Air Force were elite squadrons of RAF Bomber Command during World War II. During World War II the RAF Bomber Command practiced mainly night bombing. ... Brunswick Cathedral with lion statue. ...

A Lancaster drops bundles of firebombs (left), firebombs and an explosive bomb (right) on Duisburg on 15 October 1944; the same night, Braunschweig was likewise bombarded.

ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (894x414, 210 KB) The ABC Lancaster I NG128 coded B-SR of 101 Sqn out of Ludford Magna, dropping its load over Duisburg on Oct 14, 1944. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (894x414, 210 KB) The ABC Lancaster I NG128 coded B-SR of 101 Sqn out of Ludford Magna, dropping its load over Duisburg on Oct 14, 1944. ... The Avro Lancaster was a four-engine World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force (RAF). ... Duisburg is a German city and port in the western part of the Ruhr Area (Ruhrgebiet) in North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

The ruin of old Braunschweig

The last all-clear siren signal on Saturday 14 October had already faded away about midnight, only to be replaced by a new alert signal at about 0150 on 15 October – the RAF attack had begun. Although the air raid only lasted about 40 minutes, Sunday 15 October 1944 would go down in the city's history as the day when Braunschweig's old town was laid waste. Not only had No. 5 Bomber Group developed a special target marking technique, but also an ingenious bombing procedure which was designed to cause the greatest possible damage. It was called "sector bombing". It employed the cathedral as a reckoning point for the "master bomber" in the lead plane. The green marker on the Dom-Insel served to guide the bomb aimers in all following aircraft, who flew in over it from various directions in a fan-shaped formation, whereupon they dropped their bombs. Civil Defense Siren A civil defense siren, air raid siren, tornado siren, or other kind of outdoor warning siren, is usually considered to be an electrically-powered mechanical device for generating sound to provide warning of approaching danger and to indicate when the danger has passed. ... The crews of bomber aircraft, historically, included a bombardier, as they were known in the United States, or a bomb aimer, as they were known in other countries, who was responsible for targetting the planes munitions. ...

RAF films of the attack

This air raid on Braunschweig was filmed by a Lancaster with the registration "L 463 Y", specially outfitted for the task. The craft flew, like most of the throng besetting the city that night, at a height of 4 950 m over Braunschweig at 260 km/h. The filming was done with three "Eyemo"-type cameras. The time of the attack's onset was noted as 0233 hours. A copy of the resulting film can be found today at the Städtisches Museum Braunschweig. The Eyemo spyder model 71QM in action, fitted with a metal accessory on the camera door. ...

The film is provided with the following informational text:

"Bomber Command … made a heavy and concentrated attack on the industrial town of Brunswick, which is one of Germany’s biggest centres for the aircraft and engineering industries. As the aircraft with the cameras runs up to the target the fires can be seen spreading rapidly all over the city and by the time the aircraft is over the target the whole city is ablaze and the streets can been seen clearly outlined."

The firestorm

Braunschweig's downtown core burning on the night of 15 October 1944

Before long, about 847 tonnes of bombs had been dropped on the city, first about 12,000 explosive bombs – the so-called "Blockbusters" – in many "carpets" on the old half-timbered town to get the intended firestorm started in the most efficient way – with the old town's wooden houses. The blast waves blew the houses' roofs off, exposing the insides, blew windowpanes out, splintered the inner structure, broke walls down, tore electricity and water supplies up, and drove firefighters and rescue service personnel, as well as damage observers into cellars and bunkers. The Blockbuster was the name of the largest conventional bomb used in World War II by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF). ... The phrases area bombing and carpet bombing refer to the use of very large numbers of unguided gravity bombs, often with high proportion of incendiary bombs, to attempt the complete destruction of a target region, either to destroy personnel and materiel, or as a means to demoralize the enemy (see... Timber framing is the modern term for the traditional half-timbered construction in which timber provides a visible skeletal frame that supports the whole building. ...

After the wave of explosive bombs came about 200,000 phosphorus and firebombs whose job was to ignite the firestorm, for as with attacks on other cities, for instance Hamburg (Operation Gomorrah), the firestorm was no accident, but rather a carefully planned tactic that was the result of years of thorough scientific research. It would be completing its task even after the bombers had long returned to England. This article is about the chemical element. ... The large port city of Hamburg was very heavily bombed many times by the RAF and the USAAF during World War II. An Avro Lancaster over Hamburg - the curved streaking is caused by a combination of the movement of the photographing aircraft and the long exposure time required for taking... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Languages English (de facto) Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ...

By about 0310 hours, about 40 minutes after the first explosive bombs had been dropped on Braunschweig, the RAF bombing was over.

The hot masses of air were sucked upwards by the powerful thermal that arose from the conflagration. Cooler air was thereby brought down from great heights, making the local weather much like a windstorm with constantly changing winds that only worsened the fires, thereby further strengthening the winds, which were actually strong enough to sweep small pieces of furniture up and toss people about. This article is about the atmospheric phenomenon. ... A windstorm is a severe weather condition indicated by high winds. ...

About three and a half hours later, towards 6:30 in the morning, the firestorm reached its peak in the downtown core. About 150 ha of historic old Braunschweig was going up in flames. The city's tallest church steeples – among them the Andreaskirche at about 100 m tall – could be seen burning far beyond the town, and they also rained embers down over the whole city. Streets, buildings and the ruins of the downtown core were heavily littered with firebombs, greatly slowing rescue vehicles and fire engines, which had to fight their way through this and many other dangers in the firestorm to reach into the fire.

The city burnt so intensely and brightly that the light from the fire could be seen far and wide. From all directions, helpers and firefighters thronged into the burning town to help. They came from, among other places, Hanover to the west and Helmstedt in the east, from Celle to the north and Quedlinburg to the south. Hanover (German: Hannover []), on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany. ... Helmstedt is a city located at the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. ... Map of Germany showing Celle Celle is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Roland The city of Quedlinburg in the German Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt has existed since at least the early ninth century, when a settlement known as Gross Orden existed at the site of the modern Quedlinburg. ...

Within the 24 hours of Operation Hurricane, the RAF dropped about 10,000 tonnes of bombs in all on Duisburg and Braunschweig, the greatest bomb load dropped on any one day in the Second World War.

Rescue of 23,000 trapped people

The fire's many starting points in the downtown core quickly grew together into one widespread conflagration. However, in this area were six large bunkers and two air raid shelters, all quite overfull, in which 23,000 people had sought refuge from the attack. While these thousands waited in seeming safety inside their thick-walled shelters for the all-clear signal, outside the firestorm raged. Bunkers in Albania A bunker is a defensive military fortification. ... Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks from the air. ...

The fire brigade very soon realized the threat to these 23,000 trapped people – the fire was growing ever hotter, and the oxygen in the bunkers and shelters thereby ever thinner. The danger was clearly that the victims would either suffocate for lack of oxygen if they stayed in the bunkers, or be burnt alive if they tried to leave and escape through the firestorm outside. Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 15. ... Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body. ...

Die Wassergasse ("water alley")

Lieutenant of the Fire Protection Police Rudolf Prescher (born 1912 in Dresden; died 1997 in Braunschweig) is to be thanked for the initiative that yielded the solution to the problem of how to rescue these people. Towards 5 o'clock in the morning – before the firestorm had reached its full intensity – the idea of building a "water alley" was conceived, through or under which the trapped people could flee their shelters – which were now endangering their lives – for safe areas of the city. The firefighters, of course, first had to risk their lives by going into the fire to set this system up. From left to right: Brühls Terrace; the Hofkirche and the castle; the Semper Opera House. ...

The water alley consisted of a long hose that had to be kept under a constant water mist to shield it against the fire's tremendous heat as the firefighters led the hose through to the shelters where the people were trapped. The reach of each of the little jets issuing from the holes in the hose overlapped each other making a continuous, artificial "rain zone".

The bunkers were reached towards 7 o'clock Sunday morning, after the fire storm had reached its greatest intensity. All the trapped people were still alive, but had no idea what lay outside for them. All 23,000 managed to get out of the danger zone and reach safe areas, such as the museum park. Only in one air raid shelter – the one at Schöppenstedter Straße 31 – did the help come too late. Here, 95 of the 104 people had died for lack of oxygen by the time the fire brigade reached them. The firestorm had been so intense in this particular part of the city that it had used up nearly all the oxygen, making it possible to save no more than nine people.

Statistics relating to 15 October 1944

Destroyed buildings (selection)

Typical Braunschweig half-timbered house

Ruins of the Hotel Handelshof (2006)

The Mumme-Haus brewery (destroyed)

A great part of Braunschweig's tightly packed downtown core was made up of about 800 half-timbered houses, many of which dated back to the Middle Ages. There were also stone buildings dating mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The narrow streets with their wooden half-timbered houses that could so easily catch fire and burn, all built cheek by jowl with each other, saw to it that the British tactics were successful. First dropping explosive bombs, and then firebombs, not only started a fire, but made sure it would spread quickly and turn into a firestorm that raged for 2½ days, destroying virtually everything. Braunschweig lost many irreplaceable cultural monuments in the short time after the air raid. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...

In an ironic twist of fate, the old cathedral, which the RAF had used as a reckoning point for the whole operation, was left standing. The Nazi government turned it into a "National Shrine". It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Nazism. ...

Along with whole streets in the downtown core, many important historic buildings were largely or utterly destroyed. What follows is a selection of those:

On the next morning, 16 October, Braunschweig lay under a thick cloud of smoke. A British reconnaissance aircraft sent to take photographs of the bombing's aftermath for analysis actually had to turn back and return to England without completing its job, which had been rendered impossible by the opaque pall that hung over the town. Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ...

By the evening of 17 October, the last of the fire's main hotspots had been put out, but it took another three days to quench lesser fires, until 20 October. Eighty thousand of the townsfolk were left homeless by the attack.

The destruction was so widespread and thorough that ordinary people and the experts alike, even years after the war, were convinced that the attack had come from one of the dread "thousand-bomber attacks", such as the one that had laid Cologne waste. The extent of the damage could seemingly not otherwise be explained. Only after the British opened their military archives did it become plain that it had been "only" 233 bombers.

The victims

The exact number of victims of the 15 October attack is unknown. The given figures range from 484 to 640 dead, 95 of those by suffocation at the Schöppenstedter Straße 31 shelter alone. Nowadays, historians put the number at more than a thousand.

These "light" losses – compared with those suffered in the great air raids on Dresden, Hamburg, Pforzheim and other German cities – according to expert opinions stem from various factors. For one thing, Braunschweig lay on the direct flight path, that is, the "lane" leading to Magdeburg and Berlin, and right near the armament industry centres of Salzgitter (Hermann-Göring-Werke) and Wolfsburg (Volkswagen Works), meaning that Braunschweigers were used to – even in a sense "trained for" – quickly responding to alarms (there were 2,040 warnings and 620 air raid alarms between 1939 and 1945). This may have prepared them for the attack, even though many of the earlier attacks from which they had sought shelter actually targeted the other cities mentioned. Furthermore, the city also had at its disposal a great number of the latest type of air raid bunkers. Lastly, the fire brigade's "water alley" alone saved 23,000 people's lives. From left to right: Brühls Terrace; the Hofkirche and the castle; the Semper Opera House. ... Alster Lake at dusk Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and with the Hamburg Harbour, its principal port. ... Pforzheim is a town of 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-west Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. ... View of Magdeburg with the cathedral, from the tower of the Johanniskirche Magdeburgs center has numerous Stalinist neo-classicist buildings Interior of the Cathedral of Magdeburg, looking towards the Grave of Otto I. The cathedrals twin spires, seen from the courtyard Unser Lieben Frauen Monastery Magdeburg, the capital... (help· info), IPA: , is the capital city as well as a state of Germany, and also the countrys largest city. ... Volkswagen, pronounced folksvagen meaning: peoples car (also known as VW) is an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany in the State of Lower Saxony. ...

The RAF lost a single Lancaster bomber to anti-aircraft fire that night.

Bunkers in Braunschweig

Built-over bunker, Okerstraße (2006)

Bunker, Kaiserstraße (2006)

High bunker, Ritterstraße (2006)

Back of Kalenwall Bunker (2006)

Braunschweig Armour

Braunschweig had, compared to other German cities, a great number of the most modern air raid bunkers, which nevertheless suffered from regular overcrowding as the war wore on. As modern and robust as they were, the fact is that the so-called Braunschweig Armour was developed at the Institute for Building Materials, Massive Construction and Fire Protection of the Braunschweig Technical College. It became a kind of safety standard for building air raid bunkers throughout the Reich. The Technical University at Brunswick, Lower Saxony, is the oldest of Germanys technical universities. ...

Fire brigades from Braunschweig and other cities deployed against the firestorm

According to estimates, especially during the night of the bombing as well as in the next six days until the last fires were put out, about 4,500 firefighters were deployed. They came from up to 90 km away, and included not only members of city fire brigades from, among other places, Blankenburg, Celle, Gifhorn, Hanover, Helmstedt, Hildesheim, Peine, Salzgitter, Wernigerode and Wolfenbüttel, but also volunteers and members of plant fire brigades at the various factories in Braunschweig and the surrounding area. They are to be thanked for the fact that the city was not utterly burnt down that night. Map of Germany showing Celle Celle is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Map of Germany showing Gifhorn Gifhorn is a city in Germany. ... Hanover (German: Hannover []), on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany. ... Helmstedt is a city located at the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. ... â–¶ (help· info) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Peine is a town in Lower Saxony, capital of the district Peine. ... Categories: Germany geography stubs | Cities in Germany | Towns in Lower Saxony ... Wernigerode Castle Wernigerode is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. ... Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. ...

Aftermath

"Death notice" in the Braunschweiger Tageszeitung of 20 October 1944

The bombing in the Nazi press

Even on the night of the attack, the National Socialists seized the opportunity to make the victims an instrument in their quest for total war, for already by the next day, 16 October, with Braunschweig still burning, the local Nazi propaganda newspaper, the Braunschweiger Tageszeitung, came out with the headline "Die teuflische Fratze des Gegners. Schwerer Terrorangriff auf Braunschweig – Volksgemeinschaft in der Bewährung" ("The foe's devilish antics. Heavy terror attack on Braunschweig – Population put to the test"), and Südhannover-Braunschweig Gauleiter Hartmann Lauterbacher's (1909-1988) pithy words of perseverance to "the Braunschweigers". On 19 October, the number of "fallen" was given as 405, and on 20 October appeared a full-page death notice with 344 names. On 22 October, one week after the disastrous attack, there was a "memorial act" for the victims, both at the State Cathedral ("Staatsdom") – as the Nazis now called Braunschweig's cathedral – and at the Schlossplatz, a city square. The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... This article is about total warfare. ... North Korean propaganda showing a soldier destroying the United States Capitol building. ...

The same night, Braunschweig had another heavy air raid. This time the bombers were USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses. The last air raid on Braunschweig came on the morning of 31 March 1945, carried out by the 392 US Bomber Group. Their main target was the East Railway Station. A B-17 on a bombing run. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ...

RAF Bomber Command Campaign Diary: 15/10/1944

In the RAF Bomber Command's campaign diary can be found the following entry about the 15 October 1944 attack on Braunschweig:

RAF Bomber Command Campaign Diary October 1944

14/15 October 1944:

[…] Not only could Bomber Command dispatch more than 2,000 sorties to Duisburg in less than 24 hours, but there was still effort to spare for No 5 Group to attack Brunswick with 233 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitos. The various diversions and fighter support operations laid on by Bomber Command were so successful that only 1 Lancaster was lost from this raid. Bomber Command had attempted to destroy Brunswick 4 times so far in 1944 and No 5 Group finally achieved that aim on this night, using their own marking methods. It was Brunswick's worst raid of the war and the old centre was completely destroyed. A local report says 'the whole town, even the smaller districts, was particularly hard hit'. It was estimated by the local officials that 1,000 bombers had carried out the raid.

(quoted from RAF Bomber Command military journal)

The text makes it plain that RAF Bomber Command was well aware very soon after the 15 October 1944 attack of just how devastating the aftermath was for Braunschweig.

Preparations for the destruction of Dresden

Upon consideration, the 15 October 1944 attack on Braunschweig in conjunction with others, such as the one on Darmstadt on 11 September 1944, may be considered part of the RAF's preparations for the annihilation of Dresden later realized through the air raids on 13 and 14 February 1945. The experience gathered from these raids was "optimized" for Dresden. Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hessen in Germany. ... September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ... The bombing of Dresden by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945 remains one of the more controversial events of World War II. Historian Frederick Taylor says: The destruction of Dresden has an epically tragic quality...

Statistics of destruction

Population figure and deaths

When the Second World War began, Braunschweig had 202,284 inhabitants. By the war's end, this figure had fallen by 26.03% to 149,641. From the effects of war (mainly air raids but also their aftermath, such as having to dispose of or otherwise make safe the duds that the Allies dropped) about 2,905 people died, 1,286 of whom, or 44.3%, were foreigners. These foreigners were predominantly prisoners of war, forced labourers, and concentration camp inmates who worked in the armament industry, and who were forbidden access to the air raid bunkers. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Unexploded ordnance (or UXOs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shells, grenades, etc. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for forms of work, especially in modern or early modern history, in which adults and/or children are employed against their will by the threat of destitution, detention, violence (including death), or other extreme hardship to themselves, or to members of their... A concentration camp is a large detention center created for political opponents, enemy aliens, specific ethnic or religious groups, civilians of a critical war-zone, or other groups of people, often during a war. ...

Destruction of housing, infrastructure, etc.

Between 1940 and 1945, Braunschweig was targeted by RAF and USAAF air raids 42 times.

Exact figures are available only for destroyed houses and flats. By the time the war was over, about 20% of Braunschweig's dwellings had been left utterly undamaged, but about 24% of them had been utterly destroyed. The remaining 55% were somewhat damaged, with the extent of damage to any particular dwelling varying greatly with others. In 1943, before the area bombing of Braunschweig, there were 15,897 houses in the city, but by mid-1945, only 2,834 (about 18%) were left undamaged. The city also had 59,826 flats, of which 11,153 (about 19%) were still undamaged by the time the war ended. The level of destruction with regard to residential buildings stood at 35%, leading to homelessness for almost 80% of the towsfolk by war's end. Sixty percent of the city's places of cultural interest, including the municipal buildings, were likewise destroyed, along with about 50% of its industrial areas. Borj-e Sefid apartments in Tehran, Iran An apartment (or flat in Britain and other Commonwealth countries) is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building. ...

Overall destruction rate and amount of rubble

The destruction rate in Braunschweig's downtown core (within the "Oker Ring") stood at about 90%, and the overall figure for Braunschweig as a whole was 42%. The attack on the city produced an estimated 3 670 500 m³ of rubble. These figures put Braunschweig among Germany's most heavily damaged cities in the Second World War. The Oker is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany. ...

After the war

Reconstruction

Reconstruction and commemoration: sign on a house wall neighbouring the Andreaskirche. "Braunschweig's old town became on 15 October 1944 a victim of the war. Peaceable work from 1953-1955 afforded new living places under the protection of St. Andrew."

On 17 June 1946, the rubble clearing officially began in Braunschweig. The job took 17 years, with the city only officially declaring the task accomplished in 1963. In actual fact, however, smaller messes were still being cleared up years after that.

Braunschweig's reconstruction in the 1950s and 1960s proceeded very quickly, as housing was so badly needed, and the city's infrastructure needed to be built all over again. Since the downtown core was a rubble-strewn wasteland, some uninspired city and spatial planners seized the chance to build the new, modern, and above all car-friendly city, an idea promoted by Hans Bernhard Reichow. This once again led in many places to further destruction (through new roadways, for instance) and the removal of city scenery that had become historic, since in part the former city layout was ignored. Ruins were hastily torn down instead of being restored, and the car was raised as the new "yardstick" whereby the "new" Braunschweig was to be measured. Thus was wrought, especially in the downtown core, a "second destruction" of Braunschweig. Urban, city, or town planning, deals with design of the built environment from the municipal and metropolitan perspective. ... Spatial planning refers to the methods used by the public sector to influence the distribution of people and activities in spaces of various scales. ...

The later destruction of historic buildings and cultural sites, such as the demolition of many mediaeval, baroque and classical buildings or the controversial demolition of the damaged Braunschweiger Schloss (palatial residence) in 1960 led much as with the Dresden Frauenkirche, the Berlin City Palace and other prominent buildings in other cities to a further loss of identity for the local people, and was the cause of much controversy for decades. The Dresden Frauenkirche in October 2005, only two weeks prior to its reconsecration and opening to the public. ... Berliner Stadtschloss in a 19th century painting Stadtschloss in the 1920s The Berlin City Palace (German: Berliner Stadtschloss) was a palace in central Berlin, on Schlossplatz, next to Alexanderplatz. ...

Reconstruction of damaged or destroyed buildings continues in part down to the present day, as can be seen in the partial reconstruction of the Braunschweiger Schloss.

Memorials

Meaning and necessity of the destruction

Already in 1943, the Anglican Bishop and Member of the House of Lords George Bell was putting forth the view that such attacks as these threatened the ethical foundations of Western civilization and destroyed any chance of future reconciliation between the former foes. The term Anglican (from Anglia, the Latin name for England) describes the people and churches that follow the religious traditions developed by the established Church of England. ... A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... George Kennedy Allen Bell (born February 4, 1883 in Hayling Island, Hampshire; died October 3, 1958 in Canterbury) was an Anglican theologian, Dean of Canterbury , Bishop of Chichester, member of House of Lords and a pioneer of the Ecumenical Movement. ... The term Western world or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ...

From the point of view of the post-war era, and especially against the background of the British Area Bombing Directive, the question must be raised as to whether the goal of the far-reaching destruction of Braunschweig in October 1944 on the one hand made sense and on the other hand was still truly necessary given that the war was into its final phase. This same debate went on with regard to the destruction of Cologne, Hamburg, Dresden, Pforzheim, Kassel, Essen, Duisburg, Darmstadt, Würzburg, Heilbronn and other cities. Cologne Cathedral with Hohenzollern Bridge Cologne (German: (help· info) [kÅ“ln]; Kölsch: Kölle) is Germanys fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of... Alster Lake at dusk Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and with the Hamburg Harbour, its principal port. ... From left to right: Brühls Terrace; the Hofkirche and the castle; the Semper Opera House. ... Pforzheim is a town of 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-west Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. ... Watershed of the river Weser Kassel (until 1926 officially Cassel) is a city situated along the Fulda River, one of the two sources of the Weser river, in northern Hessen in west-central Germany. ... [Essen], german for Meal [essen], german for eat Essen is the name of the following places: Essen, Germany, one of the major cities of the Ruhr area Essen, Belgium Essen, Netherlands, a village in the province of Groningen German: to eat, eating, food This is a disambiguation page — a navigational... Duisburg is a German city and port in the western part of the Ruhr Area (Ruhrgebiet) in North Rhine-Westphalia. ... Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hessen in Germany. ... Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. ... Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, near Stuttgart. ...

15 October as a fixed point in the city's history

In the Main Cemetery in Braunschweig is a memorial, together with the graves of many victims of the 15 October 1944.

Since the attack, memorial events and exhibitions have been held in Braunschweig every 14-15 October. The events of those two days also echo strongly in local historical literature (see under "Literature"). On 14-15 October 2004 – the sixtieth anniversary of the destruction of Braunschweig's historic old town – there were once again many events. Among other memorials that took place was Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, conducted at the Braunschweig Cathedral in the presence of British Ambassador Sir Peter Torry Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh, OM (November 22, 1913 – December 4, 1976) was a British composer, conductor and pianist. ... The War Requiem is a requiem composed by Benjamin Britten for the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral on May 30, 1962 following its destruction during World War II. A mourning song for the victims of war, Britten’s War Requiem is considered one of the great heartrending choral-orchestral works of...

See also

• Area bombardment
• Big Week
• Bombing of Dresden in World War II
• Bombing of Hamburg in World War II

Aerial area bombardment is the policy of indiscriminate bombing of an enemys cities, for the purpose of destroying the enemys means of producing military materiel, communications, government centres and civilian morale. ... The Big Week (20 February - 25 February 1944) was an Allied bombing campaign during World War II. Approximately 3,300 bombers were dispatched from England and 500 from Italy, with 137 of the former and 89 of the latter being lost. ... The bombing of Dresden by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945 remains one of the more controversial events of World War II. Historian Frederick Taylor says: The destruction of Dresden has an epically tragic quality... The large port city of Hamburg was very heavily bombed many times by the RAF and the USAAF during World War II. An Avro Lancaster over Hamburg - the curved streaking is caused by a combination of the movement of the photographing aircraft and the long exposure time required for taking...

Literature

• Braunschweiger Zeitung (publisher): Die Bomben-Nacht. Der Luftkrieg vor 60 Jahren. Braunschweig 2004
• Friedenszentrum Braunschweig e.V. (publisher): Braunschweig im Bombenkrieg. 50 Jahre danach. Den Opfern des Krieges gewidmet. Band 1: Dokumente zur Ausstellung 30.09. – 31.10.1993. Braunschweig 1994
• ibid.: Braunschweig im Bombenkrieg. 50 Jahre danach. Den Opfern des Krieges gewidmet. Band 2: Dokumente von Zeitzeuginnen und Zeitzeugen: „Bomben auf Braunschweig“. Landesmuseum 11.09. – 16.10.1994. Braunschweig 1994
• ibid.: Braunschweig im Bombenkrieg. 50 Jahre danach. Den Opfern des Krieges gewidmet. Band 3: Dokumente aus der Gedenknacht 14./15.10.1994: „Die Gerloff-Berichte“. Braunschweig 1994
• Jörg Friedrich: Der Brand. Deutschland im Bombenkrieg 1940 – 1945, Munich 2002
• Eckart Grote: Braunschweig im Luftkrieg. Alliierte Film-, Bild- und Einsatzberichte der US-Air Force / British Royal Air Force aus den Jahren 1944/1945 als stadtgeschichtliche Dokumente. Braunschweig 1983
• ibid.: Braunschweig im Zweitem Weltkrieg. Dokumente einer Zerstörung – Stunde Null – Neubeginn In: Arbeitsberichte aus dem Städtischen Museum Braunschweig, Nr. 65; Braunschweig 1994
• ibid.: Target Brunswick 1943 – 1945. Luftangriffsziel Braunschweig – Dokumente der Zerstörung. Braunschweig 1994
• Peter Neumann: Braunschweig als Bombenziel. Aus Aufzeichnungen der Jahre 1944 und 1945 In: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch, Band 65; Braunschweig 1984
• Rudolf Prescher: Der rote Hahn über Braunschweig. Luftschutzmaßnahmen und Luftkriegsereignisse in der Stadt Braunschweig 1927 bis 1945, Braunschweig 1955
• Eckart Schimpf: Nachts, als die Weihnachtsbäume kamen. Eine ganz normale Braunschweiger Kindheit im Chaos von Kriegs- und Nachkriegszeit. Braunschweig 1998
• Hedda Kalshoven: Ich denk’ so viel an Euch. Ein deutsch-niederländischer Briefwechsel 1920 – 1949. Munich 1995

Jörg Friedrich (born August 17, 1944 in Kitzbühel; often also spelt Joerg or just Jorg in English) is a Berlin-based writer of books on history commonly described as an independent German Historian. Friedrich is best known for his publication of a book widely seen as criticising the...

Other media

DVD

• Braunschweig 1945 – Bombardierung, Befreiung, Leben in Trümmern. Remembered and commented on by Eckard Schimpf. Braunschweiger Zeitung und Archiv Verlag, Braunschweig 2005
• Feuersturm – Der Bombenkrieg gegen Deutschland. DVD-Edition, SPIEGEL TV history. Polar Film Medien GmbH, Gescher 2003 (contains clips from the original RAF film of the bombardment on 15/10/1944)

External links

• RAF's description of the 15/10/1944 attack
• „Das brennende Braunschweig am 14./15. Oktober 1944“, painting by Walther Hoeck
• Description of bunker, bombs, destruction and more (in German)
• Map of Braunschweig's air raid damage, 1945
• Graveyard for victims of 15 October 1944 at the Main Cemetery in Braunschweig
• "Braunschweig Armour" for bunkers
• British Ambassador Sir Peter Torry's speech on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the destruction of Braunschweig
• "gibs.info" article (in German)

edit	World War II city bombing
Area bombardment • Terror bombing Augsburg • Berlin • Belfast • Belgrade • Birmingham • Braunschweig • Chongqing • Cologne • Coventry • Darwin • Dresden • Frampol • Greenock Hamburg • Kassel • Kobe • London • Liverpool • Manchester • Minsk • Pforzheim • Prague • Rotterdam • Sheffield • Tokyo • Warsaw • Wieluń • Würzburg Strategic Bombing during World War II was unlike anything the world had previously witnessed. ... Survivor of German aerial bombardment of Warsaw This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Aerial area bombardment is the policy of indiscriminate bombing of an enemys cities, for the purpose of destroying the enemys means of producing military materiel, communications, government centres and civilian morale. ... Terror bombing is a strategy of deliberately bombing civilian targets and strafing civilians in order to break the morale of the enemy and make the civilian population of the enemy panic. ... The Bavarian city of Augsburg, Germany, was bombed twice by the RAF during World War II 1942 The Augsburg air raid on 17 April 1942 was one of the most daring of World War II. The first squadron to take delivery of the 4-engined Avro Lancaster was No. ... The term Battle of Berlin is sometimes restricted to the Royal Air Force for a bombing campaign on Berlin and other cities between the night of November 18 1943 and March 1944. ... The Belfast Blitz was an event that occurred on Easter Tuesday, April 15, 1941, when 200 German Luftwaffe bombers attacked Belfast, Northern Ireland. ... he bombing of Belgrade occurred in the initial phases of World War II when German forces bombed the city in preperation for the invasion of Yugoslavia. ... The Birmingham Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Birmingham in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... The Bombing of Chongqing (February 18, 1938 - August 23, 1943) was a Japanese strategic bombing campaign against the Chinese provisional capital of Chongqing that lasted 5 1/2 years. ... The City of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids by the Allies during World War II. During the war the Royal Air Force (RAF) bombed Cologne more than thirty one times. ... Two of Coventrys three spires This article is about the history of Coventry, England. ... Combatants Australia; United States Japan Commanders David V. J. Blake Chuichi Nagumo Strength 30 planes 242 planes Casualties At least 243 killed; (possibly 1,100 dead in total) 23 planes destroyed 10 ships sunk 1 killed  ? missing; 6 POW Four planes destroyed in Australian airspace; ? failed to return. ... The bombing of Dresden by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) between February 13 and February 15, 1945 remains one of the more controversial events of World War II. Historian Frederick Taylor says: The destruction of Dresden has an epically tragic quality... The Bombing of Frampol happened during the Polish Defence War of 1939. ... The Greenock Blitz is the name given to two nights of intensive bombing of the town of Greenock by the Luftwaffe in May 1941. ... Firestorm in Hamburg Operation Gomorrah was the military codename for a series of air raids conducted by the Royal Air Force on the city of Hamburg beginning in the end of July 1943. ... The city of Kassel in Germany was severely bombed during World War II. Kassel is in the northern part of the federal state of Hesse, between Frankfurt (190 km south), and Hanover (160 km north). ... On March 17th, 1945, three hundred and thirty-one American B-29 bombers launched a firebombing attack against the city of Kobe, Japan. ... German bomber over the Surrey Docks, London The Blitz was a fanny sustained and intensive bombing of the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany during 1940–1941. ... The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the city of Liverpool in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... The Manchester Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... The Minsk Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Minsk (population was 270 000) in the USSR during the Second World War. ... During the latter stages of World War II Pforzheim, a town in south west Germany was bombed on a number of times. ... Bombing of Prague was a controversial event during the end of World War II (On February 14, 1945) when American Air Force carried out an air raid over Prague. ... The bombing of Rotterdam occured in the initial phases of World War II when German forces invaded the Netherlands. ... The Sheffield Blitz is the name given to the worst nights of bombing in Sheffield, England during the Second World War. ... The U.S. bombing of Tokyo during World War II took place between 1942 and 1945. ... The Bombing of Warsaw in World War II refers both to the terror bombing campaign on Warsaw by Luftwaffe during the September Campaign (siege of Warsaw and to the German bombing raids during the Warsaw Uprising. ... Bombing of WieluÅ„ in World War II refers to the German bomb raid on a Polish city of WieluÅ„ at the outbreak of World War II. On September 1, 1939 at 4. ... During World War II, on March 16, 1945, 89% of the city was laid to ruins by a British Royal Air Force bombing raid. ...