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The City of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids[1] by the Allies during World War II. Image File history File linksMetadata Cologne_1945_1. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Cologne_1945_1. ...
Cologne Cathedral with Hohenzollern Bridge Cologne (German: (help· info) ; 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 largest...
When spelt with a capital A, Allies usually denotes the countries supporting the Triple Entente who fought together against the Central Powers in World War I and against the Axis Powers in World War II. For more information, see the related articles: Allies of World War I and Allies of...
Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II...
During the war the Royal Air Force ("RAF") bombed Cologne more than thirty one times. The most notable raid occurred on the night of 30/31 May 1942 when Cologne was the target of the first Allied 1,000 bomber raid. It has been suggested that the bombing of civilian targets in this way constitutes a war crime or crime against humanity. The opposing view is that this was at the time the only way of attacking Germany, which had been mobilised into an efficient and malevolent machine. The matter has never been tested by a tribunal such as that which tried the German leaders at Nuremberg. The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...
May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ...
May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining. ...
This article is about the year. ...
A war crime is a punishable offense, under international (criminal) law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ...
A crime against humanity is a term in international law that refers to acts of murderous persecution against a body of people, as being the criminal offence above all others. ...
The Nuremberg Trials were the sets of trials of officials involved in World War II and the Holocaust during the Nazi regime. ...
First 1,000 bomber raid
The first 1,000 bomber raid by the RAF was codenamed Operation Millennium, Cologne was chosen as the target and the raid took place on the night of 30/31 May 1942. The Thousand bomber raid was launched for several reasons: May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining. ...
This article is about the year. ...
- It was expected that the devastation from such raids might be enough to knock Germany out of the war or at least severely damage German morale.
- The raids were useful propaganda for the Allies and particularly for Harris and the concept of a Strategic Bombing Offensive. Bomber Command's poor performance in bombing accuracy during 1941 had led to calls for the force to be split up and diverted to other urgent theatres i.e Battle of the Atlantic. A headline-grabbing heavy raid on Germany was a way for Harris to demonstrate to the War Cabinet that given the investment in numbers and technology Bomber Command could make a vital contribution to victory.
At this stage of the war RAF Bomber Command only had a regular front line strength of around 400 aircraft, and were in the process of transitioning from the twin engined medium bombers of the pre-war years to the newer more effective 'heavies'. By using bombers and men from Operational Training Units ( OTU's), 250 from RAF Coastal Command and from Flying Training Command, Arthur "Bomber" Harris could easily make up the 1,000 aircraft. However, just before the raid took place, the Royal Navy refused to allow the Coastal Command aircraft to take part in the raid. The Admiralty perceived the propaganda justifications too weak an argument against the real and pressing threat of the U-boats in the Second Battle of the Atlantic. Harris scrambled around and, by crewing 49 more aircraft with pupil pilots and instructors, 1,047 bombers eventually took part in the raid, two and a half times more than any previous raid by the RAF. In addition to the bombers attacking Cologne, 113 other aircraft on intruder raids harrassed German night-fighter airfields. It has been suggested that Propaganda in the United States be merged into this article or section. ...
RAF Bomber Command was the organisation that controlled the RAFs bomber forces. ...
Coastal Command was an organization within the Royal Air Force tasked with protecting the United Kingdom from naval threats. ...
Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet (April 13, 1892 - April 5, 1984), commonly known as Bomber Harris, and often, in the RAF, as Butcher Harris, was commander of RAF Bomber Command and later a Marshal of the Royal Air Force during the latter half of World War II. In 1942...
The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services being the oldest of its three branches. ...
Old Admiralty House, Whitehall, London, Thomas Ripley, architect, 1723-26, was not admired by his contemporaries and earned him some scathing couplets from Alexander Pope The Admiralty was historically the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. ...
U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ...
HMS Repulse (British battlecruiser, 1916-1941) leading HMS Renown and other ships during maneuvers. ...
This was the first time that the tactic of a bomber stream was used and most of the tactics used in this raid would remain the basis for standard Bomber Command operations for the next two years and some elements would remain in use until the end of the war.It was expected that such a large number of bombers flying in a bomber stream through the Kammhuber line would overwhelm the German night fighters, keeping the number of bombers shot down to an acceptable proportion. The recent introduction of GEE allowed the bombers to fly a given route at a given time and height. The British night bombing campaign had been in operation for some months, and a statistical estimate could be made of the number of bombers likely to be lost to enemy night fighters and flak, and how many would be lost through collisions. Minimising the former demanded a densely packed stream, as the controllers of a night fighter flying a defensive 'box' could only direct a maximum of six potential interceptions per hour, and the flak gunners could not concentrate on all the available targets at once. Earlier in the war four hours had been considered acceptable for a mission; for this raid all the bombers would pass over Cologne and bomb in a window of 90 minutes. It was anticipated that the concentration of bombing over such a short period would overwhelm the Cologne fire brigades and cause conflagrations similar to those inflicted on London by the Luftwaffe during the Blitz A bomber stream was a tactic developed by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command to overwhelm the German aerial defences of the Kammhuber Line during World War II. The Kammhuber Line consisted of three layers of zones about 32km long (north-south) and 20km wide (east-west). ...
The Kammhuber Line was the name given to the German night air defense system established in July 1940 by Colonel Josef Kammhuber. ...
A night fighter is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night, or in other times of bad visibility. ...
GEE (short for Grid and pronounced simply as G) or AMES Type 7000 was a British radio navigation system used during World War II; the ideas in GEE were developed by the Americans into the LORAN system. ...
FLAK was a punk rock side project of members of the band Machinae Supremacy in 2001. ...
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. ...
This article is about the British city. ...
The Deutsche Luftwaffe or (German: Air Arm, IPA: [luftvafÉ™]) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ...
German bomber over the Surrey Docks, Southwark, London The Blitz was the bombing of the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 16 May 1941, during World War II. It was carried out by the Luftwaffe across the UK, but their attack was concentrated on London. ...
In the raid, 868 aircraft bombed the main target with 15 aircraft bombing other targets. The total tonnage of bombs dropped was 1,455 tons with two-thirds of that being incendiaries. 2,500 separate fires were started with 1,700 classed by the German fire brigades as "large". The action of fire fighters and the width of the streets stopped the fires combining into a firestorm, but nonetheless most of the damage was done by fire and not directly by the explosive blasts. 3,330 non-residential buildings were destroyed, 2,090 seriously damaged and 7,420 lightly damaged, making a total of 12,840 buildings of which 2,560 were industrial or commercial buildings. Among the buildings classed as totally destroyed were: 7 official administration buildings, 14 public buildings, 7 banks, 9 hospitals, 17 churches, 16 schools, 4 university buildings, 10 postal and railway buildings, 10 buildings of historic interest, 2 newspaper offices, 4 hotels, 2 cinemas and 6 department stores. The only military installation damaged was the flak barracks. The damage to civilian homes, most of them apartments in larger buildings, was considerable: 13,010 destroyed, 6,360 seriously damaged, 22,270 lightly damaged. A firestorm is the mass movement of air resulting from fire, creating a fire of extreme intensity over a wide area. ...
The number reported killed was between 469 and 486, of which 411 were civilians and 58 military. 5,027 people were listed as injured and 45,132 as bombed out. It was estimated that from 135,000 to 150,000 of Cologne's population of nearly 700,000 fled the city after the raid. The RAF lost 43 aircraft, 3.9 per cent of the 1,103 bombers sent on the raid, of which 22 aircraft were lost over or near Cologne, 16 shot down by flak, 4 by night fighters, 2 in a collision and 2 Blenheims on attacks on night fighter airfields. A posthumous Victoria Cross was awarded to Flying Officer Leslie Thomas Manser. Image File history File linksMetadata Cologne_1945_5. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Cologne_1945_5. ...
Victoria Cross medal, ribbon, and bar. ...
Leslie Thomas Manser was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. ...
Time line of Cologne air raids during World War II - March 1942
- April 1942
- May 1942
- June 1942
- July 1942
- August 1942
- September 1942
- October 1942
- January 1943
- February 1943
- May 1943
- June 1943
- July 1943
- August 1943
- September 1943
- October 1943
- November 1943
- December 1943
- January 1944
- February 1944
- March 1944
- May 1944
- June 1944
- July 1944
- August 1944
- October 1944
- November 1944
- December 1944
- April 1944
- February 1945
- March 1945
- 2 March A Large raid: 858 aircraft bombed Cologne in the last raid on the city by the RAF. The first of two waves was highly destructive. The city was captured by American troops 4 days later.
March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62nd in leap years). ...
References The Thousand Bomber raids, 30/31 May (Cologne) to 17 August 1942 RAF official web site
Notes ↑ Stadtlandschaften versus Hochstadt at www.koelnarchitektur.de "Internet portal for the architecture of Cologne". (In German).
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