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Berlin Burning ~ Allied Bombing of Berlin
More bombs by weight were dropped on the once elegant city of Berlin than were released on all of Great Britain during the entire war. By the end, there was no electricity, gas or water, the city's bridges and railway tunnels were gone, and the city was choked with 98 million cubic yards of rubble that stood in place of the beautiful old buildings and monuments. Its population was halved and 1.5 million people became homeless in yet another city teeming with frantic, uncounted refugees who had fled from the Red Army in eastern regions, unknowingly trading one hell for another.
Starting in 1940, Berlin was continually attacked. Between November 18, 1943 and March 1944
alone, Berlin was bombed 24 times by over 1,000 planes of the combined forces of the RAF, RCAF, USAAF and Soviets, dropping up to 2,000 tons of bombs each, and it was continually assaulted until the Russian army took the city in April,1945. The infrastructure was destroyed.
The so-called "Battle of Berlin" was largely a British bombing campaign from November 1943 to
March 1944 launched by Arthur Harris, who boasted: "It will cost us between 400 and 500 aircraft. It will cost Germany the war." Between November 1943 and March 1944 Bomber Command made 16 massed attacks on Berlin. On December 27, 1943, Arthur Harris had requested that the USAAF attack Berlin as well and relieve the pressure on RAF Bomber Command, however, the Americans continued precision bombing German industry and refused to join the RAF campaign. The 16 raids on Berlin cost Bomber Command more than 500 aircraft and 2,690 of their men lost their lives with nearly 1,000 others becoming prisoners of war. Although devastating to civilians, the British raids failed to meet their primary objective, which was to win the war by bombing Germany until its economy and civilian morale collapsed (in fact, war production in greater Berlin did not fall but continued to rise until the end of 1944).
The first major raid on the night of November 18/19, 1943 caused little damage. The second major raid on November 23/24, 1943 ignited several firestorms and caused extensive civilian damage to the residential areas west of the center, Tiergarten and Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and Spandau. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was senselessly destroyed along with the British, French, Italian and Japanese embassies, Charlottenburg Palace and the Berlin Zoo. This raid killed 2,000 and rendered 175,000 people homeless. The following night 1,000 were killed and 100,000 made homeless. A December 17 attack extensively damaged the Berlin railway system. During December and January, constant civilian bombing attacks killed hundreds of people each night and rendered between 20,000 and 80,000 homeless each time. By this time, more than a quarter of Berlin's total living accommodations were unusable. Another major raid on January 28/29, 1944 hit Berlin's western and southern residential districts. On February 15/16, 1944 some important war industries were actually hit. These homicidal, vengeance fueled civilian attacks, ineffective though they were, continued until March 1944, causing immense devastation and death.
Out of 245,000 buildings in Berlin, 50,000 were completely destroyed and 23,000 severely damaged; 80,000 (documented) civilians had been killed. There were no trees, no grass, and only blackened corpses of both buildings and people. The city of Berlin, once among the most beautiful and enviable in the world, was in total ruin. It is now generally accepted that the Battle of Berlin was certainly not the success that Harris, who among others wanted nothing less than Germany erased from the map for all time at any cost, had predicted and it cost the lives of hundreds of his own men.
http://www.exulanten.com/berlin.html
http://ww2today.com/18th-november-1943-raf-bomber-command-begins-the-battle-of-berlin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin_(RAF_campaign)
Additional video footage :
https://youtu.be/lMQfd1xIreI
https://youtu.be/ss2FuoFHkIc
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc wayne LTC Wayne Brandon @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc jeff LTC Jeff Shearer @ maj william Maj William W. 'Bill' Price @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. @ ssgt robert SSgt Robert Marx @ sra christopher SrA Christopher Wright @ sfc mary SFC (Join to see) @ ssg robert SSG Robert Webster @ sgt jim SGT Jim Arnold @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski @ spc robert coventry SPC Robert Coventry @ po1 tony PO1 Tony Holland Alan K. Cynthia Croft
More bombs by weight were dropped on the once elegant city of Berlin than were released on all of Great Britain during the entire war. By the end, there was no electricity, gas or water, the city's bridges and railway tunnels were gone, and the city was choked with 98 million cubic yards of rubble that stood in place of the beautiful old buildings and monuments. Its population was halved and 1.5 million people became homeless in yet another city teeming with frantic, uncounted refugees who had fled from the Red Army in eastern regions, unknowingly trading one hell for another.
Starting in 1940, Berlin was continually attacked. Between November 18, 1943 and March 1944
alone, Berlin was bombed 24 times by over 1,000 planes of the combined forces of the RAF, RCAF, USAAF and Soviets, dropping up to 2,000 tons of bombs each, and it was continually assaulted until the Russian army took the city in April,1945. The infrastructure was destroyed.
The so-called "Battle of Berlin" was largely a British bombing campaign from November 1943 to
March 1944 launched by Arthur Harris, who boasted: "It will cost us between 400 and 500 aircraft. It will cost Germany the war." Between November 1943 and March 1944 Bomber Command made 16 massed attacks on Berlin. On December 27, 1943, Arthur Harris had requested that the USAAF attack Berlin as well and relieve the pressure on RAF Bomber Command, however, the Americans continued precision bombing German industry and refused to join the RAF campaign. The 16 raids on Berlin cost Bomber Command more than 500 aircraft and 2,690 of their men lost their lives with nearly 1,000 others becoming prisoners of war. Although devastating to civilians, the British raids failed to meet their primary objective, which was to win the war by bombing Germany until its economy and civilian morale collapsed (in fact, war production in greater Berlin did not fall but continued to rise until the end of 1944).
The first major raid on the night of November 18/19, 1943 caused little damage. The second major raid on November 23/24, 1943 ignited several firestorms and caused extensive civilian damage to the residential areas west of the center, Tiergarten and Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and Spandau. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was senselessly destroyed along with the British, French, Italian and Japanese embassies, Charlottenburg Palace and the Berlin Zoo. This raid killed 2,000 and rendered 175,000 people homeless. The following night 1,000 were killed and 100,000 made homeless. A December 17 attack extensively damaged the Berlin railway system. During December and January, constant civilian bombing attacks killed hundreds of people each night and rendered between 20,000 and 80,000 homeless each time. By this time, more than a quarter of Berlin's total living accommodations were unusable. Another major raid on January 28/29, 1944 hit Berlin's western and southern residential districts. On February 15/16, 1944 some important war industries were actually hit. These homicidal, vengeance fueled civilian attacks, ineffective though they were, continued until March 1944, causing immense devastation and death.
Out of 245,000 buildings in Berlin, 50,000 were completely destroyed and 23,000 severely damaged; 80,000 (documented) civilians had been killed. There were no trees, no grass, and only blackened corpses of both buildings and people. The city of Berlin, once among the most beautiful and enviable in the world, was in total ruin. It is now generally accepted that the Battle of Berlin was certainly not the success that Harris, who among others wanted nothing less than Germany erased from the map for all time at any cost, had predicted and it cost the lives of hundreds of his own men.
http://www.exulanten.com/berlin.html
http://ww2today.com/18th-november-1943-raf-bomber-command-begins-the-battle-of-berlin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin_(RAF_campaign)
Additional video footage :
https://youtu.be/lMQfd1xIreI
https://youtu.be/ss2FuoFHkIc
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs @ ltc wayne LTC Wayne Brandon @ ltc stephen LTC Stephen F. @ ltc jeff LTC Jeff Shearer @ maj william Maj William W. 'Bill' Price @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan @ smsgt doc SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. @ ssgt robert SSgt Robert Marx @ sra christopher SrA Christopher Wright @ sfc mary SFC (Join to see) @ ssg robert SSG Robert Webster @ sgt jim SGT Jim Arnold @ sgt david SGT (Join to see) @ sgt david SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth @ sp5 mark SP5 Mark Kuzinski @ spc robert coventry SPC Robert Coventry @ po1 tony PO1 Tony Holland Alan K. Cynthia Croft
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 9
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Thanks SGT John " Mac " McConnell for sharing a summary of the background of the Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] nighttime raids on Berlin beginning in 1943 and sharing the video.
As many of us know the British and Commonwealth nations including Australia bombed at night while the USA bombers dropped their bombs during the day - this bombing continued round the clock.
The fact that the RAAF sent planes and airmen to bomb the Germans in Europe while they were initially threatened by the Japanese indicates one of many reasons why WWII was truly a world war.
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx Maj Marty Hogan PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Jason McClish AN Christopher Crayne LTC Bill Koski SPC Tom DeSmet SGT Charles H. Hawes LTC Wayne Brandon SGT (Join to see) SGT Michael Thorin
As many of us know the British and Commonwealth nations including Australia bombed at night while the USA bombers dropped their bombs during the day - this bombing continued round the clock.
The fact that the RAAF sent planes and airmen to bomb the Germans in Europe while they were initially threatened by the Japanese indicates one of many reasons why WWII was truly a world war.
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx Maj Marty Hogan PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Jason McClish AN Christopher Crayne LTC Bill Koski SPC Tom DeSmet SGT Charles H. Hawes LTC Wayne Brandon SGT (Join to see) SGT Michael Thorin
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Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Thank you for this post. I served in Berlin 18 years after WW II's end. There was still damage, especially in the Soviet Sector (East Berlin) caused by bombing & even ground combat. Occasionally one would see damaged houses in the nicer neighborhoods of West Berlin & evidence of machine gun fire down town.
A large building on the kaserne in which I lived (Andrews Barracks) was so damaged by bombing or artillery fire it was placed "Off Limits" fenced & used for ammunition storage only. That badly war-damaged building had trees growing out of it & can be seen behind these two posed photographs. My understanding is the damaged building was demolished about 1967.
A large building on the kaserne in which I lived (Andrews Barracks) was so damaged by bombing or artillery fire it was placed "Off Limits" fenced & used for ammunition storage only. That badly war-damaged building had trees growing out of it & can be seen behind these two posed photographs. My understanding is the damaged building was demolished about 1967.
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
>1 y
Quite a bit of damage still remained when I visited Berlin 1979 and 1980. Thanks for your service SPC John Parmenter .
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MSG Frederick Otero
>1 y
22,000-pound bomb "earthquake bomb" (British) AAF: 100-pound phosphorus bomb. Innovative applications of napalm flourished. Robert A. Lovett, the U.S. assistant secretary of war, explained "If we are going to have total war we might as well make it as horrible as possible." Different mindset to ending a war. Bomber Harris replied when asked about Dresden "Dresden? There is no such place as Dresden." Little wonder that years later the place was a shamble. Exerts from The Guns at Last light. Rick Atkinson.
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Posted >1 y ago
Great history SGT John " Mac " McConnell that was some serious collateral damage
SMSgt Lawrence McCarter Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SrA Christopher Wright MSG Andrew White SFC Stephen King MCPO Roger Collins Sgt Martin Querin SGT Gregory Lawritson Cpl (Join to see) Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth LTC (Join to see) MSG Frederick Otero Sgt Steven Thomas SGT Mark Halmrast LCDR (Join to see) SFC Dave Beran SCPO Morris Ramsey SPC Margaret HigginsPO2 Peter Klein
SMSgt Lawrence McCarter Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SrA Christopher Wright MSG Andrew White SFC Stephen King MCPO Roger Collins Sgt Martin Querin SGT Gregory Lawritson Cpl (Join to see) Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth LTC (Join to see) MSG Frederick Otero Sgt Steven Thomas SGT Mark Halmrast LCDR (Join to see) SFC Dave Beran SCPO Morris Ramsey SPC Margaret HigginsPO2 Peter Klein
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
>1 y
Thanks Maj Marty Hogan . I went to Berlin twice in 1979 and 80. destroyed building's were still their. Some are landmarks as a reminder.... Have a great day brother.
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