Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Cologne was an important military target, being a heavily industrialized city with many factories producing war supplies [citation needed] and the city had a large railway network, used for the transportation of troops and weapons. A total of 34,711 long tons of bombs were dropped on Cologne, with the last air raid carried out on 2 March 1945. [2]
A ruined Cologne in 1945. The German city of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids [1] by the Allies during World War II, all by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A total of 34,711 long tons (35,268 t) of bombs were dropped on the city, [2] and 20,000 civilians died during the war in Cologne due to aerial bombardments.
The Cologne Cathedral Seal (German: Kölner Domplombe) was a section of unclad brickwork which covered destroyed masonry on an exterior pillar of Cologne Cathedral. In November 1943, during an air raid by the allies, a bomb seriously damaged a pillar on the northern tower of the cathedral, sparking fears for the structural integrity of the ...
The twin spires of the cathedral were an easily recognizable navigational landmark for Allied aircraft bombing during World War II. [36] The cathedral suffered fourteen hits by aerial bombs during the war. Badly damaged, it nevertheless remained standing in an otherwise completely flattened city.
During the night of 31 May 1942, Cologne was the target of "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosives, approximately two-thirds of which were incendiary. [27]
At the beginning of World War II, bombing of cities prior to invasion was an integral part of Nazi Germany's strategy. In the first stages of war, the Germans carried out many bombings of towns and cities in Poland (1939), including the capital Warsaw (also bombed in 1944), with WieluĊ being the first city destroyed by 75%. [40]
See: Bombing of France during World War II. Cologne: Germany: 30–31 May 1942 411 Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command: Firestorm. See: Bombing of Cologne in World War II. Stalingrad: Soviet Union: 23 August 1942 955 [14] Oberkommando der Luftwaffe: Firestorm. See: Bombing of Stalingrad in World War II. Mortsel: Belgium: 5 April 1943 936
Bombing of Berlin in World War II; in the first four months of the RAF campaign, the RAF lost around 1,000 aircraft; the USAAF joined the Berlin campaign from March 1944, with Mustang fighter support; the Luftwaffe fighter pilots were deeply alarmed by the numbers of the Mustangs; on 6 March 1944, the first large US raid drops 1600 tons of bombs from 600 bombers, with around 160 of the 800 ...