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The German city of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids 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, and 20,000 civilians died during the war in Cologne due to aerial bombardments.

While air raid alarms had gone off in the winter and spring of 1940 as British bombers passed overhead, the first bombing took place on 12 May 1940. The attack on Cologne during the night from 30 to 31 May 1942 was the first thousand-bomber raid.

First thousand-bomber raid

The first ever thousand-bomber raid by the RAF was conducted on Cologne during the night of 30–31 May 1942. Codenamed Operation Millennium, the massive raid was launched for two primary reasons:

• 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 RAF Bomber Command head Arthur Harris's 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, such as the 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 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 four-engined heavy bombers such as the Short Stirling, Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster. By using bombers and men from Operational Training Units (OTUs), 250 from RAF Coastal Command and from Flying Training Command, 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 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. 58 bombers were from Polish units. In addition to the bombers attacking Cologne, 113 other aircraft on "intruder" raids harassed German night-fighter airfields.

Cologne was not Harris's first choice; he wanted to bomb Hamburg. However, poor weather made Hamburg a poor choice, and, in addition, Harris was advised by Basil Dickins, a scientist who was section head of RAF's Bomber Command's Operations research, to choose Cologne, which was within range for use of the GEE navigation system.

This was the first time that the "bomber stream" tactic was used and most of the tactics used in this raid remained the basis for standard Bomber Command operations for the next two years, with some elements remaining 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' ground-controlled interception system, 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 anti-aircraft guns (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 passed over Cologne and bombed it in a window of 90 minutes, with the first having arrived at 0:47 am on 31 May. 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.

In the raid, 868 aircraft bombed the main target with 15 aircraft bombing other targets. The total tonnage of bombs dropped was 1,478 tonnes (3.3 million pounds) with two-thirds of that being incendiaries. Two and a half thousand 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. The devastation was recorded by Hermann Claasen from 1942 until the end of the war, and presented in his exhibition and book of 1947 Singing in the furnace. Cologne – Remains of an old city.

The RAF lost 43 aircraft (German sources claimed 44), 3.9% of the 1,103 bombers sent on the raid; 22 aircraft were lost over or near Cologne, 16 shot down by flak, four by night fighters, two in a collision, and two Bristol Blenheim light bombers lost in attacks on night fighter airfields. A posthumous Victoria Cross was awarded to Flying Officer Leslie Manser who sacrificed himself so his crew could abandon the Avro Manchester aircraft.

Subsequent raids

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Effects

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Timeline

See also

• The Blitz – German air raids on British cities in which at least 40,000 died, including 57 consecutive nights of air raids just over London
• Baedeker Blitz – Air raids on English cities of cultural/historical importance, rather than military significance
• German bombing of Rotterdam
• Bombing of Dresden in World War II
• Bombing of Guernica – German/Italian air raid that sparked international outrage
• Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945), the codenamed-Operation Meetinghouse firebombing raid on Tokyo on 9/10 March 1945

Notes

1. Although produced to a specification for a "medium bomber", the Manchester used two powerful engines and was closer to a heavy bomber. The design was developed with four engines to replace the two and became the Lancaster.
2. Dates such as 5/6 April denote a night raid, the mission starting on the first date and ending on the following date.
3. Nuisance raids forced the population into air raid shelters and activated other defence measures at little cost to the RAF.
4. Sending bombers to different places was intended to confuse the German defences and so helped to make it more difficult for the defenders to direct fighters onto the main attack.
5. " was made from a M34-2000lb bomb fixed to a 12-foot span glider unit and attached to a B-17 underwing shackle." Two could be carried per plane. "Essentially free fall, the bomb had a stabilizing device that allowed control of direction. The bomb proved to be unreliable on the only occasion it was used on Cologne in April 1944."
6. The VIII Bomber Command had been redesignated as the US Eighth Air Force.

References

1. Stadtlandschaften versus Hochstadt at www.koelnarchitektur.de "Internet portal for the architecture of Cologne". (In German).
2. "Target Analysis". Flight. 9 August 1945. p. 154. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015.
3. "Cologne Museum: NS-DOK" (in German). Retrieved 16 June 2023.
4. "Kriegserinnerungen 1940". Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2009.
5. Bishop, Patrick (1 October 2012). Wings: The RAF at War, 1912–2012. Atlantic Books Ltd. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-84887-892-1.Terry Copp (September 1996), The Bomber Command Offensive: Army, Part 11, retrieved 9 November 2016, Mr Justice Singleton concluded that Germany would not be able to "stand 12 or 18 months' continued, intensified and increased bombing..."
6. ^ "The Thousand Bomber raids, 30/31 May (Cologne) to 17 August 1942". Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. 2005. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007.
7. Hodyra, Piotr (2016). 301 Dywizjon Bombowy 1940–1943 (in Polish). Warsaw: Oficyna Wydawnicza Alma-Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-83-7020-664-2.
8. Wakelam, Randall Thomas (2009). The Science of Bombing: Operational Research in RAF Bomber Command. U of Toronto P. p. 86. ISBN 9781442693432.
9. Claasen, Hermann; Hoyer, Franz A (1949), Gesang im feuerofen : Köln; überreste einer alten deutschen stadt ( ed.), L. Schwann
10. Winkelnkemper, Toni (1942). "Der Großangriff auf Köln" [The Attack on Cologne]. Retrieved 20 March 2009 – via German Propaganda Archive at Calvin University.
11. Facon, Patrick (May 2012), "Opération Millénium", Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French), no. 510, p. 43, ISSN 0757-4169
12. "Avro Manchester". Bomber Command 60th Anniversary – via National Archives.
13. The Battle of France (May–June 1940). Campaign Diary. Royal Air Force. 6 April 2005. Wikidata Q131329002. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
14. ^ Campaign Diary 2005
    1942: February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
    1943: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, December
    1944: April, July, September, October, November 1944, December 1944
    
15. "March 1942". Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. 2005. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007.
16. ^ RAF Bomber Command Campaign Diary April 1942,
17. ^ Campaign Diary August 1942
18. ^ "Campaign Diary: July 1943". Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. 2005. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007.
19. ^ "Campaign Diary: August 1943". Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2008.
20. ^ "Campaign Diary September 1943". Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2008.
21. ^ "Campaign Diary: October 1943". Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2008.
22. ^ "Campaign Diary January 1944", Bomber Command 60th Anniversary, archived from the original on 6 July 2007
23. "Campaign Diary February 1944", Bomber Command 60th Anniversary, archived from the original on 6 July 2007
24. ^ "Campaign Diary March 1944", Bomber Command 60th Anniversary, archived from the original on 6 July 2007
25. "Bombs". 303rdbg.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
26. "Campaign Diary July 1944". Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007.
27. ^ McKillop, Jack. "8th Air Force 1944 Chronicles". airwarweb.net. Retrieved 27 January 2009.
    1944: October, November, December
    1945: January, February, March
28. "Missions 51-100".
29. Mueller, Robert; Carter, Kit (1975). The Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology, 1941-1945. Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center. p. 475.
30. "Campaign Diary February 1945", Bomber Command 60th Anniversary, archived from the original on 6 July 2007
31. March 1945. Campaign Diary. Royal Air Force. 6 April 2005. Wikidata Q131329044. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2024.

Bibliography

• Sebald, W. G. (2003) , On the Natural History of Destruction
• Bishop, Chris (2005), The Military Atlas of World War II, Amber Books, p. 30, ISBN 1-904687-43-1
• Bomber Command Campaign Diary, Bomber Command 60th Anniversary, Royal Air Force, 6 April 2005, Wikidata Q131324214, archived from the original on 6 July 2007, retrieved 26 November 2024

Further reading

• Cooper, M. (1981). The German Air Force 1933–1945: An Anatomy of Failure. London: Jane's. ISBN 07106-0071-2.
• Middlebrook, Martin; Everitt, Chris (1985). The Bomber Command Diaries: An Operational Reference Book, 1939–1945 (1st ed.). New York: Viking. ISBN 978-185780-033-3.
• Tooze, Adam (2006). The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9566-4.
• Webster, C. K.; Frankland, Noble (1961). Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany: 1939–1945. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. II. London: HMSO. OCLC 163349860.
• Webster, C.; Frankland, N. (2006) . Butler, James (ed.). The Strategic Air Offensive against Germany 1939–1945: Annexes and Appendices. History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. IV (facs. pbk. repr. Naval & Military Press, Uckfield ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 978-1-84574-350-5.

External links

• Pictures of bomb-damaged Cologne

• 1940s in Cologne
• Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving Germany
• Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom
• Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United States
• World War II strategic bombing by populated place
• World War II strategic bombing of Germany
• Firebombings
• Germany–United Kingdom military relations