Air raids on Hof (Saale)

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The town of Hof in Upper Franconia was the target of several Allied air raids during World War II . The priority was to destroy traffic facilities. The attacks took place between February and April 1945. In a total of five attacks, the railway systems with the main train station , the station district , the factory suburbs and Unterkotzau in particular were severely damaged. It was not until June 2020 that the city's last bomb was found during construction work.

The individual attacks

The first attack on the city took place on February 14, 1945. 12 American B-17 bombers were actually on the way to Chemnitz , where railway systems were to be bombed, they had 457 bombs with them. Together with Bamberg and Eger, Hof had been designated an alternative destination for scattered machines. However, the railway systems were missed in the attack, so that the factory suburb and the Poststrasse were bombed. A low-flying attack followed on April 5, 1945. As part of Operation Clarion , Hof experienced its most powerful bombing on April 8, 1945. 101 B-17 bombers and numerous P-51 Mustang fighters of the US Army Air Force flew an attack on facilities of the Reichsbahn and the main station. Two American bombers were shot down by the Hof anti-aircraft defense during the operation.

The "Flying Fortress" B-17

Another air raid followed on April 10, and finally a low-flying attack on April 11.

On April 12, 1945, Allied forces actually wanted to hit the Unterkotzau viaduct, but missed their target and the bombs fell on the place.

On April 14, 1945, German forces blew up the Saale bridges and the Allies marched in. One day later, on the evening of April 15, 1945, the US Army took the city completely.

Dead and injured

During the first air raid on February 14, 1945, 36 people died in Poststrasse and in the factory suburb. Several soldiers were killed in the low-flying attack on April 5, 1945. Operation Clarion's bombing on April 8, 1945 killed 312 people, including 244 civilians and 68 soldiers. And the bombing of the viaduct in Unterkotzau claimed another 100 lives.

Architectural and material damage

A total of 4,000 apartments were damaged in the city. The degree of destruction of the total number of apartments was 4.5%.

Damage from the attack on February 14, 1945
  • partial or total destruction of 25 houses
  • severe damage, especially in Leimitzer Strasse
  • other destroyed buildings in Poststrasse, Gabelsbergerstrasse, Jägerzeile, Ottostrasse and Lodaweg, as well as in the Bahnhofsviertel and Münsterviertel
Damage from the attack on April 8, 1945
  • Destruction of the main train station, the tracks and the depots
  • Severe destruction of streets on both sides of the railway facilities as well as Sophienstrasse, Theresienstrasse and Bahnhofstrasse
  • further area from Alsenberg to Münstergrund
  • 80 buildings completely destroyed
  • 59 badly damaged buildings
  • 83 moderately damaged buildings and around 100 moderately to slightly damaged buildings
  • Bombs in the hospital in the Sophienberg school building
  • Damage to the city's main aqueduct
  • Extinguishing work continues until April 15th
Damage from the April 10, 1945 attack
  • Destruction of the Neuhof train station and the BayWa warehouse
  • Extinguishing work lasts for a week
  • Multiple property damage as a result of the low-flying attack on April 11, 1945
Damage from the attack on April 12, 1945
  • Severe destruction of buildings when missing the Unterkotzau viaduct
  • 13 buildings completely destroyed
  • 12 badly damaged buildings
Unterkotzau railway viaduct
Damage when the Allies marched in on April 14th and 15th, 1945
  • The bridges over the Saale were blown up by German forces, including damage to several buildings
  • Further damage to buildings during the Allied invasion and during the German defensive battle
Traces of war
  • Bomb finds and salvages by 2020

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Katja Winkler: Story about the farm. In: bayern-online.de. November 27, 2019, accessed May 17, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b Atlas for Reconstruction - Hof. Retrieved May 17, 2020 .
  3. ^ The development of the city of Hof - a chronicle. In: www.hof.de. Retrieved May 17, 2020 .
  4. ↑ https://www.infranken.de/lk/hof/hof-45-kilo-bombe- discovered- anwohner-muessen-fuer-die-entschaerfung-ihre-haeuser-verlassen-art- 5019269