Air raids on Koenigsberg

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Heavy air raids on Königsberg (Prussia) were not expected for a long time in the Second World War , due to the situation in East Prussia (“air raid shelter of the Reich”). The British bombing raids in August 1944 had a devastating effect, which resulted in the extensive destruction of the inner city with its residential and cultural sites and over 5,000 dead and 200,000 homeless. The British bombers violated the neutrality of Sweden by flying over its territory , and there were also many aircraft crashes. Heavy Soviet bombing followed during the siege and especially during theBattle of Koenigsberg .

Soviet air raids 1941-1943

Soviet long-range bomber Petyakov Pe-8

Shortly after the start of the war against the Soviet Union, Königsberg was attacked by the Ilyushin DB-3 long-range bombers of the Soviet air force on the night of June 22nd to 23rd, 1941 , with damage to the quay facilities and the gasworks. On the night of August 29, 1941, another air raid against the city took place, this time with two four-engine long-range bombers of the Petlyakov Pe-8 (TB-7) type . The bomber with the serial number 4221 was controlled by commander IS Lisatschow, the machine with the serial number 4222 by Major Je. O. Fedorenko. Both machines belonged to the inventory of the 432nd Remote Bomber Regiment of the 81st Remote Bomber Division. On the night of September 1, this regiment attacked the city again, this time with two TB-7s and two Yermolayev Jer-2 medium long-range bombers . The TB-7 had the serial numbers 42015 and 42055, the former machine was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel AD Alexejew and Navigator AM Lebedjew, the 42055 by Major MM Ugrjumow. A third TB-7 (serial number 4218 under Major AG Dimitrijew) was also supposed to attack Koenigsberg, but only got as far as Memel .

In June 1942 there were four Soviet bombing raids, in August one by naval planes of the "Baltic Red Banner Fleet". On 10/11 April and 29./30. In April 1943, Königsberg was the target of further Soviet air raids. In the latter attack, the heaviest Soviet bomb of World War II at 5,000 kilograms was dropped by a Pe-8 of the 746th DBAP of the 45th AD. These attacks resulted in numerous damage to buildings and human lives, but they were not comparable to the subsequent British area attacks in August 1944 and the Soviet bombing in April 1945.

The British area bombing in August 1944

The British air war strategists had the city of Königsberg under the code name “Blenny” (slime fish) in their sights as part of their “demoralization bombing”. Initially, however, the city was protected by the geographical distance. A possible secondary goal of the heavy air raids on Königsberg in August 1944 was to persuade Finland to leave the war. The air strikes were supposed to demonstrate that Helsinki could now also be reached by the RAF.

First attack

British heavy Avro Lancaster bombers bombing Duisburg in 1944: left dropping radar decoys, then dropping incendiary bombs and a Cookie air mine (right)

On the night of 26 to 27 August 1944, the flew 5th Bomb Group of the Royal Air Force with British and Canadian crews a first massive attack with 174 four-engined bombers of the type Avro Lancaster , four of which did not return. The planes took off 950 miles away and flew over German-occupied northern Denmark and neutral Sweden. Thus at the limit of their range, they were equipped with "relatively low" bomb loads. Most of the bombs fell in the northeast of the city in Maraunenhof, between Cranzer Allee, Herzog-Albrecht-Allee and Wallring. Further damage occurred on the Tragheim, in Altroßgarten and in the southeast of the city. Residential buildings in particular, but also some Wehrmacht facilities in this area, were hit. Around 1,000 people died and 10,000 people from Königsberg were left homeless.

Second attack

Provost church after British bombing in 1944

Three days later, 189 Lancasters threw the No. 5 J. Woodroffe's Bomber Group dropped a total of 480 tonnes of bombs on the city on the night of August 29-30 after waiting for a gap in the cloud cover for 20 minutes despite a lack of fuel. German night fighters shot down 15 Lancaster bombers; this corresponded to approx. 8% of the attackers. The British Bomber Command estimated that 41% of Koenigsberg's homes and 20% of industry were destroyed.

The densely built-up historical inner city parts of the old town , Löbenicht and Kneiphof were almost completely reduced to rubble and ashes by explosive and incendiary bombs . The British strategy included creating a firestorm that made it impossible to escape from the cellars. The fire brigade and air raid protection were powerless. All historical buildings with their irreplaceable furnishings, the cathedral and twelve other churches, the castle , the old and new universities with many institutes and clinics, the Kneiphöf town hall (which had been the city history museum since 1927), the opera house, the state were destroyed - and university library , the picturesque warehouse district, newspaper building, the Gräfe und Unzer bookstore, which has existed since 1722, and around half of all schools. The birth houses of Johann Georg Hamann , ETA Hoffmann , Eduard von Simson and Hermann Goetz and the house in Löbenichtschen Langgasse where Heinrich von Kleist lived and completed the “Broken Jug” were destroyed. Around 200,000 Königsbergers were left homeless by the bombing and placed in emergency quarters in the vicinity of the city. The number of dead is estimated at over 5,000. The victims were buried in mass graves. Military targets such as barracks, the fortress belt, train stations and railway tracks were omitted from this air attack.

The violation of Swedish neutrality

In both attacks in August 1944, the total of 360 heavy British bombers crossed the Swedish province of Skåne on a return flight . Seven British aircraft shot down by the German air defense crashed over Swedish territory, and one damaged aircraft made an emergency landing. On behalf of the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the Swedish Embassy in London protested against the apparent serious violation of the country's neutrality .

Soviet air raids in the battle for Königsberg in 1945

Soviet multi-combat aircraft Petlyakov Pe-2

The Battle of Königsberg in 1945 led to further severe destruction in Königsberg. At the beginning of April 1945, a third of the Soviet air force was concentrated in the Königsberg area and carried out non-stop bomb and low-flying attacks on the city. German anti-fighter defense no longer existed, the flak was used in ground battles against Soviet tanks. The districts from the 19th and 20th centuries and the suburbs were also badly affected. However, the destruction was not as widespread as in August 1944 in the city center.

During the initial period of the subsequent Soviet occupation, some of the existing buildings were intentionally destroyed by burning down.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, Berlin 1993. ISBN 3-89488-048-1 . P.56.
  2. ^ Olaf Groehler: Bomb war against Germany . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1990. ISBN 3-05-000612-9 . Pp. 164, 166, 167
  3. ↑ Soviet aerial photo, taken after the 1st attack
  4. ↑ "... that you, Königsberg, are not mortal." 60 years ago, Pregelstadt was a victim of Allied terrorist attacks. In: Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung , August 28, 2004 ( online ).
  5. ↑ E. manner G. Mannke in: Konigsberg lexicon. Würzburg 2002, p. 14
  6. ↑ Gerfried Horst: The destruction of Königsberg . OEZ-Verlag, Berlin 2014. ISBN 978-3942437-25-7 . Pp. 154-155, pp. 277-278
  7. ↑ Gerfried Horst: Dress rehearsal for hell. Truth about the destruction of Königsberg . Kaliningrad 2010. pp. 50–52 and 99
  8. ↑ Otto Lasch: This is how Königsberg fell . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1976. P. 82 ff

Web links

Commons : Air raids on Königsberg  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

photos

  • Bunker from the Second World War in Königsberg (2015)

  • Air raid shelter from World War II in Königsberg (2014)

  • Cranzer Allee cemetery in Koenigsberg, also with thousands of bomb victims

  • Cranzer Allee cemetery in Koenigsberg, with bomb victims