Soviet air raids on Berlin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Soviet air raids on Berlin were carried out by the long-range forces of the USSR during the German-Soviet War .

background

On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa , thus starting the German-Soviet War, which lasted almost four years. Over 26 million people in the Soviet Union died in this . Exactly one month later, on the morning of July 22, 1941, the German Air Force attacked the capital Moscow for the first time with 127 bombers . 104 tons of high explosive and 46,000 incendiary bombs were dropped from heights between 2000 and 4000 m . The aerial alarm in Moscow lasted over five hours. According to its own information, the Luftwaffe lost one machine during this operation, according to Soviet information twelve to fighters and ten to flak . The second air raid on Moscow took place the next night, but this time due to the strong air defense from an altitude of over 6000 m. Thereafter, the number of machines involved in the attacks fell below 100 and the air force bombings subsided until they were temporarily suspended in December 1941 and finally stopped after April 25, 1942. Despite the catastrophic situation on the fronts in the west, these attacks on Moscow turned the thinking of the Soviet military on Berlin . On the afternoon of July 28, 1941, the People's Commissar of the Naval War Fleet, NG Kuznetsov , proposed to the Soviet ruler Stalin to attack Berlin with strong units of mine and torpedo pilots of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets from the Estonian island of Saaremaa . The Soviet leadership recognized the moral and political importance of an attack on the German capital and agreed to an attempt.

Problems of the missions

Even in advance, many critical voices were voiced in the Soviet general staff who spoke out against such operations. Not only was the military effect of a bombing on Berlin small, the risks of the long flight and the hardships that such a bombing attack brought with it were enormous. The most important problem in the realization of large-scale bombings of the Reich capital, however, was the lack of suitable bomb planes with strategic range. Only three different Soviet aircraft types had the appropriate payload capacity and, above all, range to effectively combat a long-range target. The twin-engine long-range bombers Ilyushin DB-3 and Yermolajew Jer-2 and the heavy four-engine long-range bomber Petlyakov Pe-8 (TB-7), of which only twelve machines were available at this time. As early as June 26, the TB-7 bombers were placed under direct orders from the Commander-in-Chief of the Reserve in order to use them for special operations. The Jer-2 bombers were available in large numbers (approx. 120 operational aircraft), but in some cases showed weaknesses. Only the DB-3 was represented with at least 1000 units in the Soviet air force , but could only achieve an extreme range by reducing the payload. In addition to the lack of a real strategic bomber weapon, the lack of experienced pilots and crews who had experience of flying over long distances was also noticeable. Many air force experts at management level doubted the success of an attack on Berlin, but could not change the mind of the top management.

The attacks in August and September 1941

At the beginning of August, the decision was made to implement Kuznetsov's recommendation. A squadron with DB-3 bombers of the special group of the 1st Mine and Torpedo Flying Squadron of the Air Force of the Baltic Fleet was stationed on Saaremaa and Lieutenant General Schaworonkow was appointed its commander. In the first few minutes of August 8, 1941, ten DB-3s reached Berlin and dropped five FAB-100 explosive bombs each on the city. There were no losses. On the same day, MW Wodopjanow reported the readiness of his new long-distance flying division to headquarters. Under his leadership, the 420th DBAP (equipped with Jer-2) and the 432nd DBAP (equipped with TB-7) were combined to form the 81st AD (Long Distance Aviation Division). The division was stationed in Pushkin near Leningrad and on August 9 the first season of the 432nd DBAP, for example, started from Kazan on the Volga to the new base. A day later, the second and third seasons arrived in Pushkin. On the evening of August 10, eight TB-7 heavy bombers of the 432nd DBAP and at least five medium-range Jer-2 bombers of the 420th DBAP finally took off from Pushkin in the direction of Berlin. Alone at take-off, however, a TB-7 and two Jer-2 were lost because the pilots were not used to taking off from such a short grass runway with maximum take-off mass. Only three Jer-2 reached the capital and at 1:47 a.m. the first of these machines dropped seven FAB-100s at Berlin from a height of only 900 m. The operation was even worse for the TB-7 bombers of the 432nd DBAP. Eight started TB-7 Berlin reached only four which eight FAB-250, a cluster bomb threw off RRAB-3 and two firebombs SAB 2.5. Another machine was lost on the return flight, with which only three of the heavy long-range bombers reached home again. Of these three, in turn, only one reached the home airfield near Pushkin, the other two had to land on other Soviet airfields. In addition, it turned out that at least two TB-7s had even been attacked by their own fighters and flak, since the aircraft were subject to the utmost secrecy up to this point and were not known to their own flak and the fighters. Despite the enormous losses of this largest mission, Berlin continued to be attacked, but initially only with DB-3 and Jer-2. In the period from August 8 to September 4, 1941, a total of ten attacks on Berlin were flown by Soviet planes with 90 operations.

The attacks in August and September 1942

By the summer of 1942, the structures of the Soviet air force were changed. The individual long-distance aviation divisions (AD) were combined to form ADD (Awiazija dalnewo deistwija), the long-distance aviation forces, and were able to operate independently within the air force. The ADD bombers had also undergone changes since the previous year. The DB-3 had been developed into the Il-4 and the TB-7 was renamed the Pe-8. Their production was improved and, despite the losses in the previous year, around 15 machines were available again, ready for use, which flew in the 746th DBAP (formerly 432nd DBAP) and the newly established 890th DBAP. These two regiments were in turn part of the 45th AD of the ADD, which was stationed in Kratowo near Moscow. In the second half of June 1942, the commander of the ADD was summoned to the headquarters of Stalin. Here it was ordered that the Soviet long-distance air forces should bomb Berlin with all available forces. Since the return flight of the bombers in the bright June nights would actually take place in broad daylight, the attacks on Berlin were postponed until the end of August. On the evening of August 26, 1942, five Pe-8 bombers finally took off from Kratowo. Together with the Il-4s of the other ADD divisions, the attack formation comprised a total of over 50 aircraft. The Pe-8 carried four FAB-500 high explosive bombs, the Il-4 mainly carried the small FAB-100 bombs. In contrast to 1941, the preparation for the mission was more thorough this time. It was decided to only use Pe-8 bombers with AM-35A engines, as these caused fewer technical problems and it was hoped that this would avoid failures due to problems with the engines as in the previous year. In addition, both the Pe-8 and the Il-4 machines were painted completely black on the underside to make it more difficult for the German air defense to recognize the bombers. Most of the Il-4s came to Berlin, but only one Pe-8, that of Commander Ponomarenko, reached the city. All the other planes bombed reserve targets, but returned to Kratowo without damage. On the night of August 29th to 30th, 1942, the heaviest Soviet bombing raid on Berlin took place: five Pe-8 bombers of the 45th AD together with almost 100 Il-4 and Jer-2 bombed the city. The bombing effect was particularly strong in the districts of Kreuzberg , Tempelhof , Lichtenberg and Tiergarten . Two Berliners died, 35 were injured and 119 were "bombed out". The losses of the ADD were small, only a few Il-4 and one Pe-8 did not return. The third attack by the ADD on Berlin took place on the night of September 10, 1942, but this time only with Il-4 and Jer-2. Together with a major attack by the Royal Air Force in November, the attacks by the Soviet long-distance forces remained the only ones on Berlin in 1942.

The attacks in 1945

The advance of the Red Army to the west and the expulsion of the Wehrmacht from the Soviet Union made it possible to reach the entire German Reich territory with twin-engine front bombers since the end of 1944. The attacks on Berlin resumed in the spring of 1945, but this time not with long-range bombers, but with smaller machines such as the Petlyakov Pe-2 or Tupolev Tu-2 . In March and April 1945, even the small Il-2 attack aircraft reached the city without any problems. Also, city districts were no longer bombed, but individual Wehrmacht positions within the city in order to facilitate the advance of the ground troops. The attacks were organized locally and requested by the front-line units as needed. There was no longer any strategic bombing.

See also

literature

  • Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber . Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-89488-048-1 .
  • Karl-Heinz Eyermann : Aviation in the USSR 1917 until today . 2nd Edition. Transpress, Berlin 1983.
  • Rainer Göpfert: August and September 1941 - Soviet bombers over Berlin . In: FLiEGERREVUE X . No. 40 . PPVMedien, 2013, ISSN  2195-1233 , p. 48-71 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Boog : The German Empire and the Second World War, Volume 4 , dva, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-421-06098-3 , p. 693.