Blackout (air protection)
The blackout is a measure of air protection at night. It is intended to make orientation and finding the targets more difficult in the event of air attacks by enemy planes. In the Federal Republic of Germany, in the event of a defense, the darkening can be ordered by the municipalities in accordance with Section 5 (4) ZSKG .
history
First World War
The first bombing from the air found in the First World War instead. At the beginning of the aviation, visual flight was practiced and the bombing was also carried out by sight. The Allies tried to hit the German arms industry in the Ruhr area from the air. That is why the first guidelines for area-wide blackout were issued in the spring of 1917. Railways were also targets of air raids and, in early 1918, passenger trains were ordered to be darkened .
Second World War
In Switzerland, the first blackout exercises were carried out in autumn 1938 and air protection leaflets were distributed. Flying in World War II continued to be characterized by sight flying. And so the blackout in the German Reich was regulated by ordinance of May 23, 1939 and October 22, 1940.
In order to be able to continue to illuminate buildings, there were air protection lamps , for whose use regulations had to be observed. There were similar regulations in other countries. Light sources and "light exit openings" should be attenuated in the event of an air raid alarm, so that no light source should be perceptible at a distance of 500 m. The blackout ordinances also applied to motor vehicle and bicycle headlights, which had to be equipped with slotted screens. Window panes of rooms in apartments were sometimes masked with dark paper. The standard carbide hand lantern had three aluminum sheets that could be inserted in front of the windows, the front of which could be faded in in the form of a slider for a directional beam in the middle (diameter about 20 mm) and / or a path lighting beam underneath, vertically slit-shaped (2 mm wide, 20 mm high). As part of the defense against nocturnal bombers - the so-called wild boar tactic - the darkening and deliberate lighting of the target areas were partially lifted in Berlin and other cities.
With the advent of electronic aids in control and navigation, weapons of mass destruction and the introduction of guided weapons , the importance of blackout as an effective protection already declined in the course of the 2nd World War. Today it can be doubted whether it would still offer protection.
Blackout in the sea
During the Second World War, in particular, the blackout was also used in seafaring. Submarines and torpedo bombers also navigated and aimed at sight. In order to make the navigation of the German boats more difficult, blackouts were ordered for the east coast of the USA and Canada during attacks on North America . From 1942, for example, ships in the Atlantic and Pacific were darkened to protect themselves from attack by submarines and planes.
literature
- Jörn Brinkhus: Air and civil protection in Germany in the 20th century, Military History Research Office , 2010, ISBN 978-3-9808882-7-1
Individual evidence
- ↑ Self-protection guidelines 2001, p. 4 (pdf)
- ^ Attack plans in the First World War. Historisches Zentrum Haagen, 1994, accessed on August 17, 2016 .
- ↑ Eisenbahndirektion Mainz (ed.): Official Gazette of the Royal Prussian and Grand Ducal Hessian Railway Directorate in Mainz of January 12, 1918, No. 2. Announcement No. 18, p. 8; ibid. of May 18, 1918, No. 23, Announcement 382, p. 168.
- ↑ Bruno Müller: Magden in the Second World War , on the website of the municipality of Magden, accessed on March 20, 2018.
- ↑ U-boat alarm: War on the dream beach. Florida Sun Magazine, accessed August 17, 2016 .