Battle of Berlin (air)
This article is about strategic bombing raids on Berlin. For the capture of Berlin in 1945 see Battle of Berlin.The term
Battle of Berlin is sometimes restricted to the bombing campaign of the
Royal Air Force on
Berlin and other cities between the night of
November 18,
1943 and March 1944.
RAF Bomber Command organised sixteen major attacks on the German capital. During these sixteen attacks the RAF destroyed over 6,000 acres (24 km²) and lost 450 aircraft.
Arthur Harris planned to reduce most of the city to rubble to achieve victory. During the battle of Berlin, the British lost 1,047 bombers, with a further 1,682 damaged, culminating in the raid on
Nuremberg on
March 30,
1944, when 94 bombers were shot down and 71 damaged, out of 795 aircraft.
There were many other raids on Berlin by the RAF and the
USAAF Eighth Air Force in the strategic bombing campaign of 1940–1945 and this is reflected in the RAF
battle honour which is for bombardment of Berlin by aircraft of Bomber Command 1940–1945.
Almost 1,000 B-17 bombers of the Eighth Air Force, protected by
P-51 Mustangs attacked the Berlin railway system on
February 3, 1945 in the belief that the
German Sixth Panzer Army was moving through Berlin by train on its way to the
Eastern Front[Frederick Taylor "Dresden Tuesday 13 February 1945" Page 215]. The raid killed about 3,000 Berliners. The
newspaper district,
central area and
some others were severely damaged and almost totally destroyed. Government and Nazi Party building weres also hit, including the Reich Chancellery, the Party Chancellery, the
Gestapo headquaters, and the
People's Court[Antony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0670886955, Page 74].
# Night of
18 November /
19 November 1943: Berlin, the main target, was attacked by 440
Avro Lancasters and 4
de Havilland Mosquitos. They bombed the city, which was under cloud. Diversionary raids on
Mannheim and
Ludwigshafen by 395 other aircraft. Mosquitos attacked several other towns. In all 884 sorties, 32 aircraft (3.6%) lost.#* Night of
19 November /
20 November 1943:
Leverkusen was the main target. A number of other towns were bombed.# Night of
22 November /
23 November 1943: Berlin the main target. 469 Lancasters, 234
Handley Page Halifaxes, 50
Short Stirlings, 11 Mosquitos. Total 764 aircraft. 26 aircraft lost, 3.4% of the force. This was the most effective raid on
Berlin of the war. Most of the damage was to the residential areas west of the centre,
Tiergarten and
Charlottenburg,
Schöneberg and
Spandau. Because of the dry weather conditions, several 'firestorms' ignited. 175,000 people were made homeless and the
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche) was destroyed. The ruins of the old church are now a monument to the horrors of war. Several other buildings of note were either damaged or destroyed, including the
British,
French,
Italian and
Japanese embassies, Charlottenburg Castle and
Berlin Zoo. Also the Ministry of
Weapons and Munitions, the
Waffen SS Administrative College, the barracks of the
Imperial Guard at Spandau, as well as several factories employed in the manufacture of material for the armed forces.# Night of
23 November /
24 November 1943: Berlin, the main target, was attacked by 365 Lancasters, 10 Halifaxes, 8 Mosquitos (383 aircraft).#* Night of
24 November /
25 November 1943: Berlin, in a small raid, was attacked by 6 Mosquitos (1 lost). The only other action that night was 9
Vickers Wellingtons dropping leaflets in
France.#*Night of
25 November /
26 November 1943:
Frankfurt the main target. Also 3 Mosquitos to Berlin and other aircraft to other targets.# Night of
26 November /
27 November 1943: Berlin, the main target, was attacked by 443 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitos. Most of the damage in Berlin was in the semi-industrial suburb of
Reinickendorf. Stuttgart was a diversion, attacked by 84 aircraft. The total sorties for the night was 666 with 34 aircraft (5.1%) lost.#* Night of
28 November /
29 November 1943:
Essen, in small raid, was attacked by 10 Mosquitos.#* Night of
29 November /
30 November 1943:
Bochurn,
Cologne and
Düsseldorf, attacked by 21 Mosquitos.#* Night of
30 November /
1 December 1943: Essen, in small raid, attacked by 4 Mosquitos.#* Night of
1 December /
2 December 1943: only minelaying.# Night of
2 December /
3 December 1943: Berlin, the main target, was attacked by 425 Lancasters, 18 Mosquitos, 15 Halifaxes. The Germans correctly identified that Berlin was the target. Unexpected cross winds had scattered the bomber formations and so German fighters shot down a total of 40 bombers — 37 Lancasters, 2 Halifaxes, 1 Mosquito (8.7% of the force). Due to the cross winds the bombing was inaccurate and to the south of the city, but two more of the
Siemens factories, a ball-bearing factory and several railway installations were damaged.#* Night of
3 December /
4 December 1943:
Leipzig, the main target, was attacked by 307 Lancasters, 220 Halifaxes (527 aircraft).#* Night of
4 December /
5 December 1943:
Duisburg attacked by 9 Mosquitos.#* Night of
10 December /
11 December 1943:
Leverkusen attacked by 25 Mosquitos.#* Night of
11 December /
12 December 1943: Duisburg attacked by 18 Mosquitos.#* Night of
12 December /
13 December 1943: Essen attacked by 18 Mosquitos and Düsseldorf by 9 more.#* Night of
15 December /
16 December 1943: 16 Mosquitos to Düsseldorf.# Night of
16 December /
17 December 1943: Berlin was the main target. It was attacked by 483 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitos. German night fighters were successfully directed to intercept the bombers. 25 Lancasters, 5.2% of the Lancaster force, were lost over enemy occupied territory, with a further 29 aircraft lost on landing in England due to very low cloud. The damage to the Berlin railway system was extensive. 1000 wagon-loads of war material destined for the
Eastern Front were held up for 6 days. The National Theatre and the building housing Germany's military and political archives were both destroyed. The cumulative effect of the bombing campaign had now made more than a quarter of Berlin's total living accommodation unusable. 2 Beaufighters and 2 Mosquitos of
No. 141 Squadron RAF using
Serrate radar detector managed to damage a
Me 110, the first time these hunter killers had been on a successful Serrate patrol. On the same night there was other raid on
Tilley-le-Haut and
Flixecourt, 2 flying-bomb sites near Abbeville. The raid failed to destroy the sites and no aircraft were lost.#* Night of
19 December /
20 December 1943: leafleting over French towns without loss#* Night of
20 December /
21 December 1943: Frankfurt was the main target. It was attacked by 390 Lancasters, 257 Halifaxes, 3 Mosquitos (650 aircraft). German night fighters were successful in intercepting the bomber stream. 27 Halifaxes, 14 Lancasters were lost, 6.3% of the force. Damage was more than the RAF at the time thought because they knew that the Germans had managed to light decoy fires which were partially successful. There was also a decoy raid on Mannheim by a further 54 aircaft and a precision attack by 8 Lancasters of
617 Squadron and 8 Pathfinder Mosquitos on an armaments factory near Liege which failed to hit its target. #* Night of
21 December /
22 December 1943:
Mannesmann factory at Düsseldorf attacked by 9 Mosquitos and a number of other small raids.#* Night of
22 December /
23 December 1943: 51 aircraft attacked 2 flying-bomb sites between
Abbeville and
Amiens. One was destroyed, but the other was not located. 2 small Mosquitos raids on Frankfurt and
Bonn.# Night of
23 December /
24 December 1943: Berlin was attacked by 364 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos and 7 Halifaxes.
German fighters encountered difficulty with the weather and were able to shoot down only 16 Lancasters, 4.2% of the force. Damage to Berlin was relatively small. Several other German towns were attacked by Mosquitos.#* Night of
24 December /
25 December 1943: there was only mine laying.#* Night of
28 December /
29 December 1943: Berlin was the main target. 457 Lancasters, 252 Halifaxes and 3 Mosquitos (712 aircraft), RAF losses were light, at 2.8% of the force. Heavy cloud cover frustrated the RAF and damage was light.#* Night of
30 December /
31 December 1943: 10 Lancasters of 617 Squadron and 6 Pathfinder Mosquitos failed to destroy a V1 site.#* Night of
31 December 1943/
1 January 1944: there was only mine laying.# Night of
1 January /
2 January 1944: Berlin was the main target. The bomber streams of 421 Lancasters were attacked by German night fighters, resulting in the loss of 6.7% of the force.# Night of
1 January /
2 January 1944: Berlin was the main target. 421 Lancasters despatched to Berlin. German night fighters were effective and 6.2% of the bombers were shot down. A small raid on Hamburg by 15 Mosquitos and smaller raids on other towns did not divert the night fighrers.# Night of
2 January /
3 January 1944: Berlin was the main target. 362 Lancasters, 12 Mosquitos, 9 Halifaxes (383 aircraft). The night fighters did not catch up to the Bombers until they were over Berlin and managed to shoot down 27 Lancasters, 10% of the force. There were minor raids on other cities.#* Night of
3 January /
4 January 1944:
Solingen and Essen attacked by 8 Mosquitos. No losses.#* Night of
4 January /
5 January 1944: Two flying bomb sites attacked effectivly by 80 aircraft. Small raid on Berlin by 13 Mosquitos. Other small raids on other targets. Also
Special Operations flights flown to deliver supplies and agents to resistance forces.#* Night of
5 January /
6 January 1944:
Stettin main target for the first times since September 1941. Attacked by 348 Lancasters and 10 Halifaxes. A diversionary raid by 13 Mosquitos on Berlin and 25 to four other targets fooled the German night fighters and
RAF losses were only 16 aircraft lost, 4.5% of the force.#* Night of
6 January /
7 January 1944: Small raids on Duisburg,
Bristillerie,
Dortmund and Solingen by 19 Mosquitos.#* Night of
7 January /
8 January 1944: Small raids on Krefeld and Duisbur by 11 Mosquitos. 10 men were killed when an
SOE support flight crashed shortly after takeoff.#* Night of
8 January /
9 January 1944: Small raids on Frankfurt, Solingen,
Aachen and
Dortmund by 23 Mosquitos. 2 aircraft were lost.#* Night of
10 January /
11 January 1944: Small raids on Berlin, Solingen, Koblenz and Krefeld by 20 Mosquitos. No aircraft were lost.#* Night of
13 January /
14 January 1944: Small raids on Essen, Duisburg, Aachen, and Koblenz by 25 Mosquitos. One aircraft was lost.#* Night of
14 January /
15 January 1944: Major raid on
Brunswick, the first of the war, by 496 Lancasters and 2 Halifaxes. 38 Lancasters were lost to effective night fighter attacks. 11 of the lost aircraft were Pathfinders so the targeting of the city was poor. German authorities reported only 10 houses destroyed and 14 people killed in Brunswick with some further damage and loss of life in villages to the south of the town. 82 aircraft attacked flying bomb sites at
Ailly,
Bonneton and Bristillerie without loss. 17 Mosquitos launced small raids on Magdeburg and Berlin.# Night of
20 January /
21 January 1944: Berlin was the main target. 495 Lancasters, 264 Halifaxes, 10 Mosquitos (769 aircraft) despatched to Berlin. Night fighter attacks were pressed home successfully. 22 Halifaxes and 13 Lancasters were lost, 4.6% of the force. The damage could not be assessed due to low cloud cover the next day.#* Night of
21 January /
22 January 1944: Magdeburg main target. Its first major raid of the war.#*... # Night of
27 January /
28 January 1944: Berlin was the main target. 515 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitos (530 aircraft) despatched to Berlin. The RAF records state that the bombing appeared to have been spread well up and down wind. The diversionary raids were only partially successful in diverting German night fighters because 33 Lancasters were lost, which was 6.4 per cent of the heavy force. A further 167 sorties were flown against other targets, with one aircraft lost.# Night of
28 January /
29 January 1944:Berlin was the main target. 432 Lancasters, 241 Halifaxes, 4 Mosquitos (677 aircraft) despatched to Berlin. Western and Southern districts, coverd by partial cloud, were hit in what the RAF recordes state was the most concentrated attack of this period. German records record do not fully support this mentioning that were 77 places outside the city were hit. A deception raids and routing over Norhern Denmark did not prevent the German air defences shooting down 46 aircraft, 6.8 per cent of the force. Just over 100 other aircraft attacked a number of other targets.#* Night of
29 January /
30 January 1944: Small raids on Duisburg and Herbouville flying-bomb site, by a total of 22 Mosquitos. No aircraft were lost.# Night of
30 January /
31 January 1944: Berlin was the main target. 440 Lancasters, 82 Halifaxes, 12 Mosquitos (534 aircraft), despatched to Berlin. There RAF losses were 33 aircraft, 6.2% of the total. A further 76 sorties were flown against other targets, with no aircraft lost.#*... # Night of
15 February /
16 February 1944: Berlin main target. 561 Lancasters, 314 Halifaxes, 16 Mosquitos (891 aircraft), despatched to Berlin. Despite cloud cover most important war industries were hit, including the large
Siemensstadt area, with the centre and south-western districts substaining most of the damage. This was the largest raid by the RAF on Berlin. A diversionary raid 24 Lancasters of No. 8 Group on
Frankfurt-on-the-Oder failed to confuse the Germans and the RAF lost 43 aircraft - 26 Lancasters, 17 Halifaxes which was 4.8 per cent of the force. A further 155 sorties were flown against other targets.#*...# Night of
24 March /
25 March 1944: Berlin main target.#*...
* Night of
30 March /
31 March 1944 Nuremberg, the main target was attacked by 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitos (795 aircraft). The Germans correctly identified that Nuremberg was the target. The first fighters appeared just before the bombers reached the Belgian border and over the next hour 82 bombers were lost on the approaches to
Nuremberg. Another 13 bombers were shot down by the Germans on the return flight. In all the RAF lost 11.9% of the force dispatched. It was the biggest RAF Bomber Command loss of the war and ended the Battle of Berlin. It was during this final raid that Pilot Officer
Cyril Barton, a Halifax pilot of
578 Squadron, was awarded a posthumous
Victoria Cross.
*
Flakturm*
The Berlin Raids (book)*
RAF Campaign Diary November 1943*
RAF Campaign Diary December 1943*
RAF Campaign Diary January 1944*
RAF Campaign Diary February 1944*
RAF Campaign Diary March 1944*
RAF Battle Honours including Berlin 1940-1945
