Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in No ...

was bombed a number of times by the Allies during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The most devastating air raids on Duisburg occurred during October 1944 when the city was bombed by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF). Duisburg was a major logistical centre in the

Ruhr Area The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

and location of chemical, steel and iron industries, Duisburg was a primary target of Allied

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

s. Not only the industrial areas but also residential areas were attacked by Allied bombs. As an entry to the Ruhr, the city received daily warnings of bombing raids in 1943. In the period 1939 to 1945 the Royal Air Force dropped a total of 30,025 long tons of bombs on Duisburg.

Battle of the Ruhr

During the "

Battle of the Ruhr The Battle of the Ruhr (5 March – 31 July 1943) was a strategic bombing campaign against the Ruhr Area in Nazi Germany carried out by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. The Ruhr was the main centre of German heavy industry wit ...

" in 1943, 577 British bombers destroyed the old city on 12/13 May, with 1,599 tonnes of bombs: 96,000 people were made homeless.

Operation Hurricane

In October 1944, Duisburg became the main target in

Operation Hurricane Operation Hurricane was the first test of a British atomic device. A plutonium implosion device was detonated on 3 October 1952 in Main Bay, Trimouille Island, in the Montebello Islands in Western Australia. With the success of Operation H ...

a joint RAF Bomber Command and

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Eighth Air Force operation.''Campaign Diary''
October 1944
On 14 October 1944 just after daybreak, RAF Bomber Command sent 1,013 aircraft, with RAF fighters providing an escort, to bomb Duisburg. 957 bombers dropped 3,574 tonnes of high explosive and 820 tonnes of incendiaries on the city for a loss of 14 aircraft.Bomber Command Diary The same day Eighth Air Force sent 1,251 heavy bombers escorted by 749 fighters to bomb targets in the area of Cologne. Later the same day, during the night of 14 October/15 October, 1,005 RAF bombers returned to

in two waves about two hours apart, and dropped a further 4,040 tonnes of high explosive and 500 tonnes of incendiaries for the loss of seven aircraft. The same night a further 230 aircraft destroyed Brunswick. During Operation Hurricane nearly 9,000 tonnes of bombs fell on Duisburg in less than 24 hours, but the damage to Duisburg is difficult to assess because much of the documentation including the final report (''Endbericht''), is not held by the Duisburg state archive (''Stadtarchiv''). However the documentation which is available mentions "Very serious property damage. A large number of people buried." and that at the Thyssen Mines III and IV 8 days production was lost.

Chronology

Notes

References

* *Carter, Kit C.; Mueller, Robert (1991).
U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology 1941 - 1945
', Center for Air Force History Washington, DC. {{DEFAULTSORT:Duisburg World War II strategic bombing of Germany Firebombings

Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom Germany–United Kingdom military relations Germany–United States military relations

Battle of the Ruhr

Operation Hurricane

Chronology

See also

Notes

References