The German city of Freiburg was bombed erroneously on 10 May 1940 by the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

, killing 57 inhabitants.

Timing

The '' kette'' (three aircraft) involved, commanded by Leutnant Paul Seidel, were from ''8. Staffel'', ''

Kampfgeschwader 51 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 51 "Edelweiss" (KG 51) (Battle Wing 51) was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II. The unit began forming in May 1939 and completed forming in December 1939, and took no part in the invasion of Poland which start ...

'' "Edelweiss" (8./KG51) operating the

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...

medium bomber. They had taken off at 14:27 from

Landsberg-Lech Air Base Landsberg-Lech Air Base ( German: ''Fliegerhorst Landsberg/Lech'', ICAO: ETSA) is a former German Air Force base located near the town of Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria. Landsberg was used as a transport base. It was home of Air Transport Wing ...

, to bomb the French city of

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, or the alternative target Dole–Jura Airport, as part of the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

. However, due to navigation errors they lost orientation and never arrived there. Although they were not able to determine their exact position, they were convinced of being on the other side of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

and, in spite of the landmarks they saw, the town beneath them was thought to perhaps be

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

, which is at a distance of only 22 miles. Since, on the other hand, the Freiburg Air Guard in Hilda Tower on the Loretto mountain identified the aircraft as German, it was only after the attack was already over that air raid warning was given. Starting from 15:59 the planes dropped a total of 69 bombs on the city.

Immediate consequences

The German command tried to cover up the mistake and passed the bombing off as enemy action. The German media accepted that version without any hesitation.

UFA Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...

Weekly Review Weekly, The Weekly, or variations, may refer to: News media * ''Weekly'' (news magazine), an English-language national news magazine published in Mauritius *Weekly newspaper, any newspaper published on a weekly schedule *Alternative newspaper, als ...

, for example, reported in its issue no. 506 on 15 May 1940 at the end of a longer contribution of the ''"brutal and ruthless air raid on an unfortified German city"''. The newspaper Freiburger Zeitung described it on 11 May 1940 as a ''"malicious air raid"''''Der feige Luftangriff auf Freiburg (the malicious air raid on Freiburg)'' in: Freiburger Zeitung o
11./12. Mai 1940
/ref> by the enemy. In the course of this "sneaky, cowardly air raid against all laws of humanity and

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

", the newspaper continued ''"24 civilians were overtaken by death"''. At the same time the incident was used to justify further attacks against the enemy. Thus, "any further planned bombing of the German population will be counteracted by five times as many German aircraft attacking an English or French town." In a speech at the enterprise Borsig-Werke on 10 December 1940

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

accused the British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

to have started with "terrorist" attacks against the civilian population with the bombing of Freiburg. The pilots, for their part, declared to have attacked the secondary target Dole Tavaux. However, that declaration was made only later in the year. The claim that the

duds A dud is an ammunition round or explosive that fails to fire or detonate, respectively, on time or on command. Poorly designed devices (for example, improvised explosive devices (IEDs)), and small devices, have higher chances of being duds. Du ...

of the attack were not German, had already been refuted by the time code. Nevertheless, the myth that foreign aircraft had bombed Freiburg had a long-standing basis. Background for this could have been memories of the air raids during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Then Freiburg was bombed 25 times by allied aircraft. Another factor might have been the shelling of Freiburg by French artillery on 11 and 13 June 1940. On that occasion shells fell on the southern Loretto mountain, Merzhausen, Günterstal, and the area around the airport as well as on the premises of the company Rhodia and the gasworks. This possibility of attack was eliminated by the advance of the German troops in France from 15 June 1940 onwards.

Later consequences

Colonel

Josef Kammhuber Josef Kammhuber (August 19, 1896 – January 25, 1986) was a career officer in the Luftwaffe and post-World War II German Air Force. During World War II, he was the first general of night fighters in the Luftwaffe. Kammhuber created the night ...

, at that time commander of KG51, alleged for a long time that it would never be possible to clarify who was responsible for the bombing of Freiburg on this day. In August 1980, however, he presented his knowledge regarding the bombing of Freiburg on 10 May 1940 to two military historians: ''"The fact that the attack on Freiburg was conducted mistakenly by a chain of III/KG51 is evident"''. The German historians Anton Hoch,

Wolfram Wette Wolfram Wette (born 11 November 1940) is a German military historian and peace researcher. He is an author or editor of over 40 books on the history of Nazi Germany, including the seminal ''Germany and the Second World War'' series from the Ge ...

and

Gerd R. Ueberschär Gerd R. Ueberschär (born 18 August 1943) is a German military historian who specialises in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. He is one of the leading contributors to the series ''Germany and the Second World War'' and, together with ...

contributed significantly to the clarification of the events on 10 May 1940. In consequence of their work the responsible persons could be identified in 1956. On 5 April 1956 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that the puzzle of who bombed Freiburg on 10 May 1940 had been solved. On the ''Hilda playground'' in Freiburg's suburb Stühlinger next to which 20 children were killed, a memorial stone refers to the incident. The construction of the memorial stone was initiated by the

Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime The Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime/Federation of Antifascists (German: ''Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes – Bund der Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten'') (VVN-BdA) is a German political confederation founded in 1947 ...

. On the 40th anniversary a preliminary plaque existing only for a short time was installed. It followed up the assumption that Freiburg was intentionally bombed by the German Air Force which was later disproved. The present monument was dedicated on the 45th anniversary. The present inscription on the plaque is based on the findings of historical research about the event. Mayor

Rolf Böhme Dr. Rolf Böhme (6 August 1934, Konstanz – 12 February 2019) was a German politician and mayor of the Southwest city of Freiburg for 20 years between 1982 and 2002. He was a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Before becoming Mayor, ...

as well as the chairman of the VVN and the chairman of the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

local association of the suburb Stühlinger spoke at the dedication of the memorial stone.Ute Scherb, ''Wir bekommen die Denkmäler, die wir verdienen. Freiburger Monumente im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert'' (We get the monuments we deserve. Freiburg monuments in the 19th and 20th century). P. 212 et seq. Freiburg 2005,

References

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

History of Freiburg im Breisgau 1940 in Germany 1940 in military history May 1940 events

Timing

Immediate consequences

Later consequences

Further reading

See also

References