Bombing of Kassel in World War II

The Kassel World War II bombings were a set of Allied strategic bombing attacks which took place from February 1942 to March 1945. In a single deadliest raid on 22–23 October 1943, 150,000 inhabitants were bombed-out,Template:Cn at least 6,000 people died,Template:Cn the vast majority of the city center was destroyed, and the fire of the most severe air raid burned for seven days. When the US First Army captured Kassel on 3 April 1945, only 50,000 inhabitants remained of its 1939 population of 236,000.Template:Citation needed

Targets

Bomb damaged buildings in Kassel, Untere Königsstraße

As well as being the capital of the provinces of Hesse-Nassau and Kurhessen, Kassel had some important targets:

• Fieseler aircraft facility
• Henschel & Sohn facilities, maker of the Tiger I and King Tiger heavy tanks
• The Henschel & Sohn firm's locomotive plant
• engine plant
• motor transport plant
• railway works
• Military HQs at Wehrkreis IX, and Bereich Hauptsitz Kassel
• Central Germany HQ, highway & railway construction
• Regional Supreme Court

Bombing raids

Bombing raids on Kassel during World War II

Date	Target
Template:Sort	Template:Specify	10 Wellingtons and 3 Stirlings to Emden, Hamburg, Kassel and Aachen.
Template:Sort	Henschel	306 aircraft destroyed/seriously damaged 144/317 buildings, particularly in the city southwest. Three Henschel buildings were seriously damaged, and 43/251 were killed/injured.<ref name=CampaignDiary> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} February 1942 Template:Webarchive, August 1942 Template:Webarchive, October 1943 Template:Webarchive, November 1943 Template:Webarchive, December 1943 Template:Webarchive January 1944 Template:Webarchive, February 1944 Template:Webarchive March 1944 Template:Webarchive, September 1944 Template:Webarchive, October 1944 Template:Webarchive, November 1944 Template:Webarchive, December 1944 Template:Webarchive January 1945 Template:Webarchive, February 1945 Template:Webarchive March 1945 Template:Webarchive, April 1945 Template:Webarchive</ref>
8/9 September 1942	Template:Specify	Nearly 100 aircraft hit several armament factories, and destroyed the railway station, the Red Palace, and the Museum Fridericianum, home of the Kassel State Library, along with 350,000 books, seven-eighths of the library's entire book collection.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
2/3 October 1943	Template:Specify	The Pathfinder Force (PFF) was not able to find the center of the city, and most bombs into Ihringshausen and Bettenhausen. In addition to considerable damage, an ammunition store was hit.
3/4 October 1943	Template:Specify	547 aircraft used H2S radar; the main weight of bombs fell on the western suburbs and outlying towns and villages.
22/23 October 1943	city centre	569 bombers dropped more than 1,800 tons of bombs (including 460,000 magnesium fire sticks) in a concentrated pattern.<ref>Bomber Command October 1943 Template:Webarchive</ref> For deception, the attack used Operation Corona radio spoofing and a Frankfurt diversionary raid. The blaze caused a minor firestorm similar in nature to that at Hamburg. Damage to the main telephone exchange and the city's water pipes hindered firefighting efforts.
18/19 March 1944	Template:Specify	11 Mosquitos on a diversionary raid.
30/31 March 1944	Template:Specify	34 Mosquitos on diversionary raids to Aachen, Cologne and Kassel.
27/28 September 1944	Template:Specify	46 Mosquitos on a diversionary raid.
28 September 1944	Henschel motor transport plant	Mission 652: 243 of 262 dispatched B-24s bombed the Kassel/Henschel motor transport plant.<ref name=McKillop> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} 1942: January Template:Webarchive, February Template:Webarchive, March Template:Webarchive, April Template:Webarchive, May Template:Webarchive, June Template:Webarchive, July Template:Webarchive, August Template:Webarchive, September Template:Webarchive, October Template:Webarchive, November Template:Webarchive, December Template:Webarchive 1943: January Template:Webarchive, February Template:Webarchive, March Template:Webarchive, April Template:Webarchive, May Template:Webarchive, June Template:Webarchive, July Template:Webarchive, August Template:Webarchive, September Template:Webarchive, October Template:Webarchive, November Template:Webarchive, December Template:Webarchive 1944: January Template:Webarchive, February Template:Webarchive, March Template:Webarchive, April Template:Webarchive, May Template:Webarchive, June Template:Webarchive, July Template:Webarchive, August Template:Webarchive, September Template:Webarchive, October Template:Webarchive, November Template:Webarchive, December Template:Webarchive 1945: January Template:Webarchive, February Template:Webarchive, March Template:Webarchive, April Template:Webarchive, May Template:Webarchive, June Template:Webarchive, July Template:Webarchive, August Template:Webarchive, September Template:Webarchive</ref>
3/4 October 1944	Template:Specify	43 Mosquitos.
15/16 October 1944	Template:Specify	2 Mosquitos on a diversionary raid.
9/10 November 1944	Template:Specify	3 Mosquitos.
27/28 December 1944	Template:Specify	7 Mosquitos on Oboe (navigation) trials (some flew over Kassel).Template:Citation needed
6/7 January 1945	Template:Specify	20 Mosquitos.
18/19 January 1945	Template:Specify	12 Mosquitos.
21/22 January 1945	Template:Specify	76 Mosquitos
2/3 March 1945	Template:Specify	67 Mosquitos on a training raid.
8/9 March 1945	Template:Specify	176 aircraft; the last heavy raid by the RAF on Kassel.
18/19 March 1945	Template:Specify	24 Mosquitos.
20/21 March 1945	Template:Specify	16 Mosquitos on a diversionary raid.

See also

• List of strategic bombing over Germany in World War II

Sources

• Werner Dettmar: Die Zerstörung Kassels im Oktober 1943. Hesse, Fuldabrück 1983, Template:ISBN
• Gebhard Aders: Bombenkrieg/Strategien der Zerstörung. licoverlag 2004

External links

• RAF bombing of Kassel (October 1943)
• USAAF bombing of Kassel (September 1944)