Figure 1.--In 1940, Germany was still largely unaffected by the War. There were no blackouts in Berlin. Thus the Brtish bombing raid while causing little damage wasva hugev surrise. The bomb damage attraced curiosity seekers. Here Berliners inspect a bomb crater in the middle of Unter den Linden--the most prestigious steet in all of Germany.

After the errant Luftwaffe attack on London, the British immediately ordered a reprisal attack. The incident understandably was interpreted by Prime-Minister Churchill as deliberate and and an escalation. There was no doubt in his mind about the response. The Auir Staff was not enthuisiastic. Berlin was at the limit of their range, both distan and dangerous. There were a long list of more important targets more within range. 【Richards, p. 63.】 Apparently Churchill and Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal who commanded Bomber Command at her time had told him that such an attack was possible and cvould be conducted on short notice. 【PRO AIR 41, pp. 235-36.】 And that was just what Chuchill wanted. He ordered Bomber Command to retaliate. The Prime-minister writes, "The War Cabinet was much in the mood to hit back, to raise the stakes, and to defy the enemy. I was sure they were right, and believed that nothing impressed or disturbed Hitler so much as his realization of British wrath and will-power. In his heart he was one of our admirers." 【Churchill, Finest, p. 342.】 Churchill focuses on the War Cabinet. We suspect he was laeding the charge to stike at the Germans. This was not, however, as is sometimes portrayed, the first British raid on German cties. RAF Bomber Command had been ctriking at the Gemans for some time. With only a few hours notice, Bomber Command conducted a small reprisal raid against Berlin (August 25-26). London was an easy target with the Luftwaffe operating from French bases. Berlin was a much more difficult target. Bomber Command launched 95 bombers to strike back at the Germans. Given the limitations of RAF bombers at the time at the lack of navigational aids, reaching and finding Berlin was a challenge. (At night the bombers had to depend on celestial navigation. The Germans had electronic navigational aids, the British did not. This would lead to the Battle of the Beams.) Bomber Command at the time had to bomb at night because of German fighter defenses. They could find and bomb port cities, but inland cities could not be effectively bombed with their basically obsolete two-engine bombers, let alone a city deep in to the Reich. The target was to be Klingenberg power station and Tempelhof Airport near the center of Berlin. 【TNA, p.23.】 Amazingly 81 of the attacking force actually found Berlin and dropped bombs. 【Moss, p. 295.】 This was only possible because the city was lit uo. Some of the attacking bombers failed to find Berlin. The targets were not hit, but bombs did fall on Berlin. nd the public reaction was codiderable. At the time neutral America not onkly had reporters in London, most famously CBS reoporter Edward R. Murriow, nut also in Berlin. CBS reporter W.L. Shirer reoported, "The Berlibers are stunned. They did no think it could ever happen. Goering assured them it couldn't." 【PO AIR 41, p. 478.】 There was no fighetr opposition, but there were losses because of the distance and navigational difficulties. Hitler might have tolerated this one raid, but in the following 2 weeks, Bomber command persisted. There were five more raids raids of a comparable size. 【Questar. p. 115.】 Information on the raids are available in detail. 【López Ruiz】

Sources

Churchill, Winston. Their Finest Hour (Houghton Mifflin: Boston, 1949), 751p.

López Ruiz, Pablo. "Bombing raid on Berlin," Berlin Luft Terror (May 2, 2021).

Moss, Norman. Nineteen Weeks: America, Britain and the Fateful Summer of 1940 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 2004).

Public Records Office. Air 41.

Quester, George H. Deterrence before Hiroshima: The airpower background of Modern Strategy Transaction Publishers: 1986).

The National Archives of the UK (TNA). Operations Record Books: AIR 27/894. 2.

Created: 6:18 PM 8/15/2024
Last updated: 7:47 AM 8/16/2024