Bombing of Vienna in World War II
Bombing of Vienna | |||||
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Part of World War II | |||||
![]() Vienna after the bombings. | |||||
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Belligerents | |||||
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The city of Vienna in Austria was bombed 52 times during World War II, and 87,000 houses of the city were lost (20% of the entire city). Only 41 civilian vehicles survived the raids, more than 3,000 bomb craters were counted. and the Schwarzenberg Palace was bombed but later rebuilt.
History
After a lone Soviet air raid conducted on 4 September 1942,[1] Vienna was finally reached by western Allied bombers in 1944, when the Allied invasion of Italy allowed them to establish an air base at Foggia. Following the Normandy Invasion the greater part of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) was transferred to the West. Remaining Luftwaffe shot down one-tenth of 550 bombers in June 1944.
The air defenses of Vienna were aided by a ring of anti-aircraft batteries set up around the city and three pairs of Flak towers. These were large anti-aircraft gun blockhouses built in the city. Due to the increasing lack of fuel, by autumn 1944, artillery on the ground was the only defence against air raids. It typically took some 5,000 small-calibre and 3,400 large-calibre shells to bring down one bomber. During the day, one out of 125 planes was shot down on average. During the night, this dropped to only one out of 145. However, roughly one-third of the bombers and escorts suffered heavy damage. Some Vienna factories were moved to bomb-proof sites such as caves (e.g. the Seegrotte near Hinterbrühl) or hidden in other ways. The military industry even boosted its production, also by use of forced labour of concentration camp inmates and POWs. Bypasses for traffic junctions had been established before the bombings and traffic did not come to a halt until the very last days of the war.
By early 1945 Vienna had already faced 1,800 bombs. In February and March 1945, 80,000 tons of bombs were dropped by US and British aircraft, destroying more than 12,000 buildings, and 270,000 people were left homeless.
Date | Target/Topic | |
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September 4, 1942 | First air raid on Vienna during World War II | ![]() |
March 17, 1944 | Floridsdorf | The first American air raid on Vienna targeted the Floridsdorf refinery and mined the Danube. |
June 16, 1944 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
June 16, 1944 | Kagran | ![]() |
June 16, 1944 | Lobau | ![]() |
June 16, 1944 | Schwechat | ![]() |
June 16, 1944 | Winterhafen | ![]() |
June 26, 1944 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
June 26, 1944 | Korneuburg | ![]() |
June 26, 1944 | Moosbierbaum | The 455th BG received a 2nd Distinguished Unit Citation for bombing the Moosbierbaum oil refinery. |
June 26, 1944 | Lobau | ![]() |
June 16, 1944 | Schwechat | ![]() |
June 16, 1944 | Winterhafen | ![]() |
July 8, 1944 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
July 8, 1944 | Floridsdorf & Zwolfaxing | ![]() |
July 16, 1944 | The 32 BS bombed a Vienna oil refinery. | |
August 21, 1944 | ![]() | |
August 22, 1944 | Korneuburg | ![]() |
August 22, 1944 | Lobau | ![]() |
August 23, 1944 | Vösendorf | ![]() |
August 28, 1944 | Moosbierbaum | ![]() |
September 10, 1944 | ![]() | |
September 10, 1944 | Schwechat | ![]() |
October 7, 1944 | Lobau | The Lobau oil refinery was bombed. On this date, the 741st Bombardment Squadron flew over Vienna to hit an oil refinery.[8]:162 |
October 7, 1944 | Schwechat | ![]() |
October 7, 1944 | Winterhafen | ![]() |
October 11, 1944 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
October 13, 1944 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
October 17, 1944 | ![]() | |
November 4 & 7, 1944 | Floridsdorf | The 32 BS bombed. |
November 5, 1944 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
November 6, 12-17 & 19, 1944 | Moosbierbaum | The 32 BS bombed the Moosbierbaum oil refinery. |
November 15, 1944 | ![]() |
US intelligence reported in February 1945 that the Vienna area had no fuel since November 15.[9]:5 |
November 18, 1944 | The 32 BS bombed a Vienna oil refinery. | |
November 19, 1944 | Winterhafen | The 32 BS bombed the "Winterhafen" oil storage. |
December 2, 1944 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
December 8, 1944 | Moosbierbaum | ![]() |
December 11, 1944 | Moosbierbaum | ![]() |
December 18, 1944 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
December 27, 1944 | Vösendorf | ![]() |
January 1945 | The Lipizzan horses of the Spanish Riding School were evacuated. | |
January 31, 1945 | Moosbierbaum | ![]() |
February 1, 1945 | Moosbierbaum | ![]() |
February 7, 1945 | [Expand] | ![]() |
February 7, 1945 | Floridsdorf oil refinery | ![]() |
February 7, 1945 | Kagran | ![]() |
February 7, 1945 | Korneuburg | ![]() |
February 7, 1945 | Lobau | The 32 BS bombed the Lobau oil refinery. |
February 7, 1945 | Moosbierbaum oil refinery | ![]() |
February 7, 1945 | Schwechat oil refinery | ![]() |
February 8/9, 1945 | Moosbierbaum | ![]() |
February 14, 1945 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
February 14, 1945 | Lobau | ![]() |
February 14, 1945 | Moosbierbaum | ![]() |
February 14, 1945 | Schwechat | ![]() |
February 15, 1945 | Korneuburg | ![]() |
February 20, 1944 | Schwechat | ![]() |
February 20, 1945 | Lobau | ![]() |
March 1, 1945 | Moosbierbaum | ![]() |
March 12, 1945 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
March 14, 1945 | During the briefing for bombing the Vienna oil refinery, the briefing officer told crews to avoid the St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Vienna State Opera, the Schönbrunn Palace and other historic buildings and schools. Due to weather, the alternate target (Wiener Neustadt marshaling yards) was bombed.[8]:228–9 | |
March 15, 1945 | [Expand] | ![]() |
March 16, 1945 | Floridsdorf | ![]() |
March 16, 1945 | Korneuburg | ![]() |
March 16, 1945 | Moosbierbaum | ![]() |
March 1945 (mid) | 300 bombs were dropped on the Tiergarten Schönbrunn, the world's oldest zoo. 2,000 animals out of 3,500 died including a bull rhino, a favourite of the zoo-keepers. | |
March 16, 1945 | Schwechat | ![]() |
March 20, 1945 | [Expand] | ![]() |
March 21, 1945 | ![]() | |
March 21, 1945 | Floridsdorf | The 32 BS bombed. |
March 22, 1945 | ![]() | |
March 23, 1945 | ![]() | |
April 12, 1945 | After having burned from a fire looters set to local shops on April 11, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna was hit by 22-ton bombs which shattered on the floor of the church. | |
April 16, 1945 | ![]() |
"The advances of our ground forces have brought to a close the strategic air war waged by the United States Strategic Air Forces and the Royal Air Force Bomber Command." (Spaatz dispatch to Doolittle and Twining).[11] |
References
- 1 2 Bremen, Vienna, Budapest get fierce mass air raid by William Dickinson, British United Press, 5 September 1942
- ↑ "Campaign Diary". Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. UK Crown. Archived from the original on 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
1944: January, February March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December Archived June 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
1945 January, February, March, April - ↑ McKillop, Jack. "Combat Chronology of the USAAF". Retrieved 2007-05-25.
1944: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1945: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September - ↑ Mission histories for Bombardment Groups:
- 301 BG/"32 BS": Thompson, Boyd. "301st Bomb Group Mission Summary of the: 32nd, 352nd, 353rd and 419th Bomb Squadrons". 32nd Bomb Squadron, 1942 -1945. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- "461 BG": "Chapter IX Target: German Oil, June 1944.". 461st.org.
- "464 BG": "Our Missions: The 464 BG Mission List".
- "486 BG": "Prologue: The Stories Behind the Numbers". Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- "487 BG": "487th Bomb Group (H): Combat Missions". Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- 301 BG/"32 BS": Thompson, Boyd. "301st Bomb Group Mission Summary of the: 32nd, 352nd, 353rd and 419th Bomb Squadrons". 32nd Bomb Squadron, 1942 -1945. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- 1 2 Polk, David (December 1991). World War II Army Airborne Troop Carriers. Turner Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-56311-040-5. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
- ↑ http://libraryautomation.com/nymas/usaaf7.html
- ↑ Griehl, Manfred; Dressel, Joachim (1998). Heinkel He 177-277-274. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing. p. 170. ISBN 1-85310-364-0.
- 1 2 Ambrose, Stephen E. (2001). The Wild Blue: The Men and boys who flew the B-24s over Germany. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 162,228–9. ISBN 0-7432-0339-9.
- 1 2 3 "Meeting No. 45/6" (pdf). Enemy Oil Intelligence Committee. February 6, 1945. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
- "Memorandum": 19 of pdf.
- "Minutes": 20 of pdf.
- "Annex": 27 of pdf.
- "Weekly Survey No. 31". Economic Advisory Branch. 2 February 1945: 32 of pdf.
- "Table I, Estimated Output …". 6 February 1945: 33 of pdf.
- "Table II …". 6 February 1945: 34 of pdf.
- "Table III Output Production Status …": 35–7 of pdf.
- ↑ Twining, Nathan (Foreword) (February 1945). "Attack on Vienna/Lobau Oil Refinery: 20 February 1945". Lobau Oil Refinery. Fifteenth Air Force (available at USAHEC). Retrieved 2009-03-11.
UNCLASSIFIED [from SECRET] … on 9 Feb 88
- ↑ Jablonski, Edward (1971). Volume 1 (Tragic Victories), Book II (The Big League). Airpower. pp. 115–6.