Very soon we will once again celebrate the most important holiday for our country - Victory Day. The St. George Ribbon campaign has already started, and on the day of the celebration we will see the Victory Parade and the traditional Immortal Regiment campaign will take place. How our city lived in these difficult days and what contribution the Gorky people made to the Victory.

The beginning of the war and the bombing of Gorky

Gorky residents learned about the beginning of the war on June 22, 1941, a few hours after the enemy's invasion. First on the radio, then from the Gorky Commune newspaper. On Sovetskaya Square (now Minin and Pozharsky Square) a rally of many thousands took place, at which the secretary of the Gorky Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Ivan Mikhailovich Guryev, spoke to the audience. Crowded rallies and meetings swept like a wave throughout the region. Mobilization was announced the next day, but only on the 22nd, on the first day of the war, about 10 thousand people throughout the region, without waiting for summons from the military registration and enlistment offices, applied to join the army.

Of course, we all know that the front line did not pass through the city and no hostilities were conducted, but the city of Gorky deserves the title of "city - hero of labor", because here every second car, every third tank and every fourth artillery installation was created for the needs of the front.

Of course, one should not forget about the bombing of the main industries and industrial areas of the city by German aircraft. The main purpose of the bombing in the period from autumn 1941 to summer 1943 was the destruction of the industrial potential of the city, the Gorky Automobile Plant received the most damage. During the war, enemy bombers made 43 raids, 26 of which were at night, during which 33,934 incendiary bombs and 1,631 high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city. Gorky's bombings became the largest air strikes of the Luftwaffe on the rear areas of the USSR during the war years.

The city came to the attention of the Germans even during the development of Operation Barbarossa to defeat the USSR. He was then one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of weapons to the Red Army. The complete capture of Gorky and its transfer under its control was planned by Nazi Germany in the second half of September 1941. First, the Nazis had to destroy the city's defense industry - the Gorky Automobile Plant, the Lenin Plant, as well as the Sokol, Krasnoye Sormovo and Engine Revolution factories. The Gorky Machine-Building Plant was planned to be re-equipped for the production of German military equipment.

On October 31, 1941, I.V. Stalin's order came to the automobile plant that it was necessary to sharply increase the production of T-60 light tanks and bring it up to 10 tanks a day in the next 2-3 days. And after 5 days, on the night of November 4-5, 1941, the first enemy air raid on the city was made. Groups of Heinkel-111 and Junkers-88 bombers took part in it, up to 150 aircraft in total. Of this number, 11 aircraft broke through to the city.

It was a chilly and overcast November night. Stretched out on the banks of the Oka and immersed in darkness, Gorky lived the daily life of a rear city. Tens of thousands of residents slept in their unheated houses and barracks, while others worked in the many cold shops of military factories. Their gloomy gray hulls, with boarded and plywood windows, stood out dimly against the monotonous landscape. People were in alarm - the enemy is standing near Moscow.

Air bombing: how it was

A German bomber was approaching Gorky from the southwest at a low altitude. The crew of the Heinkel was in suspense. The navigator carefully peered into the clearly distinguishable silhouette of the Oka, anticipating that the contours of the rear city hidden in the darkness were about to appear. On the port side flashed the gloomy outlines of the chemical plants of Dzerzhinsk. This meant that the target was about 20 km away. And now, on the left bank, numerous spots of residential areas appeared, and then the dark bulk of an automobile plant with dozens of chimneys ...

The clock was 01.40 November 4 local time, when three powerful explosions rocked the GAZ. One bomb fell into the engine shop No. 2 on the line of crankshafts, the second exploded outside, another bomb landed in the corner of the opposite wheel shop, where the electrode section and the garage were located. Further, the plant turned into a disturbed anthill. And above the engine shop, the flames flared up more and more, ominously illuminating neighboring buildings. The authorities rushed to the phones in order to quickly report the bombing to the regional committee.

In the meantime, a second bomber was approaching the city from the southwest, which, due to cloudy weather, again went unnoticed by the VNOS posts. At 02.15 "Heinkel" reached the target, which was already clearly indicated by the bright flames of the fire. The German pilot aimed at the new body building, where T-60 light tanks were assembled. When the dark gray bulk of the building appeared in the crosshairs of the sight, the navigator pressed the reset button and two 500-kg bombs rushed down with a howl. However, this time the calculation turned out to be wrong. One bomb fell undershot, and the second overshot, already at the tram stop behind the plant. A powerful blast wave shattered windows in the wheel shop, spare parts department, KEO and other buildings. The roar of the explosions was heard at a great distance, and many residents of the city, waking up, ran out into the street, where their eyes saw the bright glow of a fire at an automobile plant. It became clear to everyone that the war had really come to Gorky.

At 16.40 another Heinkel appeared. The bomber came from a southerly direction, from the direction of the village of Ankudinovka, and flew low over the railway. The twin-engine colossus roared over Myza station. Some residents even managed to see a huge bomb suspended under the fuselage. Suddenly emerging from behind a mountainous coast, the plane flew over the Oka River and from a gentle dive dropped a “cargo” onto the Engine of the Revolution plant. The strongest explosion thundered in the building of the power station of the enterprise, in which there were steam boilers, diesel, compressor and transformer substations. Workers who were in neighboring workshops fell to the floor from the concussion, then a real rain fell down on them from fragments of glass of skylights.

The bomber, meanwhile, flew to the center of Gorky, inspecting local attractions. Over the Kremlin, he made a "lap of honor" and then disappeared. Unfortunately, on that day, the Kremlin defenses were not yet ready. An employee of the regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Anna Aleksandrovna Korobova, after that, recalled: “During a break between meetings, we went outside and to our horror saw a black plane with a swastika, describing a circle over the Kremlin. At the same time, the pilot leaned out of the cockpit and even waved to us! After that, we returned to the building and were informed that they had just bombed the plant. Lenin, its director Kuzmin died ... "

After the first bombardments, urgent measures were taken to transfer additional anti-aircraft guns and ammunition to the automobile plant area, communications and the fire control system were improved. Changed the scheme of barrage fire. Two lines of curtains were created in the directions of German aviation operations at a distance of 2-3 and 6-7 kilometers from the car factory, machine guns were installed on the roofs of the workshops for firing at low-flying aircraft. Subsequent raids met in a more organized way, on the way to Gorky. A total of 14 aircraft were shot down, of which 8 by anti-aircraft batteries, 6 by fighters (according to other sources, 23 were shot down, about 210 were damaged).

The next massive raids took place in February 1942, as a result of these bombings 20 people were killed and 48 were injured, the damage to industrial facilities was insignificant. Then the bombing raids went on in June. At that time, the Germans began to raid other cities in the Volga region. The air defense forces were then significantly strengthened. The gunboats of the Volga flotilla were allocated for the defense of bridges, ships and piers. Since that time, air barrier balloons have been used.

Continued bombing in 1943 and restoration of the car factory

In June 1943, after a long lull, Gorky, especially the car factory, was subjected to a series of massive night raids by German aircraft. The raids were carried out in preparation for a major offensive operation in the summer-autumn of 1943, during which bombings were carried out on the industrial centers of the Volga region - Yaroslavl, Gorky, Saratov.

Despite the active interest of the Abwehr (body of military intelligence and counterintelligence of Germany - approx. ed.) in 1919-1944 to the Gorky defense industry, yet the German command did not have absolutely accurate information about our military plants. They considered GAZ the main plant of Soviet tank products, which produces 800 T-34 tanks every week. That is why the task was set on the eve of the Battle of Kursk to wipe the car factory off the face of the earth. They bombed with German precision: in an organized manner, according to the same scheme, at the same time of day, along the same route. Every evening, the residents of Gorky watched with fear as the hands of the clock approached midnight.

They flew in from day to day in batches of 150-200 aircraft, starting from 00.00 and until 3 in the morning. Dropped lighting fixtures on parachutes and bombed. It was bright as day. The factory, workshops, buildings were on fire. Bombs exploded here and there. The main cargo conveyor was destroyed to the ground.

But, people, hungry, exhausted, poorly dressed, created a miracle, and within one month they restored everything. Restoration work began already during the bombing and continued at an increasing pace. Construction and installation teams were involved from Moscow, the Urals, Siberia, and Central Asia. The total number of employees reached 35 thousand. First of all, the wheel shop was launched. And the machines needed by the front again began to roll off the assembly line. October 28, 1943 is considered the official date for the restoration of the Gorky Automobile Plant, on this day a report was sent to I.V. Stalin, which was signed by 27 thousand builders.

For the early liquidation of the consequences of enemy air raids, for the successful fulfillment of the tasks of the State Defense Committee for mastering the production of new types of combat vehicles and weapons, for the improvement of military equipment and the exemplary supply of military products to the front, the plant was awarded the second order on March 9, 1944 - the Order of the Red Banner. More than 500 workers, engineers, technicians were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union.

On March 10, 1945, American aircraft literally razed Tokyo to the ground. The purpose of the attack was to persuade Japan to peace, but the Land of the Rising Sun did not even think of capitulating. Alexey Durnovo about the worst bombing of World War II.

Everyone knows the tragic fate of Dresden, which the Allied aviation literally turned into ruins. A month after the first attack on Dresden, Tokyo repeated the fate of the German city. The events of March 10, 1945 are perceived in modern Japan with about the same pain as the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is also a national tragedy.

Tokyo bombing claims 100,000 lives

background

Japan has been attacked by American aircraft since the spring of 1942. But, for the time being, the bombings were not particularly effective. The US warplanes were based in China, they had to travel long distances to attack, and therefore the bombers had a limited warhead on board. In addition, Japan's air defense forces for the time being coped with US air attacks. The situation changed after the US captured the Marianas. Thus, three new American air bases appeared on the islands of Guam and Saipan. For Japan, this was more than a serious threat. Guam is separated from Tokyo by approximately one and a half thousand kilometers. And since 1944, the United States has been in service with B-29 strategic bombers, capable of carrying a large warhead and covering up to six thousand kilometers. The Andersen base, located on Guam, was considered by the United States military command as an ideal springboard for attacks on Japan.

Tokyo after the bombing

New tactics

Initially, the US target was Japanese industrial enterprises. The problem was that Japan, unlike Germany, did not build giant complexes. The strategic munitions factory could very well be located in a small wooden hangar in the center of a major city.

It was not so much a blow to production as a psychological attack.

In order to destroy such an enterprise, it was necessary to inflict considerable damage on the city itself, which inevitably involved a large number of civilian casualties. It must be said that the American command saw considerable benefit in this. Destroy a strategic object, and at the same time inflict a psychological blow on the enemy, forcing him to capitulate.

The planning for the strategic bombing of Japan was entrusted to General Curtis LeMay, who developed a truly murderous tactic. The general drew attention to the fact that Japanese air defenses were weak in the dark, and night fighters were almost absent in the arsenal of the Empire. This is how the plan of night bombing of Japanese cities from low altitudes (one and a half to two kilometers) arose.

334 B-29 bombers literally razed Tokyo to the ground

The planes flew in three lines and dropped incendiary shells and napalm every fifteen meters. Already the first raid on Kobe in February 1945 showed the extreme effectiveness of this tactic. The next target was Tokyo, which was attacked by American bombers on the night of February 23rd-24th. 174 B-29 aircraft damaged a dozen industrial enterprises, and the napalm itself caused a huge fire. As it turned out, it was only a rehearsal.

These charred buildings were the seat of government

Tokyo

The list of targets for attacks included 66 Japanese cities. But even against the backdrop of all the other bombings, the March raid on Tokyo looks like something extraordinary. 334 bombers took part in Operation Meetinghouse (House of Prayer). Twice as much as usual. The planes rained down on the city one and a half thousand tons of incendiary shells and napalm. The main blow was taken by the center of Tokyo, but the bombing caused a severe fire, and he, in turn, a fiery tornado. The flame spread to residential areas and rapidly spread throughout the city. In conditions of strong wind, it was impossible to put out the fire. City fire services were unable to stop the fire, which lasted more than a day. The fire burned 330,000 houses. Nearly half of Tokyo's population was left homeless. The movement of transport was completely paralyzed, as well as any production in the territory of the Japanese capital. At least 100,000 people became victims of the attack, although the exact number of casualties is unknown to this day.

The bodies of those killed in the bombing of Tokyo

Effects

The American command believed that the ruthless bombardment of Tokyo would force Japan out of the war. It was this plan that made the raid on the capital possible at all. Curtis LeMay later admitted that the bombing of Tokyo was strongly opposed by Harry Truman, who at that time was still only Vice President of the United States. However, Truman did not then have a strong influence on the US military. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he did not even know about the Manhattan project. Franklin Roosevelt did not inform him of many other strategic decisions. As for the command of the headquarters, it continually offered to replace Tokyo with Yokohama, Kyoto or Hiroshima. But, in the end, it was decided to attack Tokyo, because the loss of the capital, as the command believed, would have a shocking effect on the Emperor and the government of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Despite monstrous losses, Hirohito refused to surrender

This effect has not been achieved. On March 11, Hirohito visited the devastated Tokyo. The emperor wept when he saw the smoking ruins where the city had been in bloom. However, the US offer of surrender, which followed a few days later, was ignored by Japan. Moreover, the air defense of the Land of the Rising Sun was ordered to take all possible measures to prevent night raids. On May 26, American bombers returned to again bring down napalm and land mines on Tokyo. This time they met with fierce resistance. If in March the American squadron lost 14 aircraft, then in May it was already 28. Forty more bombers were damaged.

Burning Tokyo. May 1945

The command considered these losses critical and curtailed the bombing of Tokyo. It is believed that it was after this that the decision was made to launch a nuclear attack on Japanese cities.

In 1943, simultaneously with offensive operations in the Mediterranean theater of operations, the Allies carried out aerial bombardments of Nazi Germany.

The directive of the Anglo-American Joint Chiefs of Staff of January 21, 1943, stated that the main task of the air offensive was the progressive destruction and disorganization of the military, industrial and economic system of Germany and the undermining of the morale of the German people to such an extent that their ability to armed resistance will sharply weaken (1096).

The task of aviation, of paramount importance and priority, was to destroy and destroy all the most important shipyards where German submarines were built. Further, aircraft factories, means of transport, oil refineries and enterprises for the production of synthetic fuel and other "objects of the enemy's military industry" were subject to bombardment.

Air strikes against Germany were planned to be carried out by the joint efforts of US and British aviation. The American Air Force aimed at the destruction of individual important military and industrial installations by means of targeted daytime bombing, the British aviation - at the commission of massive night raids using area bombing.

The fulfillment of these tasks was entrusted to the British Bomber Command (commanded by Air Chief Marshal A. Harris) and the American 8th Air Force (commanded by General A. Eaker). In April 1943, Bomber Command had 38 heavy and 14 medium bomber squadrons, totaling 851 heavy and 237 medium bombers. The American 8th Air Force had 337 heavy bombers and 231 aircraft in tactical aviation formations.

Although military targets were indicated in the orders and directives for air strikes, in practice, according to A. Harris, who led the bombing of Germany, the main targets of the raids were cities and especially their central parts. "We have always considered a ruined enterprise in the city as an additional good luck" (1097) . The report of the Office for the Study of the Results of Strategic Bombing said: “It was believed that the raids on cities were a means to undermine the morale of German citizens. It was believed that if it was possible to influence the morale of industrial workers, if it was possible to distract them from work in factories and take up other matters, for example, taking care of families, repairing their damaged houses ... then German military production would suffer damage ”(1098) . An example of the tactics chosen by the Allies is the massive raid by British bombers on Wuppertal on the night of May 30, 1943, when about 90 percent of the built-up part of the city was destroyed (1099) .

From March 6 to June 29, 1943, Bomber Command authorized 26 massive raids on the cities of the Ruhr, during which the Allies dropped 34,705 tons of bombs, while losing 628 aircraft. In addition, in March - April 1943, three massive raids were carried out on Berlin, four on Wilhelmshaven, two each on Hamburg, Nuremberg and Stuttgart, and one each on Bremen, Kiel, Stettin, Munich, Frankfurt am Main and Mannheim. On the night of May 17, 1943, British bombers destroyed the dams on the Mene, Eder and Sorpe rivers.

The actions of American aviation were limited. On April 4, the US 8th Air Force bombed the Renault factories in Paris with 85 aircraft. On April 5, she raided Antwerp. On May 14, 126 American heavy bombers bombed Kiel.

In the spring of 1943, raids on Germany were carried out without fighter escort, since their range was insufficient. At the same time, the German Air Force received Focke-Wulf-190A aircraft with improved weapons, as well as a Messerschmitt-110 night fighter. Using improved radar sights, German fighters inflicted significant damage on allied aircraft both day and night.

To reduce the loss of aircraft, the allied command revised the sequence of bombing targets. On May 18, 1943, the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved the Plan for a Combined Bombardment Offensive from the British Isles, codenamed Pointblank. This plan formed the basis of a directive of June 10, 1943, according to which the main task of the air force was the destruction of German fighters and the destruction of industrial enterprises associated with their production. “Until this is achieved,” the directive stated, “our bomber aviation will not be able to fulfill the tasks assigned to it” (1100). The main role in the implementation of the Pointblank plan was assigned to the American 8th Air Force.

According to the plan, the combined bombing offensive consisted of four stages. At the first stage (it ended in July), the main objects were to become submarine shipyards. On the second (August - September) - the main efforts were concentrated on the areas of basing of fighter aircraft and factories producing fighters. During this time, the number of heavy bombers was supposed to be increased to 1192. On the third (October - December) - it was planned to continue the destruction of German fighter aircraft and other means of conducting armed struggle. By January 1944 it was planned to have 1746 heavy bombers. The tasks of the last stage (January - March 1944) boiled down mainly to ensuring preparations for the invasion of the allied forces on the continent. By March 31, the number of heavy bombers was to increase to 2702 (1101).

In July 1943, British bomber aircraft made raids on Cologne, Aachen, Essen and Wilhelmshaven. A special place among the bombing of German cities by Anglo-American aviation was occupied by raids on Hamburg carried out from July 25 to August 3, 1943. 3095 aircraft participated in these raids, of which 2630 reached the target and dropped 8621 tons of bombs on the city. Allied losses amounted to 87 bombers (1102).

In August, Berlin, Mannheim, Nuremberg, as well as the Italian cities of Turin and Milan were bombed. On the night of August 18, about 600 aircraft dropped 1,937 tons of bombs on the experimental missile weapons center in Peenemünde.

From the autumn of 1943, aerial bombardment became more and more subordinated to preparations for the Allied invasion of France. In the "Air Offensive" section of the final report of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the "Quadrant" conference on August 24, 1943, it was stated: aviation by conducting a combined air offensive from all bases of convenience are a prerequisite for the conduct of Operation Overlord (if the Russians alone do not achieve a complete victory before the start of this operation). Therefore, due to the special strategic importance of the air offensive, it still needs to be given the greatest attention ”(1103) .

During the last ten days of August, three raids were carried out on Berlin, as a result of which the areas of Siemens-Stadt, Mariendorf and Lichtenfelde were heavily destroyed. Having lost 125 aircraft during the raids, the Bomber Command temporarily stopped raids on the capital of the Reich. In September, it carried out two massive raids on Mannheim, in October - the bombing of Hanover, Kassel and Düsseldorf.

In the autumn of 1943, the American 8th Air Force attacked mainly cities located in the depths of Germany. She suffered heavy losses. For example, on October 14, 1943, during the bombing of Schweinfurt by 388 American heavy bombers, 60 aircraft were lost. “The truth was,” American historians stated, “that the 8th Air Army for some time lost air superiority over Germany” (1104).

In mid-November, raids on Berlin resumed. On the night of November 19, 402 bombers dropped 1,593 tons of bombs on the city. Losses amounted to 9 aircraft (1105).

When carrying out aerial bombardments, the allied command tried in various ways to mislead the enemy as to the true objects of the attack. So, for example, the routes of the bombers were chosen in such a way as to give the impression that they were flying in the direction of a certain object. But at the very last moment, the planes suddenly changed course and went to their real goal. Such a maneuver, carried out by aviation, often confused the operators of the control and guidance posts of German fighters.

Both the American Eighth Army, and especially the British Bomber Command, adhered to the plan of the air offensive against Germany only in its general outline. Instead of raids on important military-industrial facilities, English aviation concentrated its main efforts on the bombardment of the largest cities in Germany (1106). Air Chief Marshal Harris stated on 7 December 1943 that "By the end of October 1943, 167,230 tons of bombs had been dropped on 38 major cities in Germany, destroying about 8,400 hectares of built-up area, which represented 25 percent of the total area of ​​cities subjected to air attack" (1107) . However, the destruction of housing estates did not and could not lead to a decrease in the output of military products.

This conclusion was made by the English historian A. Verrier, who writes in his book “The Bomber Offensive”: “We now know that the German heavy industry and the main production facilities did not suffer serious damage in 1943. Despite the devastation of the Ruhr, metallurgical and other industries continued to operate; there was no shortage of machinery; there was no severe shortage of raw materials” (1108) . Another English historian, A. Taylor, supports his conclusion that the air offensive against Germany did not justify the hopes placed on it, backing it up with specific data. “In 1942,” he writes, “the British dropped 48,000 tons of bombs; the Germans produced 36,804 weapons (heavy guns, tanks and aircraft). In 1943 the British and Americans dropped 207,600 tons of bombs; the Germans fired 71,693 weapons" (1109) .

Neither the British Bomber Command, nor the command of the 8th American Air Force, by the end of 1943, managed to fully fulfill the tasks envisaged by the Point Blank plan.

The offensive of the Anglo-American troops in Italy and the aerial bombardment of Germany in 1943 did not lead to the results that the allied command had hoped for. Churchill's assurances that significant Wehrmacht forces would be pinned down in Italy and this would provide significant assistance to the Soviet Army were not confirmed (1110). The fascist German command sent a small number of troops to Italy, and then mainly from France. In September, there were only 17.5 German divisions in Italy, while there were 221 divisions on the Soviet-German front. The diversion of allied forces for operations in Italy led to a prolongation of the war in Europe.

The counteroffensive near Kursk, and then the general strategic offensive of the Soviet Army, deprived the Nazi command of the opportunity to change the course of events in Italy. The heroic struggle of the Soviet people made it much easier for the Anglo-American troops to conduct operations in Sicily and on the Apennine Peninsula.

The armed forces of the United States and Britain, operating in Europe, made their contribution to the common cause of the struggle against the Hitlerite coalition. Italy's withdrawal from the war weakened the forces of the fascist bloc.

During the landing of troops in Sicily and in the Salerno region, as well as subsequent actions in Italy, the Anglo-American armies gained experience in preparing and conducting landing operations and offensives from captured bridgeheads. The number of formations that have received combat hardening in the battles has increased. The command and personnel had more confidence in the success of the armed struggle against the Wehrmacht.

It is now known for certain that during the Second World War, Anglo-American aircraft deliberately bombed peaceful German cities. The statistics of the consequences of the “air war” give the following data: in all age groups, losses among women exceed those among men by approximately 40%, the number of dead children is also very high - 20% of all losses, losses among older ages are 22%. Of course, these figures do not mean that only the Germans became victims of the war. The world remembers Auschwitz, Majdanek, Buchenwald, Mauthausen and another 1,650 concentration camps and ghettos, the world remembers Khatyn and Babi Yar... It's about something else. How did the Anglo-American methods of warfare differ from the German ones, if they also led to the mass death of the civilian population?

Churchill's go-ahead

If you compare pictures of the lunar landscape with photographs of the space that was left of the German city of Wesel after the bombing of 1945, then it will be difficult to distinguish between them. Mountains of uplifted earth, interspersed with thousands of huge bomb craters, are very reminiscent of lunar craters. It is impossible to believe that people lived here. Wesel was one of 80 German target cities subjected to total bombardment by Anglo-American aircraft between 1940 and 1945. How did this “air” war, in fact, a war with the population, start?

Let us turn to the previous documents and individual "programmatic" statements of the first persons of the states that participated in the Second World War.

At the time of the German invasion of Poland - September 1, 1939 - the entire world community knew the document "Rules of War", developed by the participants in the Washington Conference on Arms Limitation in 1922. It says literally the following: “Aerial bombardments for the purpose of terrorizing the civilian population, or destroying and damaging private property of a non-military nature, or causing harm to persons not taking part in hostilities, are prohibited” (Article 22, Part II).

Moreover, on September 2, 1939, the British, French and German governments announced that "strictly military targets in the narrowest sense of the word" would be bombed.

Six months after the outbreak of war, speaking in the House of Commons on February 15, 1940, the British Prime Minister Chamberlain confirmed the earlier statement: “Whatever others do, our government will never meanly attack women and other civilians just to to terrorize them."

As a result, the humane concept of the leadership of Great Britain lasted only until May 10, 1940 - the day Winston Churchill came to the post of Prime Minister after the death of Chamberlain. The next day, at his go-ahead, the British pilots began to bomb Freiburg. Assistant Secretary of Air J. M. Speight commented on this event as follows: “We (the British) began bombing targets in Germany before the Germans began bombing targets in the British Isles. This is a historical fact that has been publicly acknowledged ... But since we doubted the psychological impact that the propaganda distortion of the truth that it was we who launched the strategic offensive could have, we did not have the courage to publicize our great decision taken in May 1940. We should have announced it, but of course we made a mistake. This is a great solution." According to the well-known English historian and military theorist John Fuller, then “it was at the hands of Mr. Churchill that the fuse went off, which caused an explosion - a war of devastation and terror, unprecedented since the Seljuk invasion.”

After eight British raids on German cities, the Luftwaffe bombed London in September 1940 and Coventry on 14 November. According to the author of the book "Air War in Germany", Major General Hans Rumpf, it is this raid on the center of the British aircraft engine industry that is considered to be the beginning of an all-out air war. Then, in addition to the plant, half of the city buildings were destroyed to the ground, several hundred civilians died. Official German propaganda called this raid a "giant aerial bombardment," which greatly helped the official British propaganda, which accused the Luftwaffe of "barbarism." After that, the German bombing stopped somewhat, and the British, until the beginning of 1942, were engaged in so-called "precision" bombing, which was carried out mainly at night. The impact of these raids on the German economy was extremely insignificant - the production of weapons not only did not decrease, but also steadily increased.

British bomber aviation was in a clear crisis. In August 1941, Cabinet Secretary D. Butt presented a report proving the absolute ineffectiveness of bomber raids that year. In November, Churchill was even forced to order Bomber Commander Sir Richard Percy to limit the number of raids as much as possible until the concept of using heavy bombers was worked out.

The Debut of the Possessed

Everything changed on February 21, 1942, when Air Marshal Arthur Harris became the new commander of the RAF Bomber. A lover of figurative expressions, he immediately promised to "bomb" Germany out of the war. Harris suggested abandoning the practice of destroying specific targets and bombing city squares. In his opinion, the destruction of cities should undoubtedly undermine the spirit of the civilian population, and above all the workers of industrial enterprises.

The use of bombers thus underwent a complete revolution. Now they have become an independent tool of war, not requiring interaction with anyone. Harris, with all his indomitable energy, began to turn bomber aircraft into a huge machine of destruction. He quickly established iron discipline and demanded the unquestioning and prompt execution of all his orders. "Tightening the screws" was not to everyone's taste, but this was the least of Harris's worries - he felt the powerful support of Prime Minister Churchill. The new commander categorically demanded that the government provide him with 4,000 heavy four-engine bombers and 1,000 high-speed Mosquito-type fighter-bombers. This would give him the opportunity to keep up to 1 thousand aircraft over Germany every night. With great difficulty, the ministers of the "economic" bloc managed to prove to the frantic marshal the absurdity of his demands. English industry simply could not cope with their implementation in the foreseeable future, if only because of the lack of raw materials.

So on the first "raid of a thousand bombers", which took place on the night of May 30-31, 1942, Harris sent everything he had: not only a few Lancasters, but also Halifaxes, Stirlings, Blenheims , Wellingtons, Hampdens and Whitleys. In total, the diverse armada consisted of 1,047 vehicles. At the end of the raid, 41 aircraft (3.9% of the total) did not return to their bases. This level of loss alarmed many then, but not Harris. Subsequently, among the British Air Force, the losses of bomber aircraft were always the largest.

The first "thousand raids" did not lead to noticeable practical results, and this was not required. The raids were of a "combat training" nature: according to Marshal Harris, it was necessary to create the necessary theoretical basis for bombing and reinforce it with flight practice.

The whole of 1942 passed in such "practical" exercises. In addition to German cities, the British bombed the industrial sites of the Ruhr several times, targets in Italy - Milan, Turin and La Spezia, as well as German submarine bases in France.

Winston Churchill assessed this period of time as follows: “Although we gradually achieved the accuracy we needed so much at night, the German military industry and the moral strength of the resistance of its civilian population were not broken by the bombing of 1942.”

As for the socio-political resonance in England regarding the first bombings, for example, Lord Salisbury and Bishop George Bell of Chichester repeatedly condemned such a strategy. They expressed their opinion both in the House of Lords and in the press, focusing the attention of the military leadership and society as a whole on the fact that strategic bombing of cities cannot be justified from a moral point of view or according to the laws of war. But such sorties nevertheless continued.

In the same year, the first formations of American Boeing B-17 and Flying Fortress heavy bombers arrived in England. At that time, these were the best strategic bombers in the world both in terms of speed and altitude, and in terms of armament. 12 Browning heavy machine guns gave the crew of the Fortress a good chance to fight off German fighters. Unlike the British, the American command relied on targeted bombing in daylight. It was assumed that no one could break through the powerful barrage fire of hundreds of B-17s flying in close formation. The reality turned out to be different. Already in the first "training" raids on France, the squadrons of the "Fortresses" suffered significant losses. It became clear that no result could be achieved without strong fighter cover. But the Allies were not yet able to produce long-range fighters in sufficient numbers, so that the bomber crews had to rely mainly on themselves. In this way, aviation operated until January 1943, when the Allied conference was held in Casablanca, where the main points of strategic interaction were determined: to military resistance.

On June 2, speaking in the House of Commons, Churchill declared: "I can report that this year German cities, harbors and centers of war industry will be subjected to such a huge, continuous and cruel test that no country has experienced." The commander of the British bomber aviation was instructed: "Start the most intensive bombing of industrial targets in Germany." Subsequently, Harris wrote about it this way: "Practically I got the freedom to bomb any German city with a population of 100 thousand people or more." Without delaying the matter, the English marshal planned a joint air operation with the Americans against Hamburg, the second most populous city in Germany. This operation was called "Gomorrah". Its goal was the complete destruction of the city and its reduction to dust.

Monuments to barbarism

In late July - early August 1943, 4 night and 3 day massive raids were carried out on Hamburg. In total, about 3,000 Allied heavy bombers took part in them. During the first raid on July 27, from one in the morning, 10,000 tons of explosives, mainly incendiary and high-explosive bombs, were dropped on densely populated areas of the city. For several days, a firestorm raged in Hamburg, and a column of smoke reached a height of 4 km. Even the pilots felt the smoke of the burning city, it penetrated into the cockpits of aircraft. According to eyewitnesses, asphalt and sugar stored in warehouses were boiling in the city, glass was melting in trams. Civilians burned alive, turning to ashes, or suffocated from poisonous gases in the basements of their own houses, trying to hide from the bombing. Or they were buried under the ruins. In the diary of the German Friedrich Reck, sent to Dachau by the Nazis, there are stories about people who fled from Hamburg in nothing but pajamas, lost their memory or became distraught with horror.

The city was half destroyed, more than 50 thousand of its inhabitants died, over 200 thousand were injured, burned and crippled.

To his old nickname "bomber" Harris added another - "Nelson of the air." So he was now called in the English press. But nothing pleased the marshal - the destruction of Hamburg could not decisively bring the final defeat of the enemy closer. Harris calculated that the simultaneous destruction of at least six of the largest German cities was required. And for this there was not enough strength. Justifying his "slow victories", he declared: "I can no longer hope that we will be able to defeat the largest industrial power in Europe from the air, if for this I am given at the disposal of only 600-700 heavy bombers."

British industry could not replace the losses of such aircraft as quickly as Harris wished. Indeed, in each raid, the British lost an average of 3.5% of the total number of participating bombers. At first glance, it seems to be a little, but after all, each crew had to make 30 sorties! If this amount is multiplied by the average percentage of losses, then we get 105% losses. Truly deadly math for pilots, scorers, navigators and shooters. Few of them survived the autumn of 1943

And here is the other side of the barricades. The famous German fighter pilot Hans Philipp described his feelings in battle as follows: “It was a joy to fight with two dozen Russian fighters or English Spitfires. And no one thought at the same time about the meaning of life. But when seventy huge "Flying Fortresses" fly at you, all your former sins stand before your eyes. And even if the lead pilot was able to gather his courage, then how much pain and nerves were needed to make every pilot in the squadron cope with himself, right down to the very newcomers. In October 43, during one of these attacks, Hans Philipp was shot down and killed. Many shared his fate.

Meanwhile, the Americans concentrated their main efforts on the destruction of important industrial facilities of the Third Reich. On August 17, 1943, 363 heavy bombers attempted to destroy ball bearing factories in the Schweinfurt area. But since there were no escort fighters, the losses during the operation were very serious - 60 "Fortresses". Further bombardments of the area were delayed for 4 months, during which the Germans were able to restore their factories. Such raids finally convinced the American command that it was no longer possible to send bombers without cover.

And three months after the failures of the allies - on November 18, 1943 - Arthur Harris began the "battle for Berlin". On this occasion, he said: "I want to incinerate this nightmarish city from end to end." The battle continued until March 1944. 16 massive raids were carried out on the capital of the Third Reich, during which 50 thousand tons of bombs were dropped. Almost half of the city turned into ruins, tens of thousands of Berliners died. “For fifty, a hundred, and perhaps more years, the ruined cities of Germany will stand as monuments to the barbarism of her conquerors,” Major General John Fuller wrote.

One German fighter pilot recalled: “I once saw a night raid from the ground. I stood in a crowd of other people in an underground metro station, the ground trembled with each explosion of bombs, women and children screamed, clouds of smoke and dust came through the mines. Anyone who did not experience fear and horror should have had a heart of stone." At that time, a joke was popular: who can be considered a coward? Answer: a resident of Berlin who volunteered for the front

But still, it was not possible to completely destroy the city, and Nelson Air came up with a proposal: “We can completely demolish Berlin if the American Air Force takes part. This will cost us 400-500 aircraft. The Germans will pay with defeat in the war." However, Harris's American colleagues did not share his optimism.

Meanwhile, dissatisfaction with the commander of the bomber aviation was growing in the British leadership. Harris's appetites increased so much that in March 1944, Secretary of War J. Grigg, presenting the army's budget draft to Parliament, said: “I take the liberty of saying that as many workers are employed in the manufacture of heavy bombers alone as in the implementation of the plan for the entire army ". At that time, 40-50% of British military production worked for one aviation, and to satisfy the ever-increasing demands of the main scorer meant to bleed the ground forces and navy. Because of this, the admirals and generals, to put it mildly, did not treat Harris too well, but he was still obsessed with the idea of ​​"bombing" Germany out of the war. But with this just nothing worked. In addition, in terms of losses, the spring of 1944 was the most difficult period for British bomber aircraft: on average, losses per flight reached 6%. On March 30, 1944, during a raid on Nuremberg, German night fighters and anti-aircraft gunners shot down 96 out of 786 aircraft. It was truly a "black night" for the Royal Air Force.

The British raids could not break the spirit of resistance of the population, and the American raids could not decisively reduce the output of German military products. All kinds of enterprises were dispersed, and strategically important factories were hidden underground. In February 1944, half of the German aircraft factories were subjected to air raids for several days. Some were destroyed to the ground, but production was quickly restored, and the factory equipment was moved to other areas. The production of aircraft continuously increased and reached its maximum in the summer of 1944.

In this regard, it is worth noting that in the post-war report of the American Office for the Study of the Results of Strategic Bombing there is a surprising fact: it turns out that in Germany there was a single plant for the production of dibromoethane - for ethyl liquid. The fact is that without this component, which is necessary in the production of aviation gasoline, not a single German aircraft would have flown. But, oddly enough, this plant was never bombed, just no one thought about it. But destroy it, the German aircraft factories could not be touched at all. They could produce thousands of planes that could only be rolled on the ground. Here is how John Fuller wrote about this: “If, in our technical age, soldiers and airmen do not think technically, they do more harm than good.”

under the curtain

In early 1944, the Allied Air Force's main problem was solved: Fortresses and Liberators were defending the excellent Thunderbolt and Mustang fighters in large numbers. Since that time, the losses of the Reich air defense fighter squadrons began to increase. There were fewer and fewer aces, and there was no one to replace them - the level of training of young pilots was depressingly low compared to the beginning of the war. This fact could not but reassure the allies. Nevertheless, it became increasingly difficult for them to prove the expediency of their "strategic" bombing: in 1944, the gross industrial output in Germany was steadily increasing. A new approach was needed. And he was found: the commander of US strategic aviation, General Carl Spaatz, proposed to focus on the destruction of synthetic fuel plants, and the chief marshal of British aviation Tedder insisted on the destruction of German railways. He argued that the bombing of transport is the most real opportunity to quickly disorganize the enemy.

As a result, it was decided to bomb the transport system first, and the fuel plants second. From April 1944 Allied bombing did become strategic for a short time. And against their background, the tragedy in the small town of Essen, located in East Frisia, went unnoticed. On the last day of September 1944, bad weather prevented American planes from reaching a military factory. On the way back, through a gap in the clouds, the pilots saw a small city and, in order not to return home with a full load, decided to get rid of it. The bombs hit the school exactly, burying 120 children under the rubble. It was half the children in the city. A small episode of the great air war... By the end of 1944, the German railway transport was practically paralyzed. The production of synthetic fuel fell from 316,000 tons in May 1944 to 17,000 tons in September. As a result, neither aviation nor tank divisions had enough fuel. A desperate German counter-offensive in the Ardennes in December of the same year bogged down in large part because they failed to capture Allied fuel supplies. The German tanks just stood up.

Carnage from friends in arms

In the autumn of 1944, the Allies faced an unexpected problem: there were so many heavy bombers and cover fighters that they lacked industrial targets: they couldn’t sit idle. And to the full satisfaction of Arthur Harris, not only the British, but also the Americans began to consistently destroy German cities. Berlin, Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Freiburg, Heilbronn were subjected to the strongest raids. The apogee of the massacre was the destruction of Dresden in mid-February 1945. At this time, the city was literally flooded with tens of thousands of refugees from the eastern regions of Germany. The massacre was started by 800 British bombers on the night of February 13-14. 650,000 incendiary and high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city center. During the day Dresden was bombed by 1,350 American bombers, the next day by 1,100. The city center was literally razed to the ground. In total, 27 thousand residential and 7 thousand public buildings were destroyed.

How many citizens and refugees died is still unknown. Immediately after the war, the US State Department reported 250,000 deaths. Now the generally accepted figure is ten times less - 25 thousand, although there are other figures - 60 and 100 thousand people. In any case, Dresden and Hamburg can be put on a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki: “When the fire from the burning buildings broke through the roofs, a column of hot air about six kilometers high and three kilometers in diameter rose above them ... Soon the air heated up to the limit, and all that could ignite, was engulfed in flames. Everything burned to the ground, that is, there were no traces of combustible materials, only two days later the temperature of the conflagration dropped so much that it was possible to at least approach the burnt area, ”an eyewitness testifies.

After Dresden, the British managed to bomb Würzburg, Bayreuth, Zoest, Ulm and Rothenburg - cities that have been preserved since the late Middle Ages. Only in one town of Pforzheim with a population of 60 thousand people during one air raid on February 22, 1945, a third of its inhabitants were killed. Klein Festung recalled that, being imprisoned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, he saw the reflections of the Pforzheim fire from the window of his cell - 70 kilometers away. Chaos settled on the streets of the destroyed German cities. The Germans, who love order and cleanliness, lived like cave dwellers, hiding in the ruins. Disgusting rats scurried around and fat flies circled.

In early March, Churchill urged Harris to end the "area" bombing. He literally said the following: “It seems to me that we need to stop the bombing of German cities. Otherwise, we will take control of an absolutely destroyed country.” Marshal was forced to comply.

"Guaranteed" peace

In addition to eyewitness accounts, the catastrophic consequences of such raids are confirmed by many documents, including the conclusion of a special commission of the victorious powers, which immediately after the surrender of Germany investigated the results of the bombing on the spot. With industrial and military facilities, everything was clear - no one expected a different result. But the fate of German cities and villages shocked the members of the commission. Then, almost immediately after the end of the war, the results of the "areal" bombing could not be hidden from the "general public". In England, a real wave of indignation arose against the recent "hero bombardiers", the protesters repeatedly demanded that they be brought to justice. In the United States, everything was treated quite calmly. But such information did not reach the broad masses of the Soviet Union, and it would hardly have become timely and understandable. There were so many of their own ruins and their own grief that it was up to someone else’s, to “fascist” - “so that it was empty for them all!” I didn't have the energy or the time.

How merciless this time is ... Literally after a few months after the war, her victims turned out to be useless. In any case, the first persons of the powers that defeated fascism were so preoccupied with the division of the victorious banner that, for example, Sir Winston Churchill hastened to officially disclaim responsibility for Dresden, for dozens of other German cities wiped off the face of the earth. As if nothing had happened and it was not he who personally made the decisions about the bombing. As if, when choosing the next victim city at the end of the war, the Anglo-American command was not guided by the criteria of "lack of military facilities" - "lack of air defense systems." The generals of the allied armies took care of their pilots and planes: why send them to where there is an air defense ring.

As for the hero of the war, and later the disgraced Marshal Arthur Harris, he immediately after the military battle began to write the book "Strategic Bombing". It came out already in 1947 and was sold in a fairly large circulation. Many were wondering how the "chief scorer" would justify himself. The author did not do this. On the contrary, he made it clear that he would not allow all responsibility to be dumped on himself. He did not repent of anything and did not regret anything. Here is how he understood his main task as commander of bomber aviation: “The main objects of the military industry should be looked for where they are in any country in the world, that is, in the cities themselves. It should be especially emphasized that, except in Essen, we never made any particular plant the object of the raid. We have always considered the ruined enterprise in the city as an additional good luck. Our main goal has always been the city center. All old German cities are most densely built up towards the center, and their outskirts are always more or less free from buildings. Therefore, the central part of the cities is especially sensitive to incendiary bombs.”

US Air Force General Frederick Anderson explained the concept of all-out raids this way: “Memories of the destruction of Germany will be passed from father to son, from son to grandson. This is the best guarantee that Germany will never start another war again." There were many such statements, and all of them seem even more cynical after reading the official American Strategic Bombing Report of September 30, 1945. This document, on the basis of research conducted at that time, says that the citizens of German cities lost their faith in a future victory, in their leaders, in the promises and propaganda to which they were subjected. Most of all they wanted the war to end.

They increasingly resorted to listening to “radio voices” (“black radio”), to discussing rumors and actually found themselves in opposition to the regime. As a result of this situation, a dissident movement began to grow in the cities: in 1944, one out of every thousand Germans was arrested for political crimes. If German citizens had the freedom to choose, they would have long ago ceased to participate in the war. However, under the conditions of a tough police regime, any manifestation of discontent meant: dungeons or death. Nevertheless, a study of official records and individual opinions shows that during the last period of the war, absenteeism increased and production declined, although large enterprises continued to work. Thus, no matter how dissatisfied the people of Germany were with the war, “they did not have the opportunity to openly express it,” the American report emphasizes.

Thus, the massive bombing of Germany as a whole was not strategic. They were only a few times. The military industry of the Third Reich was paralyzed only at the end of 1944, when the Americans bombed 12 factories producing synthetic fuel and disabled the road network. By this point, almost all major German cities had been aimlessly destroyed. According to Hans Rumpf, they took the brunt of the air raids and thus protected industrial enterprises until the very end of the war. “Strategic bombardments were aimed mainly at the destruction of women, children and the elderly,” emphasizes the major general. Out of a total of 955,044 thousand bombs dropped by the British on Germany, 430,747 tons fell on cities.

As for Churchill's decision on the moral terror of the German population, it was truly fatal: such raids not only did not contribute to victory, but even pushed it back.

However, for a long time after the war, many well-known participants continued to justify their actions. So, already in 1964, retired US Air Force Lieutenant General Ira Eaker spoke as follows: “I find it difficult to understand the British or Americans, weeping over the dead from the civilian population and not shedding a single tear over our valiant soldiers who died in battles with a cruel enemy. I deeply regret that British and American bombers killed 135,000 inhabitants of Dresden in a raid, but I do not forget who started the war, and I regret even more that more than 5 million lives were lost by the Anglo-American armed forces in a stubborn struggle for complete destruction of fascism.

English Air Marshal Robert Sondby was not so categorical: “No one will deny that the bombing of Dresden was a great tragedy. It was a terrible misfortune, such as sometimes happen in wartime, caused by a cruel set of circumstances. Those who authorized this raid did not act out of malice, not out of cruelty, although it is likely that they were too far from the harsh reality of military operations to fully understand the monstrous destructive power of aerial bombardments in the spring of 1945. Was the English air marshal really so naive as to justify the total destruction of German cities in this way. After all, it is “cities, not piles of ruins, that are the basis of civilization,” wrote the English historian John Fuller after the war.

You can't say better about the bombings.

The birth of the doctrine

The very use of the aircraft as a means of warfare was a truly revolutionary step at the beginning of the 20th century. The first bombers were clumsy and fragile-looking structures, and flying them to the target, even with a minimal bomb load, was not an easy task for pilots. There was no need to talk about the accuracy of hits. In the First World War, bomber aircraft did not gain much fame, unlike fighters or ground-based "wonder weapons" - tanks. Nevertheless, the “heavy” aviation had supporters and even apologists. In the period between the two world wars, perhaps the most famous of them was the Italian General Giulio Due.

In his writings, Douai tirelessly argued that one aircraft could win a war. The ground forces and the navy must play a subordinate role in relation to it. The army holds the front line and the navy defends the coast while the air force wins. First of all, cities should be bombed, and not factories and military installations, which are relatively easy to redeploy. Moreover, it is desirable to destroy cities in one raid, so that the civilian population does not have time to take out material values ​​​​and hide. It is necessary not so much to destroy as many people as possible, but to sow panic among them, to break them morally. Under these conditions, enemy soldiers at the front will think not about victory, but about the fate of their loved ones, which will undoubtedly affect their fighting spirit. To do this, it is necessary to develop bomber aviation, and not fighter, naval or any other. Well-armed bombers themselves are able to fight off enemy aircraft and deliver a decisive blow. Whoever has the most powerful aircraft will win.

The "radical" views of the Italian theorist were shared by very few. Most military experts believed that General Douai overdid it by absolutizing the role of military aviation. Yes, and calls for the destruction of the civilian population in the 20s of the last century were considered outright bad manners. But be that as it may, it was Giulio Due who was among the first to understand that aviation gave the war a third dimension. With his "light hand", the idea of ​​​​unrestricted air warfare firmly settled in the minds of some politicians and military leaders.

Losses in numbers

In Germany, bombings killed, according to various estimates, from 300 thousand to 1.5 million civilians. In France - 59 thousand killed and wounded, mainly from Allied raids, in England - 60.5 thousand, including victims from the actions of V-projectiles.

The list of cities in which the area of ​​destruction amounted to 50% or more of the total area of ​​buildings (oddly enough, only 40% fell to Dresden):

50% - Ludwigshafen, Worms
51% - Bremen, Hannover, Nuremberg, Remscheid, Bochum
52% - Essen, Darmstadt
53% - Cochem
54% - Hamburg, Mainz
55% - Neckarsulm, Soest
56% - Aachen, Münster, Heilbronn
60% - Erkelenz
63% - Wilhelmshaven, Koblenz
64% - Bingerbrück, Cologne, Pforzheim
65% - Dortmund
66% - Crailsheim
67% - Giessen
68% - Hanau, Kassel
69% - Düren
70% - Altenkirchen, Bruchsal
72% - Geilenkirchen
74% - Donauwörth
75% - Remagen, Würzburg
78% - Emden
80% - Prüm, Wesel
85% - Xanten, Zulpich
91% - Emmerich
97% - Julich

The total volume of the ruins was 400 million cubic meters. 495 architectural monuments were completely destroyed, 620 were so damaged that their restoration was either impossible or doubtful.

For the first time, German troops used the tactics of aviation terror - they began to bomb civilians, says Alexander Medved, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of History at the Russian State Humanitarian University:

“If at first they destroyed English radar stations, bombed airfields, then they switched to bombing cities, believing that in this way they could inflict moral and psychological damage, that is, reduce the will to resist. The first bombardments of cities were not massive enough. There dozens of planes participated. Therefore, the British themselves even began to laugh at the messages of the German radio: they bombed, London is on fire. Then it was decided to deliver a really powerful blow to London with the participation of about 600 bombers and about the same number of fighters. "

The bombing of London was accompanied by severe destruction and fires. Entire neighborhoods were wiped off the face of the earth, historical monuments were destroyed. There was an opinion that the Luftwaffe pilots deliberately did not touch St. Paul's Cathedral, since it served as their main landmark. But in fact, he was also very close to death. The bomb fell very close. Luckily it didn't break...

The east end of the British capital, the East End, where factories and docks were located, suffered the most. In Berlin, they hoped that by striking at the poor proletarian quarter, they would be able to split the English society. No wonder the wife of King George VI - Queen Mother Elizabeth - the next morning after the bombing of Buckingham Palace said: "Thank God, now I am no different from my subjects."

Historians emphasize that the British authorities foresaw the possibility of massive bombardments. Therefore, as early as 1938, Londoners began to be taught how to behave during raids. Metro stations, basements of churches were equipped with bomb shelters. In the early summer of 1940, it was decided to evacuate the children from the city. However, during the bombing from September 1940 to May 1941, more than 43 thousand people died.

But to bring Great Britain to its knees, to create such conditions for the British to ask for peace, the Germans failed, says a member of the Association of Historians of the Second World War, writer, expert of the Military Historical Society of Russia Dmitry Khazanov:

"Despite the fact that they caused significant damage to Great Britain, there were large losses in aviation, but the Germans did not achieve their goal: they did not win air supremacy, they could not break the British aviation. The Germans tried to solve their problem in various ways. But the British were on altitude. They changed their tactics of struggle, introduced new forces, significantly increased the production of fighters at the beginning of summer. They were ready for such a development of events. Despite the fact that the Germans had a numerical advantage, they did not fulfill their task. "

London was not the only British city to suffer from German bombing. Such military and industrial centers as Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester were destroyed. But the British defended their country. The Battle of England has been won.