What the R.A.F. Did to Germany in August

The War Illustrated, Volume 3, No. 54, Page 262-263, September 13, 1940.

During the month of August the Royal Air Force made about 200 raids on Germany or enemy-occupied regions, records operations at 284 points. A brief analysis of these raids is given. So numerous were the aerodromes attacked that eventually the Air Ministry ceased to specify them individually and gave instead the bulk results.

Germany was somewhat slow to take up night bombing to any large extent. It was thought that, concentrating on fighter production and the building of day-bomber types, she had been perforce obliged to put up with a smaller output of the heavier class of bomber. Then, too, until the collapse of France, night bombing raids on Britain involved some difficulties. Comparatively few of the Nazi pilots had been trained or were experienced in night operations, and few could have had knowledge of our terrain. Perhaps, added to all these factors and surpassing them in importance, was the circumstances that Hitler had infused into his army and air force-high command and operating personnel alike-the notion of a blitzkrieg in which victory should be won by a short series of dashing actions against much inferior opponents.

Whatever the causes that led to Hitler’s postponement of his major land effort until the early summer of 1940, this respite enabled Britain to build up a far greater Air Force and instil into its gallant members that spirit which today finds its expression in the heroic successes achieved against the four-to-one superiority in numbers of the invading Luftwaffe.

Then, right from the outbreak of hostilities, the R.A.F. carried the war into the enemy country and, when Britain’s policy at last permitted, undertook the persistent raiding of military objectives on land. During one month alone, according to an official statement issued early in August, the R.A.F. had dropped 33,431 bombs on Germany or German-occupied territory, while the Nazis had been able in the same period to drop on Britain only 6,987 bombs.

Aerodromes and aircraft factories, of course, are among the most important objectives. Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, speaking recently about factors of air superiority, stressed the great danger of pressing for local defence, and said that probably the best defence for Derby (for instance) would be a bomber squadron in Norfolk which attacked aircraft factories in Dessau. Now at Dessau, 69 miles S.W. of Berlin, are the gigantic works of the Junkers organisation, where bombers and troop-carriers are built. There is another Junkers factory at Bernburg, not far from Magdeburg.

Both these places were bombed by the R.A.F. on August 13. Three nights later Bernburg was revisited, the factory and its test airfield being severely damaged. On August 28 another raid, on an even larger scale, was made by the R.A.F. on Dessau. Fires broke out which could be seen for 60 miles; clouds of smoke rose to 300 feet. In the words of one of our pilots, "it seemed as though the whole place were ablaze. I am sure that it won’t turn out anymore Junkers for a while." On August 16 the Messerschmitt works at Augsburg was bomber severely; it was raided again on the 27th. Other aircraft factories were bombed during the month by the R.A.F., who turned in a new direction to harry Germany’s ‘plane production. Previously they had punished the aircraft works at Gotha, Kassel and Bremen, and also the Dornier seaplane establishment at Wismar.

Aerodromes without number have been systematically raided night after night. During one part of August the Air Ministry’s communiques specified eleven in Germany, twelve in Holland (one bombed twice, four bombed three times and one raided six times) and a score in German-occupied France. In fact, later in the month the communiques ceased to particularize, and just lumped them together in one total, saying: "Many aerodromes were attacked."

Oil products are the life-blood of aircraft engines, so let us see what the R.A.F. did during the month to destroy Germany’s stocks, demolish her refineries and hydrogenation plants and hamper the transport of oil and petrol. Seventeen oil stores, refineries or synthetic production works were raided: Homburg on August 6, 7 and 10; Frankfurt on August 10, 22 and 24; the huge works at Sterkrade on August 4 and 23, and the Gelsenkirchen oil plant on August 1, 3, 11 and 15. During the Sterkrade raid of the 22nd "lines of H.E. bombs were seen to straddle the target; a direct hit is believed to have been scored on the pumping station, and fires were started with incendiary bombs."

The huge hydrogenation plant at Leuna, near Leipzig, has a production of about half a million tons of coal-oil per annum: on August 16 the R.A.F. bombed it for the first time. Despite a fierce barrage our machines dropped hundreds of bombs. The main plant extends for almost 1.5 miles, and along the entire range of buildings there was a chain of fires. On the 26th Leuna was again heavily attacked by the R.A.F. On the same night other R.A.F. machines bombed the benzene refinery at Bohlen, said to turn out 180,000 tons yearly.

On the 15th two installations at Gelsenkirchen (five miles N. of Essen) were selected for punishment, when two separate raiding forces bombed them systematically for two hours. One crew, which had scored eight direct hits, counted at least 25 fires raging. Another large oil refinery near-by was attacked also. The restriction of oil imports has made Germany'’ plants for producing oil from coal and lignite more valuable, and it was these works which the R.A.F. so successfully bombed at the end of the month.

In quite another direction, after a flight of some 600 miles, our bomber squadrons attacked the aluminium works at Rheinefelden, on the Rhine, ten miles E. of Basle. For one and a half hours bombs were rained on the extensive plant, our pilots coming down as low as 1,500 feet at times. Enormous damage was done over a wide area: many fires were started until to our bomber crews, the entire expanse of buildings seemed ablaze.

Among chemical factories, munition works and metal works bombed were those at Lunen, Grevenbroich, Ludwigshafen, Griesheim and, last but not least, the Krupp works at Essen. The Daimler-Benz motor works at Stuttgart was bombed on the 24th. Here armoured-cars are manufactured. The resulting conflagration could be seen from a distance of 60 miles.

For transport, Germany relies a great deal on her inland waterways, especially as her over-worked railway system has been repeatedly disorganised by our bombers. Two important canals are the Dortmund-Ems, linking up the Ruhr with Emden, and the Weser-Elbe canal, connecting the two rivers. The former has become historic through the exploits of our pilots: it was bombed again on the 19th, when also a low-level attack was made on the Weser-Elbe canal. The same night a strong R.A.F. force attacked Kiel dockyard, and rail communications over a wide area were dislocated by successful attacks on Bremen, Wunstorf and Geseke.

The marshalling yard at Hamm was bombed for the 52nd time on this same 19th of August, and on the 22nd, together with the goods siding at Soest, was bombed "as usual." Much other damage was done to road and rail communications in vital zones. Then, too, the electric power stations received attention; those at Herdecke and Hattingen were bombed on August 11; that at Zschornewitz on the 19th; Knapsack was raided on the 22nd and 24th, and the station at Kelsterbach, near Frankfurt, on August 27. In the light of these facts no one can doubt that the aircraft production and maintenance of the enemy is being seriously hindered by this offensive defence of our shores against aerial terror.

One Month’s R.A.F. Raids on Germany and Enemy-Occupied Territory

(Compiled from Official Air Ministry Communiques)
Numbers following place-names denote the days in August on which raids were made.

Aerodromes

Abbeville, 3
Arnhem, 31
Berlin, 30, 31
Borkum, 5
Boulogne, 14, 20
Breet, 11, 19, 27
Bricy, 19
Brussels, 19
Caen, 10, 11, 20, 23
Chartres, 15
Cherbourg, 1, 7, 10, 11
Crefeld, 4, 6, 10
Darmstadt, 24
Deauville, 22
De Kooy, 26
De Mors, 22
Dietholz, 19
Dinard, 11, 22, 23, 24
Dortmund, 1
Eindhoven, 6, 9, 23
Flushing, 10, 19, 24
Freiburg, 18
Gilze Rijen, 6, 9
Gladbach-Rheydt, 6
Glicy, 23
Guernsey, 9, 10, 11
Haamstede, 1, 3, 7
Haarlem, 24
Holtenau, 7
Husum, 7
Jagel, 19
Lanveoc, 19, 22, 23
Lastrup, 31
Le Bourget, 6
Le Crotoy, 24
Leewarden, 1, 5, 15, 19
Le Poulmic, 9, 23
Lingen, 22
Lisieux, 19, 22, 23
Merville, 23
Morlaix, 14
Montebourg, 19
Munster, 9
Nivelles, 26
Orleans, 19, 23
Ostend, 19
Plouescat, 24, 26
Rennes, 19, 23
Saarguemines, 24
St. Brieuc, 23,
St. Inglecert, 19
St. Omer, 19, 22, 23, 26
Schihpol, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Soesterberg, 6, 19
Texel, 6, 26
Trier, 9
Vannes, 23
Valkenurg, 8
Venlo, 6, 9
Vierzon, 24
Villacoublay, 19, 23
Waalhaven, 10
Werl, 9
Wizernes, 14
Ypenburg, 6

Aircraft Factories, Aircraft Stores, etc

Augsburg, 16, 17
Berlin, 30
Bernburg, 13, 16
Frankfurt, 13, 22, 26
Dessau, 13, 27, 28
Kochem, 13
Kolleda, 16
Leipzig, 28
Munchen-Gladbach, 13
Stuttgart, 24
Wismar, 5

Chemical Works, Munition Works, Metal Works etc

Berlin, 28
Cologne, 9, 10
Essen, 1, 15, 29
Griesheim, 22, 26
Grevenbroich, 13
Hoechst, 26
Jena, 16
Leverkusen, 26, 31
Ludswighafen, 9, 24, 25
Lunen, 13, 15
Mors, 6
Rheinefelden, 18
Ruhrort-Hafen, 9, 22
Waldshut, 18

Power Stations

Cologne, 8, 10
Duisburg, 29
Hattigen, 11
Herdecke, 11
Kelsterbach, 27
Knapsack, 22, 24
Zschornewitz, 19

Railway Junctions, Marshalling Yards, Supply Depots

Bremen, 19, 30
Coblenz, 22
Crefeld, 1
Duisburg, 10, 13, 22, 26
Geseke, 19
Hamm, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 19, 22, 26, 29, 30, 31
Hanover, 31
Mannheim, 1, 22, 23, 27
Neheim, 19, 24
Osnabruck, 31
Roermonde, 13
Schwerte, 6
Soest, 8, 9, 11, 15, 22, 29, 30, 31
Wunstorf, 19

Oil Refineries, Hydrogenation Works, Oil Stores and Depots

Berlin, 30
Bottrop, 3, 22, 29
Bohlen, 16
Castrop-Rauxel, 11
Cherbourg, 30
Coblenz, 22
Cologne, 29, 31
Dortmund, 11, 23
Flushing, 9
Frankfurt, 10, 16, 22, 24, 26
Gelsenkirchen, 1, 3, 11, 15, 29, 30
Gironde Estuary, 14, 19, 27
Hanover, 19
Homburg, 6, 7, 10
Kamen, 1
Leuna, 16, 26
Magdeburg, 30, 31
Mannheim, 27
Monheim, 3
Ostermoor, 19
Rotterdam, 3, 31
Reisholz, 1, 6, 15, 28
St. Nazaire, 29
Salzbergen, 19
Sterkrade, 4, 23

Naval Bases, Docks, Harbours, etc

Borkum, 15
Boulogne, 14, 17, 18, 30, 31
Dieppe, 23
Duisburg, 22
Emden, 30, 31
Hamburg, 5, 8, 10, 30
Heider, 15
Kiel, 3, 5, 7, 19, 20, 27
Wilhelmshaven, 10, 27

Canals

Dortmund-Ems, 19
Weser-Elbe, 19