What was the specific situation of the allied bombing of Berlin?

At the end of 1942, Nazi Germany suffered great setbacks on both east and west fronts: the Soviet army had won a decisive victory in the battle of Stalingrad and was ready to enter the counterattack; Rommel's army suffered a crushing defeat in North Africa and was forced to retreat to Tunisia. The whole war was good for the allies.

1943 At the beginning of this year, the American and British leaders held a summit meeting in Casablanca. The meeting determined the operational policy of defeating Germany and decided to open up a second front on the European continent. The two heads of state first made a request to the air force, ordering the air forces of the two countries to lead the war to Germany first, "destroying and disintegrating Germany's military industry and economic system, destroying Germany's people's hearts and morale, minimizing the resistance of its armed forces, and creating the necessary conditions for ground troops to land and fight." According to the resolution of the summit, the British and American air forces began to carry out large-scale air strikes on the German-occupied areas and their mainland.

1943 all summer, under the scorching sun in central Europe, the allies bombed important targets in Germany, dealing a heavy blow to German fascists. The destruction of Hamburg made them clearly realize that the myth that Imperial Marshal Goering swore that Britain would not bomb Berlin was simply not credible, and Berlin was bound to be the next victim.

Death of the Chief of Staff of the German Air Force

Hitler's dissatisfaction with the German Air Force is also increasing with the continuous strengthening of the Allied Air Force's air strikes against Germany. Goering, commander-in-chief of the Air Force, deliberately avoided making Jason Neck, chief of staff of the Air Force, a scapegoat, because since the Battle of Britain, he has been directly organizing and directing air operations according to various instructions. Hitler repeatedly criticized the depressed Air Force Chief of Staff. On August 17, Americans bombed the Messerschmitt Aircraft Factory in regensburg, killing more than 400 skilled workers and seriously damaging the aircraft production line. Hitler personally called Jeshonek again. He shouted into the microphone like a madman and cursed the chief of staff.

That night, the weather was surprisingly clear, and there was a bright moon hanging in the sky. Jeschonnek is completely confused and upset. "Why does the Fuehrer always say this to me?" He felt confused and wronged. In order to get rid of his worries, Jeschonnek took a boat to the center of Goudaqi Lake and watched wild ducks fly in the night. He is full of hope, and this bright moonlight can bring him a short peace and let him put aside all his troubles. In recent days, Jeschonnek's nerves are so tense that he urgently needs to relax.

However, in the evening 1 1, the air defense radar station issued an enemy alert again, and the "Mosquito" plane of the Royal Air Force released flares and target indicator signs over Berlin, which was a terrible prelude to large-scale air strikes. Jeschonnek immediately ordered all night fighters deployed near Berlin to fly to support. Soon, the German Air Force's 148 twin engines and 55 single-engine night fighters arrived over Berlin. However, there are only a few British mosquito planes over the city. German fighters had to target them and surround several Mosquito planes. The ground anti-aircraft gun troops also joined the battle in an all-round way, and the fierce barrage shooting lasted for two hours. However, the British Air Force's action over Berlin was just a trick, and its real goal was Penemende, the German Army missile base. As the attention of the German air defense forces has been attracted to Berlin, more than 600 bombers of the Royal Air Force entered Penemende without hindrance. Overnight, the German V-missile base was completely destroyed, and more than 700 rocket experts and engineers were killed in the air raid. At 8 o'clock the next morning, Hitler made the last call to Jeshonek from the "wolf's den". He only said an ugly sentence: "You know what to do." In the morning 10, Jeschonnek shot himself in the bedroom in despair.

Adventures of speer

However, the death of Jeshonek did not save Berlin from bad luck. On the same day, the 8th Air Force of the United States and the Royal Air Force headquartered in east of england carried out air strikes on Berlin, forcing German fighters to assemble on a large scale. Although the anti-aircraft guns defending Berlin had two layers inside and outside, the American and British bombers circled over the clouds for three hours, and the German anti-aircraft guns failed to shoot down an allied plane. Although the air raid did not cause serious losses to Berlin, the British army dropped a large number of leaflets, which read: "The war initiated by Hitler will continue, and Hitler will fight as long as he wants!" These leaflets dealt a psychological blow to the Nazis as much as a blockbuster.

Two weeks later, the Royal Air Force sent more planes to attack Berlin, this time killing 14 people and injuring more than 50 people. This is the first time in the history of the Third Reich that a German was killed in the capital. The Nazis wanted people to be angry about it. Goebbels, the propaganda minister, ordered the Nazi propaganda machine to attack the British bombing at full speed to publicize the "barbaric" slaughter of unarmed women and children by British pilots in Berlin. In order to turn the fear of Germans into anger against the enemy, most newspapers in Berlin used the title "British robbers over Berlin". Nazi bigwigs even declared: "Even if every city in Germany is razed to the ground, the German nation can survive. Even if we have to live in a cave, so be it. "

However, German propaganda and intimidation failed to stop allied planes and bombs. 165438+1On the morning of October 22nd, a large number of allied bombers flew over Berlin, and thousands of tons of bombs landed in urban areas and factory areas, causing serious damage. At night, nearly 600 British bombers made a continuous attack on Berlin. At that time, some Nazi leaders, headed by German quartermaster speer, were having a meeting in the office to study the daytime air raids by the Allied forces. Suddenly, the alarm phone rang. It is reported that a large number of bombers are flying from Britain to Berlin and have now arrived over Potsdam. The meeting was immediately interrupted, and the participants drove to a nearby anti-aircraft gun tower as usual to observe the bombing on the tower. However, as soon as Speer reached the top of the tower, he had to return to the tower just visible, because the solid turret was shaken violently by heavy bombing and he could not stand on it. The loud explosion lasted nearly 1 hour. The concrete wall in the turret was knocked down by a violent explosion, and flying dust enveloped the pale leader of the Third Reich. After the hail, speer finally boarded the turret platform, only to find that the munitions building not far away had become a sea of fire. Speer and others quickly got off the train and rushed to the fire. At this time, there are still many ticking time bombs exploding constantly, but speer has been too busy. He rushed to the office with all his strength, trying to save important documents. However, his office is gone-a bomb has just exploded nearby, blowing it into a huge crater. The fire spread in the building and quickly swept to the Army Ordnance Bureau not far away. Speer and others rushed into the Ordnance Bureau building with flames. When they saw something useful, they quickly threw it away. The next morning, speer and others then visited the bombed city, only to see glass fragments and rubble everywhere, furniture just rescued scattered in the street, and many houses were still burning; Homeless refugees look almost numb with pain, and their eyes are fixed on their destroyed homes; Over the city, thick smoke covered the sky, making it dark and creepy.

New equipment goes to the battlefield

At that time, the British bombers were mainly Lancaster, Halifax, Sterling and Wellington. These planes are weak in self-protection, and because of the limited range, they must greatly reduce the bomb load in order to perform tasks over Berlin. So the fighting capacity of British aircraft is not very strong. American bombers are more advanced, such as the B-29 bomber, which is known as the "air fortress". Its armor is thick, self-defense ability is strong, and it is equipped with 1 1 heavy guns, which can independently deal with the attacks of enemy fighters. These planes have a bomb load of several tons and are equipped with gyro aiming devices, which can accurately drop bombs outside the range of anti-aircraft guns.

However, eight consecutive air battles show that low-speed bombers are no match for German fighters during the day, even the "air fortress" with strong defensive firepower is no exception. Therefore, although the allied forces have achieved great results, they have also paid a heavy price: the bomber's war damage rate is as high as 9%, which is unbearable for the air force that has been bombing continuously in large formations for a long time. Moreover, because the pilots were worried about being intercepted by German planes, the bombing effect was not ideal. No sooner had some planes entered German airspace than they dropped bombs and went back to work.

It was not until 1944 allied bombers were escorted by long-range fighters such as P-38 Lightning and P-5 1 Mustang that the situation suddenly changed. The German "Fokker" and "Messerschmitt" fighters were no match for these planes at all, and the war damage of allied bombers was reduced to 3.5%.

The P-38 lightning fighter produced by Lockheed has a top speed of 4 14 miles per hour, a maximum load range of 2,260 miles, a climbing rate of 25,000 feet per minute of 12, and a ceiling of 39,000 feet. The 1 gun is equipped with a 20mm gun and four 0.5-inch machine guns. The -5 1 mustang fighter has a top speed of 443 miles per hour, a maximum load range of 2,080 miles, a 7.5-minute climb rate of 20,000 feet, a ceiling of 4 1900 feet, six 0.5-inch machine guns, two 1000-pound bombs or 10 5s. Germany's "Fokker Fufu" fighter has a speed of only 395 miles per hour, a maximum load range of 380 miles, a 6-minute climb rate10.5 million feet, two 7.9 mm machine guns and four 20 mm cannons. Compared with the former, German aircraft are inferior in both firepower and maneuverability.

The successive air strikes by allied air forces made the Nazi ruling group lose more and more confidence in the ability of its air force, and Goering naturally became a "punching bag" to vent his dissatisfaction. The imperial marshal had no choice but to listen to Hitler's accusations and insults, which often happened in front of junior officers. Goering recalled this period two years later and said, "The Fuehrer is getting farther and farther away from me. Whenever I report to him, I can see that he is impatient. He often rudely interrupted me and began to participate more and more in air force affairs. " In order to get out of trouble and win back the position of designated heir for himself, Goering tried every means. He improved many weapons, and equipped German fighters with excellent SN2 Lichtenstein machine gun radar, infrared detectors and electronic equipment that can automatically search for enemy bombers carrying HS2 radar. In order to confuse the radar operators of allied bombers, Goering's engineers installed radar reflectors in thousands of lakes occupied by the Germans, and set up a radio jammer code-named "Rodrich" in Germany. In order to ensure the safety of big cities, Goering also established several camouflage areas in rural areas. Goering often imagined a war scene in his mind: for every allied plane in the sky, a group of German planes bombarded mercilessly from all directions, just like swarms of wasps chasing an unlucky intruder.

Berlin catastrophe

Although Berlin was hit hard in the previous stage, it was only a prelude to disaster. For the citizens of Berlin, more difficult and painful days are yet to come. On March 6th, 1944, 8 12 bombers from 29 bombing brigades of 3 bombing divisions of the Eighth Air Force of the United States set off again under the cover of nearly 700 fighters from the United States and Britain. They will launch the "250th attack" on Berlin, and the targets to be destroyed include Elkner Bearing Factory, Daimler-Ben Ci Aero Engine Factory and military electronic equipment factory in the southern suburbs.

At 8: 30 in the morning, all American bombers formed a long snake formation over the English Channel in turn, and the whole formation was as long as 170 kilometers. The radar station in front of the German army captured a large number of bomber signals in time, and the battle alarm was instantly transmitted to the air defense fighter control center. The Germans mobilized 9 1 1 fighters deployed in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France to intercept the allied fleet.

1 1: 30, the pilot plane of the us bomber group has arrived at a checkpoint north of hanover, not too far from the target. However, because the front line of the fleet is too long, most of the fighters serving as escorts are deployed around the vanguard echelon, which makes the protection force behind the fleet seem too weak. The German control center seized this weakness in time and ordered the interception group to take off immediately. More than 600 fighters formed a "wolf pack" ring battle formation and flew to the weak rear of the US military under the guidance of the ground command center. A fierce battle will be held over Dumo Lake.

Captain hauptmann, a German pilot, first led the fleet into the American fleet. At an altitude of 8000 meters, more than 100 German planes were entangled with the allied fleet. At this time, only eight Tu -47 fighters escorted the American bombers, and the pilots struggled against the P-strike, trying to divide the German-German battle formation, but most German planes ignored the fierce blocking fire of the American bombers and slammed into the bombers. In less than half an hour, 16 American bombers were shot down, and many bombers were forced to leave the formation and fly alone. Subsequently, the German fighters dispersed into 2-4 aircraft formations and stormed the bombers from different directions. Sometimes they attack from the rear, and sometimes they attack head-on, making it dark, and the whole combat area extends nearly 200 kilometers. At the critical moment when American bombers were overwhelmed, 80 P-5 1 Mustang fighters arrived. However, although the huge Messerschmitt was no match for the Mustang at all, the German pilots completely ignored it and rushed at the bomber like crazy people. 1 A German plane was blown up in the air, and another 1 German plane landed with thick smoke. Captain Ross, the German ace pilot who shot down 92 allied planes, was shot down, but they still stubbornly persisted in fighting. The US military paid a heavy price for this, and six more B-17s were shot down.

Allied pilots vented their anger on German soil, and wherever there were villages and towns, they swooped and bombed. Soldiers also joined the ranks of revenge with machine gun fire. A large area of land from Hanover to Berlin suddenly burst into flames, and all buildings became targets of allied attacks.

While the United States stepped up its daytime bombing of Berlin, the British couldn't help it and carried out a large-scale air raid at night. "We will blow up Berlin from the inside out!" Harris, commander of the British bomber, said bitterly. As a result, Germany and Britain launched an unprecedented air race.

One night, the dusk was boundless and all was silent. Only the rising moon looks down on the land ravaged by war. It's a fine day for a night attack. A large number of British bombers took off.

"Blare-"

The air raid alarm immediately sounded over Germany. All night fighters in Germany have received the operational orders code-named "Pheasant", and almost all airports near Berlin have entered a state of emergency. At 2300 hours, 1 Air Force Captain General Schmidt ordered the fighter plane to take off.

At first, the number of British planes flying from the Strait was very small, and only a few mosquito planes attacked the night fighter airport in the Netherlands. Germany believes that this is a trick of the British when they attacked Penemende many times. They concluded that a large number of bombers must still be preparing to attack Britain. The Germans guessed right, and soon, the first British bombers flew over the English Channel and flew to Belgium.

The Germans set a trap. Captain De levis, the captain of the 3rd Brigade of the German Air Force 1 Night Air Corps, led the fleet to sneak into the middle of the British bomber formation and approached the British bomber step by step under the guidance of radar echo. After a while, Drevis found the tail of the British bomber, and the vague shadow appeared in the bright moonlight.

"The distance is 600 meters," the signalman read the meter reading. Drevis knew that the radar would lose its function after a while (the plane was not equipped with close-range analysis equipment at that time, and the radar could not work within 500 meters). He adjusted the speed of the plane and began to climb to occupy the position. When the distance between the two planes was only about 100 meters, Drevis aimed at the engine of the British plane and slammed the shooting button. I saw that the British plane immediately burst into flames, and then the smoke rolled and roared past.

This is a rare air battle. Hundreds of British planes bombed in the rain, and German planes all over the sky tried to stop the interception. 1 bite 1, 1 followed by 1. The roar of aircraft engines, the scream of dive attacks and the explosion of bombs constitute a soul-stirring symphony in the air, echoing throughout the night sky.

For ordinary people, this devastating bombing effect is frightening. The bitter wine caused by Hitler should be drunk by Hitler himself. Unfortunately, millions of innocent German civilians became victims of Hitler, and their property and lives were destroyed in the process of the Allied forces punishing Hitler. Even angry Americans showed great sympathy when they saw all this. After the war, the former American ambassador to India wrote: "One only needs to look at German cities one by one at 1945, and he will understand how terrible modern air combat is. 20,000 people died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in World War I, but this is far less than Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt. In these places, we can see everything clearly. Seeing the horror of air strikes, anyone will hate the war for life. " 1940 hatfield, who was nominated as the presidential candidate by the Republican Party of the United States, recalled after the war: "Although the Germans deserved it, the situation there still made me feel guilty, and sometimes I felt ashamed. What we do is like the Nazis. "