22nd/23rd October 1943

[antarmike]

Bomber Command returned to Kessel for a third raid with a force of 569 bombers. This main-force attack was covered by a feint attack by 36 aircraft on Frankfurt which began five minutes before the main raid. German air defence were not fooled and the RAF lost 43 aircraft.

 

The pathfinders clearly marked the target area so well that within five minutes the whole ancient town was illuminated. Within the next 80 minutes the waves of bombers dropped at least 1,800 tons of high explosives and incendiaries. The high explosive bombs demolished or extensively damaged buildings, but the incendiaries did the worst damage.

 

The medieval heart of Kassel consisted almost completely of wooden houses. The bombing was so intense that incendiary bombs fell with a density of up to two per square meter. Each building in the city center was hit by at least two white phosphorus incendiary bombs and several of the 460,000 magnesium fire-sticks which rained on the city.

 

After 15 minutes of attack the whole inner city was ablaze in a firestorm like the one at Hamburg, creating temperatures of 1500°C and above. It was consuming nearly all the oxygen and sucking fresh air into the fire. People desperately trying to escape the fire zone were caught by the 100 mph wind, stripped of their clothes, and sucked back into the fire. Most residents who fled into the cellars died from asphyxiation.

 

Only a few minutes after the attack began, the main telephone exchange was hit and disabled, so fire brigades could not be directed to the places where they were needed. The firestorm was well underway before police could provide communications for the fire brigades, but even then destruction of the city's water pipes made it impossible to extinguish the inferno.

 

Kassel, which had a pre-raid population of 236,000 burned for seven days. It is believed that at least 10,000 people died and 150,000 inhabitants were bombed-out that night, and the city center was 95% destroyed. It took weeks to collect all the corpses from the streets and out of the ruined cellars.

 

Many more raids were flown on Kassel before the end of the war, but no one was anywhere near as devastating as the raid of 22 October 1943. When the Americans captured the city in March 1945, only 50,000 people were still residing there.

Edited October 22, 2008 by antarmike

[AlienFTM]

I could be entirely wrong (I often am). I wonder if this raid destroyed the factory that was continuing to churn out PzKpfw3 chassis to be built as StuG3s?

 

The StuG concept was too valuable to give up so, with Panthers and Tigers being rolled out, they actually moved StuG production to a PzKpfw4 factory and built the same weapon on a later chassis for a year, often issuing Wehrmacht tank battalions with StuGs instead of gun tanks, until they got the PzKpfw3 factory rebuilt (because it was cheaper and simpler than mounting a StuG on a PzKpfw4 chassis). Elite units were getting Panther gun tanks anyway and Independent Heavy Tank Battalions were getting Tigers, so the loss of gun tanks was not significant.

[antarmike]

I don't know that one.

 

Kassel was home to the Henschel locomotive, engine and vehicle plants, the Fieseler aircraft plant, and several other important industries. The Henschel railway works were considered the biggest in continental Europe. The city was the important transportation and communications centre for Central Germany, with north/south traffic (Hanover-Frankfurt), and east/west traffic, (Ruhr-Thuringia, Saxony), intersecting there.

 

Kassel was considered a strategic target for Arthur Harris´ RAF Bomber Command. Both the RAF and the USAAF flew several light raids on the city's industrial areas during 1942 and early 1943.

 

However, the October 1943 raid was part of the Area Bombing campaign, a policy of indiscriminate bombing of an enemy's cities, for the purpose of destroying the enemy's means of producing military material, communications, government centres and civilian morale (partly by de-housing the poulation). It differs from the use of bombs to destroy military targets.

 

The practice came to prominence during the Second World War with the use of large numbers of unguided gravity bombs, often with a high proportion of incendiary bombs, to effect indiscriminate bombing of the target region - either to destroy personnel and/or materiel, or as a means to demoralize the enemy. The high explosive bombs were often on timers and used to intimidate or kill firemen putting out the fires caused by the incendiaries. This, in high enough concentration was capable of producing a firestorm effect.

 

 

RAF Bomber Command bombed Kassel on :

 

The night of 17/18 February 1942 10 Wellingtons and 3 Stirlings to Emden, Hamburg, Kassel and Aachen. Dammage not known. No aircraft lost.

The night of 27/28 August 1942. A heavy raid by 306 aircraft. There was widespread damage, particularly in the south-western parts of the city. 144 buildings were destroyed and 317 seriously damaged. 28 soldiers were killed and 64 injured. 15 civilians were killed and 187 injured. 10.1% of the RAF aircraft were lost mainly to night fighters.

The night of 3/4 October 1943. A heavy raid by 547 aircraft. Cloud cover meant that H2S radar was used for targeting, the main weight of the attack missed the town centre and fell on the western suburbs and outlying towns and villages. 24 aircraft 4.4% of the force

The night of 22/23 October 1943. A heavy raid by 569 aircraft. Cloud cover meant that H2S radar was used for targeting. This time it was accurate and the result was the most devastating attack on a German city since the firestorm raid on Hamburg in July and the results at Kassel would not be exceeded again until well into 1944. 18 Lancasters - were lost, 7.6% of the force.

The night of 18/19 March 1944. A light diversionary raid by 11 Mosquitos

Night of 30/31 March 1944. Diversionary raids to Aachen, Cologne and Kassel by 34 Mosquitos.

The night of 27/28 September 1944. A light diversionary raid by 46 Mosquitos.

The night of 3/4 October 1944. A light raid by 43 Mosquitos.

The night of 15/16 October 1944. A diversionary raid by 2 Mosquitos.

The night of 9/10 November 1944. A small raid by 3 Mosquitos.

The night of 27/28 December 1944. 7 Mosquitos were on Oboe (navigation) trials and some flew over Kassel.

The night of 6/7 January 1945. A light diversionary raid by 20 Mosquitos.

The night of 18/19 January 1945. A light raid by 12 Mosquitos.

The night of 21/22 January 1945. A meduium raid by 76 Mosquitos. One Mosquito lost.

The night of 2/3 March 1945. A training raid by 67 Mosquitos. No Mosquitos lost.

The night of 8/9 March 1945. The last heavy raid by the RAF on Kassel. It consisted of 176 aircraft. One aircraft was lost.

The night of 18/19 March 1945. A light raid by 24 Mosquitos.

The night of 20/21 March 1945. A light diversionary raid by 16 Mosquitos.

Edited October 23, 2008 by antarmike