Bombing of Nuremberg in World War II


The bombing of Nuremberg was a series of air raids carried out by allied forces of the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces that caused heavy damage throughout the city from 1940 through 1945.
Nuremberg was a favored point of attack for allied bombers in World War II even though it was only later included into the radius of action due to its location in the south of Germany. Because Nuremberg was a strong economic and infrastructural hub and had symbolic importance as the "City of the Nuremberg Rally" it was singled out by the Allies as an important target.
The greatest damages occurred from the attack on 2 January 1945 in which 521 British Bombers dropped 6,000 high-explosive bombs and one million incendiary devices on the city.
The population suffered more than 1,800 deaths and 100,000 people lost their homes in this attack. Nuremberg's old town was almost completely destroyed, and the city as a whole was badly damaged. After Würzburg, Nuremberg was one of Bavaria's cities that suffered the most damage in the bomb war and was also among the most destroyed cities in Germany as a whole. The eastern half of the city was known as the "steppe" after the destruction and during the clearing of the rubble.
The air raids ceased on 11 April 1945. On 20 April, after the Battle of Nuremberg, the city was occupied by units of the 7th US Army.

Nuremberg as a military target

Nuremberg was an important production location for armaments and the densely populated medieval old town was a well-suited destination for the purposes of the British Area bombing directive. Nuremberg, which during National Socialism was officially given the nickname "City of the Nuremberg Rally", was also a target for attacks with a considerable symbolic effect.
In relation to the total building mass, the inner city had a high proportion of half-timbered houses, i.e. buildings with a high proportion of wood that are highly combustible, and was therefore suitable for an effective attack using a combination of explosive and incendiary bombs. The purpose was to ignite a firestorm to increase the effect of the incendiary bombs. Daytime attacks on industrial and infrastructure targets were mostly carried out by the technically better equipped US Army Air Forces as part of the division of labor of the Allied air fleets in order to achieve a high degree of accuracy, which was technologically only possible to a limited extent. Nighttime area bombardments were mostly flown by the British RAF's Pathfinder Force.
In the urban area, but not in the old town, which was most severely affected by the attack of 2 January 1945, there were numerous military targets: The factories of MAN in the south of the city built diesel engines for submarines and relevant components for Panther tanks. Other important companies were Siemens-Schuckert, TEKADE, Nüral, and Diehl. In addition the bombers targeted the Nuremberg motorcycle industry and 120 other armament and companies that employed forced labor as well as the facilities of the German Reichsbahn: the marshaling yard in the south of the city and the main railway lines running over Nuremberg.

Timeline of the attacks

Until 1942, there were only minor attacks. From 1942 to 1944 there was a fight for air supremacy over Germany which was won by the Allies in large parts. From autumn 1944, airfields of the Allies had moved close enough that it was possible to deploy low-flying aircraft. The following table is based on the information provided by G. W. Schramm.
DateAircraftBomb loadDescription of the air raidCasualties and damages
1940-
7 AugustBombs on Fürth/Burgfarrnbach
20/21 DecemberBombs on Nazi party rally grounds
1941-
12/13 October152 RAF bombers, esp. Wellington und WhitleyOnly 20 high-explosive and 14 incendiary devices hit target; minor damage to Nuremberg but severe damage to Schwabach9 casualties; 50 destroyed houses in Schwabach
1942-
28/29 AugustRAF bombersSouth-west of the city park and the southern city, Alte Kongresshalle/Luitpoldhalle in the Luitpoldarena, die Nuremberg castle136 casualties; 152 destroyed houses, 220 fires
thereafter4 air raid warnings
1943-
25/26 February337 four-engined RAF bombersDue to low visibility bombs were dropped on the surrounding Knoblauchsland, northern parts of the city, the Dynamit AG plant in Stadeln/Fürth and the fortified church in Kraftshof27 casualties; 44 large, 8 medium and 10 minor fires
8/9 March

starting 11:00 p.m.		335 four-engined RAF bombers358 t high-explosive, 412 t incendiary bombsSouthern old town: Mauthalle; Nuremberg Castle, Siemens-Trafowerk,
marshaling yard		343 casualties; 171 large, 339 minor and 1746 minor fires; time-bombs
10/11 August

00:48		653 four-engined RAF bombersF: Lancaster, Stirling, Halifax878 t high-explosive, 878 t incendiary bombsNorth, southern old town, Wöhrd; St. Sebald, St. Lorenz; u. a. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, the last remaining hop hall on the Kornmarkt. Fürth, Fischbach and Feucht585 casualties; 1732 destroyed, 1156 severely damaged 2386 moderately damaged buildings
27/28 August674 four-engined RAF bombersDarkness, strong flak and night fighters disturbed the target approach, many bombs fell on southern suburbs. In Nuremberg: Maxfeld, Nordostbahnhof, southern old town, Laufamholz; the companies Neumeyer and MAN56 casualties; 458 destroyed, 361 moderately damaged buildings and 1704 with minor damages
1944-
25 February

12:47 p.m.		172 USAAF LiberatorTarget was Fürther Flugzeugwerk Bachmann von Blumenthal & Co.138 casualties, 122 injured
31 March795 RAF bombers: 572 Lancaster, 214 Halifax, 9 Mosquitos910 t high-explosive, 1176 t incendiary bombs"The Nuremberg Raid": The attackers suffered heavy losses: 95 bombers were shot down. In Nuremberg the attack was classified as "moderately severe", further damage in the eastern neighboring towns.In Nuremberg: 74 casualties und 122 injured; 130 destroyed, 879 moderately damaged buildings and 2505 with minor damages
10 April

10:48 a.m.		233 B-17G and 241 USAAF escort fighter planesFürth, Nürnberger armament companies: MAN, TEKADE82 casualties, 366 injured; 211 destroyed, 214 severely damaged, 1365 moderately damaged buildings and 1800 with minor damages
13 air raid warnings
3 October

11:15 a.m.		454 USAAF B-17Targeted were the MAN facilities but low visibility due to clouds. Instead hit by the bombs: Weinstadel, Viatishaus, 62 Patrician houses353 casualties, 1033 injured; 518 destroyed, 738 severely damaged, 1097 moderately damaged buildings and 4109 with minor damages
19/20 October263 RAF Lancaster and 7 MosquitosSouthern city and old town. Gustav-Adolf church, MAN, Siemens, marshaling yard237 casualties, 10,383 shelterless
62 air raid warnings
25/26 NovemberRAF MosquitosSmall interference attack, one train and multiple houses hitover 60 casualties
until 24 DecemberRAF MosquitosSmall interference attacks; dubbed "Mosquitos on siren tours" in Britain
1945-
2 Januar, evening514 RAF Lancaster and 7 Mosquitos1825 t high-explosive, 479 t incendiary bombsComplete destruction of the Nuremberg old town with irrecoverable damage to the historic building structure. Attacks on MAN, TEKADE, Nüral, Nürnberger Schraubenfabrik1835 casualties, over 3000 injured, 100,000 shelterless; 4553 destroyed, 2047 severely damaged, 2993 moderately damaged buildings and 7000 with minor damages; 1 conflagration and 2 block fire, 1194 major, 851 medium and 1070 small fires
January and FebruaryRAF MosquitosSmall interference attacks
20 February

12:30 p.m.		831 USAAF B-17 and 360 B-24Already on the approach, the B-24 had to turn around because of thunderstorms. Because of cloud cover over the target the bombs were thrown blind and distributed over the whole city; accumulations at railway facilities and in the southern part of town.see below
21 February

10:40 a.m.		1205 USAAF bombersTargeted were the main station and marshaling yards, but Gostenhof and St. Johannis were also hit.1356 casualties and 70,000 shelterless
February/March2 interference attacks
16 March

08:53 p.m.		301 RAF Lancaster und 40 MosquitosSevere damages in the southern part of the city: Steinbühl and Galgenhof, St. Peter, Gostenhof; Muggenhof, Thon, Schnepfenreuth and Poppenreuth517 casualties
19 MarchStörangriffe
5 April254 USAAF B-17Targeted were the main station and marshaling yards, but mostly hit were southern residential areassee below
5 April72 USAAF B-17Fürth and Unterschlauersbach air base197 casualties
8 April89 USAAF B-24Targeted was the Bachmann von Blumenthal & Co. air plane factory in Fürth
5–10 AprilLow-flying aircraftRail transports, anti-aircraft positions around Zollhaus, railroad repair plant in Gostenhof
11 April, afternoon143 RAF bombersMarshaling yards and surrounding residential areas74 casualties

Destruction

Nuremberg's old town was largely destroyed. The southern parts of the city, St. Johannis and other neighborhoods were also hard hit. After Cologne, Dortmund and Kassel, Nuremberg had the largest amount of rubble per inhabitant among the major German cities. The population of Nuremberg had fallen to 195,000 by the end of the war, half of dwelling had been destroyed, the rest often damaged.

Reconstruction

In 1947, ideas for reconstruction were collected in an urban planning competition. The "Kuratorium für den Wiederaufbau Nürnbergs" advised the city administration on questions of reconstruction. A simplified reconstruction was agreed upon.
It was at this time that the organisation 'The Old Town Friends Nuremberg was set up to advocate a faithful, accurate reconstruction of the old town. The association supports the preservation and restoration of the existing historical old town houses and other architectural monuments in Nuremberg that are worth preserving.
By 1955 most of the reconstruction work had been completed or at least begun. From 1956 to 1960 the Nuremberg Town Hall was rebuilt. Until 1957 the St. Sebaldus church was repaired. The largest restoration project was the city walls of Nuremberg with its 4 km long double wall and the moat.
The Katharinenkloster Nuremberg, today called Katherinenruine, which was completely destroyed during the air raids in 1945, was not rebuilt but secured as a ruin in 1970/71. Since then it has served as a memorial to the war and as a venue for events.

Bombs found after World War II

Even after the end of the Second World War, dud bombs were found in Nuremberg. They are often discovered by chance during construction work, and are rarely searched for in a targeted manner. The explosive ordnance clearance service is responsible for defusing and securing the aircraft bombs. Large-scale evacuations may be necessary during these operations.

Literature