German WWII bombing raids - targets?
Discussion
Bucks County Council have put an online map of all bombs that were dropped in the war in the county
http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/sites/bcc/archives/ea_Bl...
Looking at the map I am really surprised how spread out the "air raids" were in 1940.
Previously I thought they were all targeted at centres of industry (initially) then the major population centres as
the war progressed - looking at this there seems to be a huge amount of bomb raids that hit farms, rural villages, etc. (I am not sure if a bomb icon on the map relates to one or many bombs)
Was this deliberate or just mistargeting, bombs being dumped after raids, and the like?
http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/sites/bcc/archives/ea_Bl...
Looking at the map I am really surprised how spread out the "air raids" were in 1940.
Previously I thought they were all targeted at centres of industry (initially) then the major population centres as
the war progressed - looking at this there seems to be a huge amount of bomb raids that hit farms, rural villages, etc. (I am not sure if a bomb icon on the map relates to one or many bombs)
Was this deliberate or just mistargeting, bombs being dumped after raids, and the like?
john_p said:
Bucks County Council have put an online map of all bombs that were dropped in the war in the county
http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/sites/bcc/archives/ea_Bl...
Looking at the map I am really surprised how spread out the "air raids" were in 1940.
Previously I thought they were all targeted at centres of industry (initially) then the major population centres as
the war progressed - looking at this there seems to be a huge amount of bomb raids that hit farms, rural villages, etc. (I am not sure if a bomb icon on the map relates to one or many bombs)
Was this deliberate or just mistargeting, bombs being dumped after raids, and the like?
Don't forget they'd be targeting small airfields / satellite airfileds and military installations too.http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/sites/bcc/archives/ea_Bl...
Looking at the map I am really surprised how spread out the "air raids" were in 1940.
Previously I thought they were all targeted at centres of industry (initially) then the major population centres as
the war progressed - looking at this there seems to be a huge amount of bomb raids that hit farms, rural villages, etc. (I am not sure if a bomb icon on the map relates to one or many bombs)
Was this deliberate or just mistargeting, bombs being dumped after raids, and the like?
Havng said that I'm surprised to see none on Silverstone. A few around Dadford/Stowe, but not that close.
IIRC there was also a wartime airfield nearby at Finmere.
Bombing accuracy at this stage in the war - especially at night - was notoriously poor. The RAF were just as bad.
Before WW2, bomber crews had only trained for daylight operations. The switch to night bombing came about because of the high loss rates being suffered, especially if the bombers were unescorted. The Luftwaffe had no formal night navigation or night bombing traing courses.
The RAF only introduced such courses from late 1940 onwards. Even then, Bomber Command didn't improve its accuracy until mid to late 1943 - and even then they made things easier for their crews by selecting whole towns and cities as the targets rather than specific factories, marshalling yards etc.
Before WW2, bomber crews had only trained for daylight operations. The switch to night bombing came about because of the high loss rates being suffered, especially if the bombers were unescorted. The Luftwaffe had no formal night navigation or night bombing traing courses.
The RAF only introduced such courses from late 1940 onwards. Even then, Bomber Command didn't improve its accuracy until mid to late 1943 - and even then they made things easier for their crews by selecting whole towns and cities as the targets rather than specific factories, marshalling yards etc.
TEKNOPUG said:
Awful lot of "friendly fire" incidents. Are these planes crashing or AA shells landing?
"The majority of their contents are reports of air raids by German planes or flying bombs but a significant minority are damage caused by Allied practice bombs or plane crashes."Left click on a bomb on the map, tells you all you need to know...
Edited by dr_gn on Monday 13th September 14:44
dr_gn said:
Eric Mc said:
Bombing accuracy at this stage in the war
It's for the entire war, more or less.I know raids did continue at a dimiished level on and off for the rest of the war and then there was the V1 and V2 period in the Autumn of 1944.
There's a map somewhere in the bowels of Sheffield Town Hall, showing the points that unexploded bombs hit the ground.
Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
john_p said:
Was this deliberate or just mistargeting, bombs being dumped after raids, and the like?
A lot of bombs were dropped randomly to lighten the load as the bombers were intercepted by fighters. My parents farm had a good dozen craters as it was located only a few miles from Dunkirk towermybrainhurts said:
There's a map somewhere in the bowels of Sheffield Town Hall, showing the points that unexploded bombs hit the ground.
Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
The "Beam" for the first night of the Sheffield blitz crossed over the Duke of Wellington pub on the corner of Carlisle Street, bang in the middle of the steel works area. The beam was 'bent' over to the city centre, and that got a right pasting instead of the steelworks. Even so, when I worked at Forgemasters I often wondered what lay beneath!Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
dr_gn said:
mybrainhurts said:
There's a map somewhere in the bowels of Sheffield Town Hall, showing the points that unexploded bombs hit the ground.
Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
The "Beam" for the first night of the Sheffield blitz crossed over the Duke of Wellington pub on the corner of Carlisle Street, bang in the middle of the steel works area. The beam was 'bent' over to the city centre, and that got a right pasting instead of the steelworks. Even so, when I worked at Forgemasters I often wondered what lay beneath!Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
mybrainhurts said:
dr_gn said:
mybrainhurts said:
There's a map somewhere in the bowels of Sheffield Town Hall, showing the points that unexploded bombs hit the ground.
Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
The "Beam" for the first night of the Sheffield blitz crossed over the Duke of Wellington pub on the corner of Carlisle Street, bang in the middle of the steel works area. The beam was 'bent' over to the city centre, and that got a right pasting instead of the steelworks. Even so, when I worked at Forgemasters I often wondered what lay beneath!Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
dr_gn said:
mybrainhurts said:
dr_gn said:
mybrainhurts said:
There's a map somewhere in the bowels of Sheffield Town Hall, showing the points that unexploded bombs hit the ground.
Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
The "Beam" for the first night of the Sheffield blitz crossed over the Duke of Wellington pub on the corner of Carlisle Street, bang in the middle of the steel works area. The beam was 'bent' over to the city centre, and that got a right pasting instead of the steelworks. Even so, when I worked at Forgemasters I often wondered what lay beneath!Some are still there but, as they can move a long way beneath the surface, nobody knows where they are now.
The Council intended to keep the map secret, in order to prevent worry.
I feel a Freedom of Information request coming on...
When I take over, we're invading France and exiling the French to Rotherham.
That'll teach 'em...
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