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Posts tagged with Blitz
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August summary - The early days
2023-01-09 13:54:00 UTC‘In case there is an attack on the centre of Government in London, it seems very important to return the compliment the next day upon in Berlin. I understand you will have by the end of this month a respectable party of Stirlings ready. Perhaps the nights are not…
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The RAF strikes the Opera
2019-01-08 19:26:00 UTC9 / 10 APRIL 1941 On that night, Wednesday, RAF Bomber Command launched an operation against ‘the Big City’. The mixed attacking force comprised 80 bombers - 36 Wellingtons, 24 Hampdens, 17 Whitleys and 3 of the new Short Stirling heavy bomber. This was the first raid on…
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Bombensturm! (Part III)
2018-06-12 21:51:42 UTCMC Bombs: [Armourers from No 97 Squadron preparing MC-bombs on their trolleys to be loaded onto a Lancaster bomber on July 1943 at RAF Waddington.]
The limited and inadequate arsenal of bombs composed of the high explosive GP (general purpose) bombs (10-15% detonation failure rate) made British Bomber Command to…
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Bombensturm! (Part II)
2018-05-03 12:37:08 UTCThe Incendiary Bombs [Haus Vaterland (“Fatherland House”) burns following a night raid on 22/23 November 1943 by British RAF bombers. The building was a pleasure palace on the southwest side of Potsdamer Platz. At left, a S-Bahn signal post.]
[Photo: Ullsteinbild / Archiv Golejewski.] Incendiaries (IB), usually small-sized…
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Feuer!
2018-04-23 19:53:04 UTCFire, as Bomber Command well knew, was the biggest destroyer of property
On 23 September 1941, Britain’s Air Staff produced a report detailing the effectiveness of German incendiary attacks on Britain and recommending that fire be a central feature of Bomber Command attacks. The key lesson to be…