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Posts tagged with berlin

  1. Bombensturm! (Part IV)

    2019-02-05 20:18:00 UTC

    HC Bombs: [RAF ground crew push a 4,000-lb blast-bomb towards the bomb-bay of a Vickers Wellington of No 75 (NZ) Squadron at RAF Feltwell in May, 1942.] Photo: Imperial War Museums © IWM (TR 11). The strategic method to destroy German cities employed by Bomber Command in area bombings was…

  2. Bombensturm! (Part II)

    2018-05-03 12:37:08 UTC

    The 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…

  3. The Swiss House

    2017-10-30 23:21:17 UTC

    In the corner where Unter den Linden meets Friedrichstraße, there is a house with more than 85 years of history in Berlin. Today, this building stands as one of the original places of the city and a survivor of the Allied bombing campaign and the Luftangriffe of the Second World…

  4. Ivan kommt

    2017-06-12 15:03:00 UTC

    Berlin was also bombed by the Soviets, years before the final Red assault over the city in 1945 Hitler invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the largest offensive in History at the time, and German forces quickly advanced throught the vast steppe towards Moscow, the main target.…

  5. Flakscheinwerfer

    2017-06-07 16:32:33 UTC

    At night, Berlin first system defence was based mainly in the use of anti-aircraft searchlights (Flakscheinwerfer). Hundreds of them were positioned around- and in the city, and their task were to find and track enemy bombers, showing them to the anti-aircraft batteries at night [A German Flakscheinwerfer in…

  6. The defences – Air detection (III)

    2017-05-30 07:59:36 UTC

    The Freya systems of the German early warning radars were highly successful, but they need another set to help in targeting air objectives Anti-aircraft targeting radars, or FuMG (from Funkmeßgerät, or radar) were not in service when the war broke out. From 1939, GEMA and Telefunken starting to develop…

  7. The defences – Air detection (II)

    2017-05-29 11:32:07 UTC

    RADAR was the acronym for Radio Detection And Ranging, with the first sets being tested by British and Germans at the same time during the early years of the 1900s Its combat debut was during Second World War. It was an invaluable air detection aid whenever bad weather, darkness…

  8. The defences – Air detection (I)

    2017-05-26 16:08:55 UTC

    The Nazis developed a complex net to defend the Reich and occupied Europe from air raids. This superb detection net goes from observation of incoming attacks to the latest and more sophisticated elements of electronic radar and radio to track enemy planes and to assist the AA (anti-aircraft) guns in…

  9. Berlin Wintergarten (Part II)

    2017-05-25 10:02:26 UTC

    In the end, Berlin’s WinterGarten collapsed under the carpet of bombs dropped by the Allies during the last year of the war [Main gate of the Wintergarten kabarett as viewed during her golden years.] [Photo: Bundesarchiv.] Already damaged during the 1943-44 British bombing campaign, the theatre was destroyed on 21…

  10. Berlin Wintergarten (Part I)

    2017-05-24 11:19:34 UTC

    The Berlin Wintergarten theatre was a large variety theatre (“Varieté-Bühne”) placed in Friedrichstraße Ecke Dorotheenstraße [German soldiers outside of the WinterGarten theatre on Dorotheenstraße 16 in Berlin, 1941.] [Photo: Bundesarchiv.] Owned by Hermann Gebers, it opened in 1887 as a recreational center of the Berlin Central Hotel, but also…

  11. Das Altes Museum

    2017-05-12 17:53:45 UTC

    The Altes Museum, sited in the Museuminsel near the Berliner Dom was built between 1823 and 1830 by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781 – 1841) in the neoclassical style to house the Prussian royal family’s art collection. It was called the Königliches Museum (Royal Museum) until 1845 and…

  12. Victory Graffiti

    2017-05-08 12:21:51 UTC

    May 8th means to European countries V-E day: the victory over Nazi-Germany in 1945 To Berlin, it means the start of a new era. From the ashes of the destroyed Third Reich would raise a new-born country that would be the economic and political engine of the European Union together…

  13. The Bitter End

    2017-05-02 16:32:13 UTC

    On 2 May 1945, the last garrison which defended Berlin finally surrendered to superior Soviet troops. Hitler had committed suicide on April 30th [Photo: Bundesarchiv.] In the photograph, in front of the destroyed Brandenburger Tor and a Soviet IS-2 heavy tank is Yevgeny Khaldei, the Soviet war photographer…

  14. Les Marins français Bombardaient Berlin

    2017-05-01 16:36:00 UTC

    7 June 1940 Actually, the first bombing raid over Berlin was a French affair. [Photo: AMMAC du Fumélois.] On Monday, June 3, 1940, the Germans launched “Operation Paula” with a Luftwaffe force of some three hundred bombers attacking Paris and causing several hundred civilian casualties. The French decided to…
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