The bombing of Warsaw in World War II started with the aerial bombing campaign of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

by the German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

during the siege of Warsaw in the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

in 1939. It also included German bombing raids during the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

in 1944. During the course of the war, approximately 85% of the city was destroyed due to German mass bombings,

heavy artillery The formal definition of large-calibre artillery used by the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA) is "guns, howitzers, artillery pieces, combining the characteristics of a gun, howitzer, mortar, or multiple-launch rocket syst ...

fire, and a planned demolition campaign. Warsaw district Praga 1939

Siege of Warsaw (1939)

In 1939, the Luftwaffe opened the German attack on Poland with operation Wasserkante, an air attack on Warsaw on 1 September. This attack by four bomber groups was of limited effectiveness due to low-lying cloud cover and stout Polish resistance by the

PZL P.11 The PZL P.11 was a Polish fighter aircraft, designed and constructed during the early 1930s by Warsaw-based aircraft manufacturer PZL. Possessing an all-metal structure, metal-covering, and high-mounted gull wing, the type held the distinction of ...

fighters of the Pursuit Brigade, which claimed down 16 German aircraft for the loss of 10 of their own. However, heavy losses in Polish fighter aircraft meant that by 6 September the air defense of Warsaw was in the hands of the 40 mm (24 guns), 75 mm (72 guns) anti-aircraft guns and many anti-aircraft machine guns of the Warsaw Defense Command. As the German Army approached Warsaw on 8 September 1939, 140 Junkers Ju 87 Stukas attacked the portions of the city on the east bank of the Vistula River and other bombers bombed the Polish Army positions in the western suburbs. On 13 September Luftwaffe level and dive bombers caused widespread fires. Further resistance was followed by propaganda leaflet drops. Finally, starting at 0800 on 25 September, Luftwaffe bombers under the command of Major

Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen Wolfram Karl Ludwig Moritz Hermann Freiherr von Richthofen (10 October 1895 – 12 July 1945) was a German World War I flying ace who rose to the rank of '' Generalfeldmarschall'' in the Luftwaffe during World War II. Born in 1895 into a f ...

conducted the largest air raid ever seen by that time, dropping 560 tons of high explosive bombs and 72 tons of incendiary bombs, in coordination with heavy artillery shelling by Army units. The center of Warsaw was badly damaged. Approximately 1,150 sorties were flown by a wide variety of aircraft, including obsolescent

Junkers Ju 52/3m Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM, earlier JCO or JKO in World War I, English: Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works) more commonly Junkers , was a major German aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer. It was founded there in Dessau, Germ ...

bombers, which dropped 13 percent of the incendiary bombs dropped on the day. Only two Ju 52 bombers were lost. Although commonly portrayed as being absolutely decisive, the Black Monday air attack was a mixed success. While the bombing lowered Polish morale, it did not cause the Polish surrender. Smoke from fires and large amounts of dust obscured targets and greatly reduced accuracy. As a result, Luftwaffe bombers dropped a significant amount of their bomb loads on German infantry positions in the northwest suburbs of the city, leading to acrimonious discussions between Luftwaffe and Army commanders. The tonnage dropped combined with only approximate delivery on target and the short duration does not begin to approximate the intensity of attacks major European cities were subsequently to suffer. However, on 26 September three key forts in the city defenses were captured, and the Polish garrison offered its surrender - on 27 September German troops entered the city. The international press reported that 20,000 to 40,000 civilians were killed, figures that have remained in the history books sixty years later. The real number is likely far lower; calculating with the same casualty rates as the most lethal bombing raids in World War II in Germany, the number of dead amounts to 6,000 to 7,000.Der Spiegel ''Wir warden sie ausradieren'' No. 3 vol. 13, 13 January 2003, p. 123. 40 percent of the buildings in the city were damaged and 10 percent of the buildings destroyed. However, some of the damage was the result of ground artillery fire and not solely caused by aerial bombing—including intense street fighting between German infantry and armor units and Polish infantry and artillery. The September 25 raid had the aim of breaking Polish morale and forcing a surrender. According to the laws of war in 1939, Warsaw was a defended military target and the Luftwaffe raid could be construed as a legitimate military operation. The Siege of Warsaw accounted for 10% destroyed buildings by late-1939.

Warsaw Uprising (1944)

The 1944 uprising in

broke out with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

having air superiority/ support. Despite this, the Luftwaffe Air Force conducted numerous strikes against Polish resistance and civilian targets.

's infrastructure was also heavily damaged by air raids, as desperate street-to-street fighting took place in the destroyed areas. After 63 days of heavy urban fighting, the

's combined efforts with

artillery bombardment In military usage, a barrage is massed sustained artillery fire (shelling) aimed at a series of points along a line. In addition to attacking any enemy in the kill zone, a barrage intends to suppress enemy movements and deny access across tha ...

, and systemic destruction accounted for 85%-90% destroyed buildings by January 1945.

Gallery

File:German Heinkel He 111 bombing Warsaw 1939.jpg, German Heinkel He 111 planes bombing Warsaw, September 1939 File:Płonąca oblężona Warszawa.jpg, Warsaw after German Luftwaffe bombing, September 1939 File:The Royal Castle in Warsaw - burning 17.09.1939.jpg, Royal Castle in Warsaw after the German bombing of the city, September 1939 File:Polish victim of German Luftwaffe action 1939.jpg, A Polish girl cries over the body of her 14-year-old sister who was strafed by German dive bombers, September 1939 File:Polish kid in the ruins of Warsaw September 1939.jpg, Survivor of the bombing of Warsaw, 1939 File:Julien Bryan - Life - 47219.jpg, Nurses care for infants in a makeshift maternity ward in besieged Warsaw. Photograph taken by Julien Bryan and published in Life Magazine, September 1939 File:Julien Bryan - Life - 47212.jpg, Interior view of the destroyed Catholic Hospital of the Transfiguration in Praga district of Warsaw, September 1939 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2008-0415-508, Warschau, Luftaufnahme, Zerstörungen.jpg, Destroyed city blocks in Warsaw after a German bombing, September 1939

Notes

References

External links

Electronic Encyclopedia of Civil Defense - Bombing of Warsaw

Capturing the Ruins of Warsaw
{{WWII city bombing