Baedeker Blitz
The
Baedeker Blitz or
Baedeker raids were a series of
Vergeltungsangriffe (retaliatory raids) German bombing raids on
English cities in response to the bombing of the erstwhile
Hanseatic League city of
Lübeck during
World War II.
It was claimed that Lübeck was being used to supply the
Russian Front. Some doubt this was the sole reason and that the historic centre of Lübeck seems to have been targeted simply because it was a very densely built-up area, with a lot of buildings of wooden construction and hence would be easily damaged. Damage to the historic city was very severe with the cathedral and the main churches being destroyed.
The Baedeker Raids were conducted by the
German Luftwaffe Loftflotte 3 in two periods between April and June
1942. It targeted relatively unimportant strategically but picturesque cities in England. The cities were reputedly selected from the German
Baedeker Tourist Guide to Britain, meeting the criterion of having been awarded three stars hence the English name for the raids. Baron
Gustav Braun von Sturm, a German
propagandist is reported to have said on
24 April 1942 following the first attack, "We shall go out and bomb every building in Britain marked with three stars in the Baedeker Guide."
The cities attacked were:First period
*
Exeter (
April 23 and
April 24;
May 3)
*
Bath (
April 25 and
April 26)
*
Norwich (
April 27 and
April 29)
*
York (
April 28)
Second period, following the
bombing of Cologne*
Canterbury (
May 31;
June 2 and
June 6)
Across all the raids on these five cities a total of 1,637 civilians were killed and 1,760 injured, and over 50,000 houses were destroyed. Some noted buildings were destroyed but on the whole most escaped - the
cathedrals of Norwich and Canterbury included. The German bombers suffered heavy losses for minimal damage inflicted, and the Axis' need for reinforcements in
North Africa and
Russian Front meant further operations were restricted to hit-and-run raids on coastal towns by a few
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter-bombers.
Several other raids are sometimes included under the
Baedeker title, although only a few aircraft were involved in each and damage was not extensive. These raids were all on
East Anglian locations.
*
Bury St Edmunds *
Cambridge*
Great Yarmouth*
Ipswich*
Battle of Britain*
The Blitz*
British military history of World War II*
UK topics*
BBC News: Blitzed by guidebook*
Bath Blitz website*
Canterbury at War
