Article Summary,Bombing Berlin: The Biggest Wartime Raid on Hitler’s Capital
In 1945, German forces experienced a series of attacks and bombings that left them devastated and defeated. From the western front, the US forces defeated them in a battle that was named the Battle of the Bulge. On March 7, Ludendorff Bridge was captured by the American 9th Armored Division that established a bridge on the Rhine River to facilitate their penetration into Germany. At the same time, the Soviet assaults were being experienced from the eastern front (the stretch from Yugoslavia to Lithuania). Bombs estimated to be in excess of 45000 tons were dropped by Anglo-Americans in Germany leaving most cities in ruins. Despite these attacks, German forces continued to fight the Allied forces. A final offensive war was launched on March 6 in Hungary near Lake Balaton. This was in a bid to protect its oil fields. They launched more than 3000 rockets and killed more than 4500people. The Allied forces, led by the US and Britain, did not stop their campaign in Germany.
The Anglo-American forces continued to attack German troops and managed to destroy the city of Dresden by mid-February 1945. They killed more than 25000 civilians in this attack. The Royal Air force and the US Air force launched simultaneous assaults on Germany on March 11, 1945, leaving many cities in rubbles. Germany experienced so many attacks that one may overlook the Berlin Bombing. The Allied Forces targeted to attack Northern Germany to facilitated Russia’s bid to take control of Germany rail stations and factories. The American forces with bomber fleets were fiercely counteracted as they approached the German capital and the ensuing battle is remembered to have been the most tremendous in 1945. The German fighters were outnumbered in the ratio of 25 to 1, but they managed to evade the Americans using the cloud cover. The German reorganized and reenergized themselves and launched an attack against the armada. They killed more than 178 American soldiers and destroyed 24 bombers.
Despite this success at Luftwaffe, the American soldiers remained the majority and German forces could not contain them from dropping more payloads on Berlin. The bombers targeted to take control of the rail yards, but the more than 3000 tons of bombs dropped resulted in the destruction of the city. It was not possible to establish how many Germans were killed in this attack considering the high numbers of refugees from previous attacks. Germany’s best fighter, the German Me 262 jet fighter, was introduced in the last months of the war but this could not keep Germany from its ultimate defeat. Germany’s eventual surrender was pushed by the link between Soviet and American forces. The Soviet forces advanced toward the heart of the city of Berlin while the American and British forces gutted many Germany cities.
The Berlin bombing mission is mostly overlooked probably because it is among the more than 350 attacks that targeted Germany’s capital. The US Army Air Force had been given a lot of resources in the mission, and they were determined to emerge victorious. The American Air commanders were zealous in this spring 1945 campaign in Germany, and they came up with strategies to give them success. Besides the strategic justification, the element of psychological appeal also played a role in targeting Hitler’s capital using the most massive bomber ever in American history.