Brandnacht Darmstadt

11 September 1944

"...on the night of September 11/12, 1944, ... a force of 226 Lancaster and 14 Mosquito bombers dropped 877 tons of bombs on the city. The British knew that the center of Darmstadt contained a great number of wooden buildings and that the anti-aircraft positions had been removed from the outskirts of the city. The also knew that the Technical University was involved in the research, and development, of the V-weapons that had been hitting England with increased regularity. This all played into the British decision to select Darmstadt for a major bombing raid. As a result Darmstadt became one of the first cities in Germany in which new bombing techniques were tested.

Bomber Command had always listed Darmstadt as a target city and the 1944 Guide to the Economic Importance of German towns and Cities graded industrial targets there accordingly. Listed as Grade 1 Target, the pharmaceutical giant Merck, was clearly the primary industrial target in Darmstadt. The chemical complex of Röhm and Haas was set as a Grade 2 target while Grade 3 was assigned to the grinding machine manufacturer, Eisenwerk Eberstad, stone saw manufacturer Adolf Reisterer, and the diesel engine builder Motroenfabrik Damstadt. The day after the September 11th attach British reported that Darmstadt was '...a centre of the enemy's chemical industry' however it is still not know today why Darmstadt was finally chosen for destruction." (excerpted from Americans in Darmstadt - 1945 - "Die Amis Komme!")

After the events of 911 the American and German communities joined together on 11 September, from 2002 to 2008, to mourn and remember a date that brought such misery to their nations. Eventually a symbolic plaque was placed on the wall outside the main gate at Kelley Barracks and representatives from each community would gather there for a ceremony. The last commemoration was held on 11 September 2008, and the plaque was later removed. It was reported that the plaque was to be placed at the Waldfriedhof, in Darmstadt, joining the graves of many of those that died in the 1944 bombing. I do not know if this has happened yet but my wife, Inge, is going to visit Germany this year and I have asked her to visit the cemetery to look for the plaque. If it is there she will take photos, which will be added to this page at a later date.

Before the Bombing

Photos of Darmstadt in the 1930's and 40's

Part of the city center just off from the Schloss in the 1930's. (Stadtarchiv Darmstadt)

Part of the old city wall. There is very little of the wall left in Darmstadt today. In the early 2000's a new hall was built in Darmstadt that incorporated part of the wall into its scheme. (Stadtarchiv Darmstadt)

St. Peter's Kirche in the 1930's. (Stadtarchiv Darmstadt)

Stadtlirche in the 1930's. The church was not rebuilt after the war and today is a lasting memorial to the night of the bombing and to those who died. (Robinson Archives)

Wedding Tower and the Russian Chapel. The tower is affectionately called Fuenf Finger Turm (5-Fingered Tower) by city natives. During the bombing an aircraft spotter had a front row seat to the attack, at the very top of the tower. The chapel was built by Russia when Czar Nicholas married Darmstadt native Princess Alexandria, in the early 1900's. The soil under the chapel was carted in from Russia so that Nicholas could meet the requirement that he be married on Russian soil. (Robinson Archives)

A view of the Darmstadt Stadtsmuseen (City Museum), on the left and the Alte Oper (Old Opera). Today the Alte Oper houses the Stadtarchiv. As far as I know Dr. Peter Engels is still hard at work there. (Robinson Archives)

Darmstadt city center in the 1930's, looking from the tower honoring Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig I to the Schloss. (Robinson Archives)

Darmstadt city center in August, 1944. (Stadtarchiv Darmstadt)

Darmstadt center in the 1930's. (Online Archives)

The main gate at Hutier Kaserne in August, 1944. (Robinson Archives)

Adolf Hitler Platz in August, 1944. This is called the Luisenplatz today. (Robinson Archives)

Bismarck Platz in August, 1944. (Robinson Archives)

Darmstadt Schloss in August, 1944. This was the residence of the Grand Duke of Hesse. Darmstadt was the capital of Hesse-Nassau. The capital was moved to Wiesbaden after the war. (Robinson Archives)

Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof (train station) in August, 1944. (Robinson Archives)

Neuer Kavallerie Kaserne (New Cavalry Barracks) in August, 1944. This was a horse regiment but the horses were replaced by bicycles. Photos of these bicycle troops will be seen on the Kasernes page. (Robinson Archives)

11 September 1944

British Attack

British attack plotting room. During the late morning of 11 September, teletypes began sending out orders for the attack on Darmstadt.

"AC864 SECRET Action Sheet 11 September

Target: LUCE8 Group to WHITEBAIT

MONICA not to be used at any time

Aim: to destroy an enemy industrial center

2359 H Hour

Aircraft to attack between 12,500 and 16,000 feet

Main Force 1x4, 1000 lb plus maximum 4 lb incendiary clusters..."

By 4:00 pm bomber crews were gathered in their respective briefing rooms for the nights attack. The briefings were transmitted from RAF headquarters in Swinderby, England.

"Good afternoon. This is the AOC. The target for tonight is Darmstadt...."

Since the receipt of the attack mission Lancaster and Mosquito ground crews were busy loading the designated high explosive and incendiary bombs needed for the attack. The Lancaster crew can be seen here, watching the their ground crew prepare the plane.

Lancaster bomb payload

The bomb payload selected for Darmstadt was 399 tons of high explosive bombs and 580 tons of incendiary bombs. The payload in this aircraft is 10 racks of high explosive, 4 racks of incendiary, and 1 "bunker buster" bomb. Each aircraft could carry different payloads that could be all high explosive or all incendiary. Bunker buster bombs were probably not used in the Darmstadt attack.

The high explosive bombs were used to punch through the roofs of the houses in the city, explode and open up the house for the next bombs. The incendiary bombs were intended to be dropped through the holes made by the high explosives, catching the house on fire.

Bombs being loaded unto a Mosquito

The mosquito was a light bomber and on the Darmstadt raid they followed the Lancaster's in to drop incendiary bombs, while on a low run, on targets of opportunity.

10:25 pm

Bombers were arriving over German territory and alarms began to go off in cities throughout west Germany. Air raid sirens began to sound the alarm in Darmstadt and searchlights snapped on to begin the search to illuminate the aircraft flying overhead. A half hour later aircraft began to arrive over the city.

Lancaster Bomber

The Lancaster and Mosquito squadrons flew over the English Channel and flew along the French-Belgian border, heading for Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. German radio stations began to broadcast regular updates to millions of listeners, hoping their city would be spared.

11:09 pm "...a new formation of fast bombers is approaching west Germany..."

11:32 pm ""... The bomber formation reported over and approaching west Germany is now over west and south-west Germany...." The aircraft had turned towards Darmstadt.

11:35 pm marker aircraft dropped white flares over a cavalry exercise field, a mile west of Darmstadt. This marked the aiming sight for the following aircraft.

Next came the aircraft to mark the sides of a "fan". The first wave marked the left side of the fan with green flares. When one set of flares struck the main railroad station an aircraft came in and dropped yellow flares over the green. This was signal to the following bombers to disregard that drop site. The wave of bombers dropped yellow flares on right side of the fan. Wave three bombers dropped high explosive bombs, creating "...pressure waves that tore the roofs off the wooden buildings...opening them up for the following waves, exposing the wooden rafters and insides of the buildings to incendiary bombs." The people of Darmstadt came to call this drop "The Death Fan".

Lancaster bomber dropping Bombs In the third wave aircraft, like the one on the right , would drop high explosive and an air mine(?) bombs. In the following waves aircraft, like the one on the left, would drop incendiary bombs. The is a British bomb run over Duisburg, Germany.

Lancaster bomber flying over Germany, anti-aircraft shells and flares illuminating the night sky.

12 September 1944

after the bombing

US photo recon on 12 September, 1944. During the night "...234 air mines, 500 explosive bombs, 300,000 incendiary bombs..." (On-line article) were dropped over Darmstadt. Over 80% of the city center was destroyed, putting Darmstadt in the top ten of most heavily destroyed cities in Germany during WW2. (On-line Archives)

St. Peter's Church (Stadtarchiv)

Old City Wall (Stadtarchiv)

City Museum and Opera House (Stadtarchiv)

City Schloss (Stadtarchiv)

City Center (Stadtarchiv)

Neuer Kavallerie Kaserne Barracks Building (Robinson Archives)

The training area designated as the apex of the attack was to the rear of the kaserne. Several of the barracks and work buildings were severely damaged during the bombing.

Neuer Kavallerie Kaserne Vehicle Garage (Robinson Archives)

Hutier Kaserne (Robinson Archives)

Hutier Kaserne lay on the right side of the fan, just outside the marked area. The kaserne still stands today and is used for apartments and a city government office. The building pictured here is used for apartments today.

Hutier Kaserne (Robinson Archives)

Work to clean up, and repair, bomb damage began almost immediately. This photo was taken at the end of September, 1944.

City Center (Stadtarchiv)

This photo is from the late 40's, early 50's. Streets are clear and much of the rubble has been cleaned up.

Another view of the city center, looking up Rheinstrasse. (Digital Darmstadt)

Bomb Damage in Darmstadt (Robinson Archives)

This photo was taken in May, 1945, after the German surrender that ended the war in Europe.

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German Death Card (Robinson Archives)

The population of Darmstadt, before the war, was 110,000 people. At wars end the population had dropped to under 60,000, many fleeing the city for safer areas. On the night of 11/12 September, 1944, between 12,500 and 13,500 people were killed. At the height of the attack a fire storm raged through the city. Darmstadt did not have a very good air raid shelter system and many took to the cellars of their buildings. Not knowing if there would be another attack, no one left the cellars, never to leave. Outside, those in the vicinity of the Schloss found themselves surrounded by fire, only one place to go, in their minds. They jumped into the water-filled moat that surrounded the Schloss. These citizens were later, boiled to death

In Germany there is a custom of issuing what is called a "Todeskarte", Death Card when someone passes away. Many military collectors today seek those cards that were issued for soldiers losing their lives during he war. After the bombing thousands were issued for those that lost their lives.

German Death Card (Robinson Archives)

German Death Card (Robinson Archives)

Property Compensation Card (Robinson Archives)

After the bombing came rebuilding and claims requests from the bomb damage. This is the front side, listing personal information. This particular card was issued on August 26, 1944.

Property Compensation Card (Robinson Archives)

The is the back side, listing all property and damages from a raid. From 1941 to 1944, Darmstadt was bombed fourteen times.

US Raids to Darmstadt

1944

US raids over Germany followed the same planning as those of Britain. There would have been calls from 8th AAF headquarters to the assigned bomber group bases throughout Britain. Pilots and crews gathered in their briefing rooms for the days mission. In the months after the 11 September bombing of Darmstadt, US planes were the only ones hit targets in Darmstadt.

This briefing is probably in a hangar at one of the air bases located in southeast Britain. Many briefings rooms were much smaller.

20150715 USAF Museum WW2 8th Air Force Quonset Hut (23)

Briefing Re-creation at the Wright-Patterson USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio (Robinson Archives)

This briefing represents one being given in a quonset hut. The man on the left has topographical maps in front of him and behind him, on a table. The man at the large map is plotting the course that is to be followed by the group. The man on the right gives the briefing itself.

20150715 USAF Museum WW2 8th Air Force Quonset Hut (19)

Briefing Re-creation at the Wright-Patterson USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio (Robinson Archives)

Chairs are being readied for the briefing while another soldier preps the stove to keep the hut warm.

Not all those being briefed stayed awake in this briefing.

Pilots and crew checking the assignment board, making sure all knew the target and their assignments.

Ground crew preparing bombs to load into a B17.

Inside the bomb bay with bombs in their racks.

B17, Nine o Nine, at the Owls Head Transportation Museum in 2007. This plane, along with a B26, travels around the US to various air shows. The swastikas represents three planes shot down. Each bomb represents a bomb run. (Robinson Archives)

Bombs in a rack on the Nine o Nine (Robinson Archives)

B17's over Germany, flying through flack from ground anti-aircraft guns. The plane in the lower left has sustained damage.

"Bombs away!"

US Bomb Run on 13 September 1944 (Robinson Archives)

US Bomb Run on 12 December 1944 (Robinson Archives)

This is a very interesting photo for me. Inges home is near the Merck pharmacutical company, lying a half mile or so from the plant. The housing complex seen here was called Siedlung Hardt and was built as a project during the Third Reich. The two rows at the top of the complex are duplex homes, while the third row are all single family homes. Inges family home is the left hand duplex, far right, top row. The four white spots, with black centers, are all bomb strikes from an overshoot on a bomb run to to take out the pharmacutical plant. (Stadtarchiv)