Bombing of Berlin in World War II | |||||||
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Part of Strategic bombing during World War II | |||||||
The ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, extensively damaged during the RAF bombing raid of 22–23 November 1943 and preserved as a monument. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Units involved | |||||||
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History of Berlin |
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Margraviate of Brandenburg (1157–1806) |
Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918) |
German Empire (1871–1918) |
Free State of Prussia (1918–1947) |
Weimar Republic (1919–1933) |
Nazi Germany (1933–1945) |
West Germany and East Germany (1945–1990) |
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Federal Republic of Germany (1990–present) |
See also |
Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany, was subject to 363 air raids during the Second World War.[1] It was bombed by the RAF Bomber Command between 1940 and 1945, the United States Army Air Forces' Eighth Air Force between 1943 and 1945, and the French Air Force in 1940 and between 1944 and 1945 as part of the Allied campaign of strategic bombing of Germany. It was also attacked by aircraft of the Red Air Force in 1941 and particularly in 1945, as Soviet forces closed on the city. British bombers dropped 45,517 tons of bombs,[2] while American aircraft dropped 22,090.3 tons. As the bombings continued, more and more people fled the city. By May 1945, 1.7 million people (40% of the population) had fled.[3]