In a “small-scale” bombing raid at about 06.00 GMT two of I./NJG 2’s aircraft were damaged by fragments:
Both these machines had previous fragment or crash damage and were in the workshops for repair, so they were not on the Gruppe’s formal strength. No personnel were hurt.
On 18 July, 377 B-17s of the US 1st Bomb Division raided the Peenemünde complex. The Luftwaffe’s Erpobungsstelle (Trials Establishment) Karlshagen reported on what had ensued: the preliminary Flak warning came at 06.46 GMT, followed at 07.05 by the air-raid warning; the first bombs fell at at 08.00, the last around 30 minutes later. It was estimated that 1500 high explosive and 200 liquid air bombs had been used but few if any incendiaries. Between 80 and 85% of the bombs had fallen on open country. There were about 80 unexploded bombs of which four were blown up and 12 went off of their own accord. Material damage was severe: although the fires had been brought under control, the hangar area was totally destroyed, as was the duty motor pool; office buildings and a hutted camp were partly wrecked. There was extensive damage to the combined heat and power plant, technical buildings, hangars, workshops, railway installations and billets. Telephones, the air-raid warning installation and the water supply had failed. A further fragmentary message suggests that as well as those above there had been casualties in the Works Superintendent’s office. Fatal casualties at the Erprobungsstelle and adjacent Artilery Park were 26 Germans, 7 Russians and 3 concentration camp prisoners. The wounded had not yet been counted. The following Erpobungsstelle aircraft were destroyed or damaged:
Towards 14.00 hrs. the Gauleiter himself arrived to address the workforce, promising to provide them with alternative accommodation. Meanwhile, Storch aircraft could land on a strip north of the new runway but it was estimated that the E-Stelle would not be ready to take on work for about three weeks.
Stade, near Hamburg, was raided at 10.44 GMT on 31 December. About 90 bombs fell and the aerodrome’s workshops reported the damage as follows:
Damage to stocks of spare parts had not been established so far but installations and vehicles had suffered severely: Hangar 3 had been completely destroyed and Hangar 1 was 40% damaged; the pump unit and pipe line of Fuel Tank 3 were totally destroyed and in consequence of this damage Tank 4 was also out of action. On top of that, the pipeline to Tank 6 had been fractured. The tyres of a filling [fuelling?] lorry were damaged; a coolant lorry’s coolant pipes were burned out and three oil tank lorries needed repairs to fire damage. Splinter damage had allowed 1000 litres of fuel to drain away and many empty fuel drums stored in blast bays were damaged but no count could be made due to danger from unexploded bombs. Tank 6 was expected to be repaired within four days but no date could be given for Tank 3; the workshops themselves were 100% operational. Provisional casualty figures were: two men killed and six–eight injured, two of them seriously. Of seven women who had been wounded, three were seriously hurt. One of these last was a Dutch woman who had remained on the aerodrome during her free time. |
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