The British, the bombs and the bloody lies
There you go - that's what still written and talked about here, when it comes to the bombing. 80 years on, and some just can't get enough of it.
This is the article, written in Russian - and translated by us. Buckle up, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride - especially if you’re aware of the topic. Note: we didn’t change a thing about this. The logic and wording remained the same.
Why did the British bomb Königsberg? The head of the "Friends of Kant" society has an answer.
30 August 2019, 18:11
75 years ago, on the nights of 26/27 and 29/30 August 1944, the British Royal Air Force raided Königsberg, killing more than 6,000 civilians and destroying the historic city centre. Until now, these raids have caused a lot of controversy among historians, experts, rightly asking questions about the feasibility of carpet bombing of Kneiphof, Hintertragheim and Rossgarten. The chairman of the "Friends of Kant and Königsberg" society Herfried Horst presented his take on the matter and these burning questions during a lecture in the art space "Gates". "New Kaliningrad" publishes the key points of the speech made on August 27.
Pending Questions
Exactly 75 years ago, on the night of August 26-27 and August 29-30, 1944, the British Royal Air Force bombed Königsberg. There are bombings during the Second World War, which are known all over the world, such as the bombing of Stalingrad, Dresden. On the contrary, the bombing raids on Königsberg remain little known to the general public. If you ask why the RAF bombed Königsberg, the answer will not be difficult. World War II was unleashed by Germany. Britain fought against Germany, led by the National Socialists, and was an ally of the Soviet Union, the United States, and other countries. There is no doubt that the struggle was against the misanthropic ideology. Based on this, we can answer the question "Why?". Because it was a German city, because Germany was under Nazi rule and Britain was fighting against the Nazis.
But why did the British Royal Air Force bomb only the historic center of Königsberg, and not stations, barracks, port facilities and other military structures? Why were the raids carried out at a time when the Red Army was already on the approaches to the borders of East Prussia?
480 tons of aerial bombs
Let's turn to the known facts. The target of the first bombing raid on Königsberg on the night of August 26/27 was the northeastern parts of the city, Hintertragheim and Rosgarten. The operation involved 174 four-engine Lancasters of the 5th Group of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command squadron under the command of Major John Woodroffe. About 480 tons of ammunition were dropped, of which a third were fragmentation bombs and two thirds were incendiary bombs. The Supreme Commander of the Bomber Command, Sir Arthur Harris, considered such a ratio necessary to arrange a real firestorm in the city and thus destroy the maximum number of residents. He is more often referred to as Bomber Harris, but the pilots nicknamed him Butcher Harris, perhaps because they were aware of the consequences of his orders. During the first bombardment, about a thousand Königsbergers were killed. The second raid, in which 175 Lancasters participated and 480 tons of ammunition were dropped, took place on the night of August 29/30 and led to the destruction of the entire central part of Königsberg, that is, the areas of historical development. These are Altstadt, Kneiphof and Löbenicht, the Royal Castle, the Cathedral with its Wallenrodt Library and many cultural values, the old warehouse quarters of Lastadie, the beautiful Königsberg churches of the Baroque era, the old university, its new building on Paradeplatz, the opera house, the famous bookstore Graefe und Unzer, the city historical museum, which stored many exhibits related to Kant (they were placed in four halls), the state library with the most valuable first editions. All this was destroyed. About five thousand people died during the raid, the exact number of deaths has not been established.
Königsberg is only one of 131 German cities that were destroyed in this way by British aircraft between March 1942 and April 1945.
A typical RAF bombing raid looked like this. At first, the "bomber-gunner" marked the area of destruction in the old city, in Altstadt. In Germany, these neighborhoods usually consisted of medieval half-timbered houses that were flammable. This stage served to refine the bombing site to cause maximum damage. After dropping the light markers (the Germans called them "Christmas trees"), the actual raid began. Further in the course were heavy aerial mines (high-explosive fragmentation bombs), the shock wave of which tore off roofs, broke windows and brought down firewalls. Then thousands of small incendiary and phosphorous bombs were dropped into the houses open from above, the flames covered wooden floors, doors, furniture, curtains, carpets, stair railings, and the air draft turned each fire into a huge fire. Finally, with the help of high-explosive and fragmentation bombs, partially delayed action, funnels appeared on the streets in the places of their fall, water pipes were destroyed, which created obstacles to the actions of firefighters and allowed countless individual foci to merge unhindered into a single fire tornado.
In 1961, the British government services called the destruction of Königsberg on August 29/30, 1944, a “brilliant attack”: “Of all the 189 Lancasters that flew on the mission, no more than 175 were able to strike at the target. But even this relatively small number of bombers caused terrible and devastating destruction in Königsberg. 41% of all buildings and 20% of industrial facilities in the city suffered serious visible damage. The results of the photographic survey suggest that 134,000 people were left homeless, and the apartments of the remaining 61,000 were severely damaged. ”
Created in 2002 to commemorate the anniversary of the British bomber aviation units, the site called the raids on Königsberg outstanding operations. "Due to the remoteness of the target, it was possible to transport only 480 tons of bombs, and heavy damage was caused near the selected 4 single points of aiming. Success was achieved despite the fact that the beginning of the raid was delayed by 20 minutes due to continuous low clouds. A detachment of bombers waited patiently, burning valuable fuel until the targeting aircraft found a gap in the clouds, and the commander of the air squadron, John Woodroof, gave the order to launch the raid. ” The number of casualties caused by these bombs is not stated in official British reports.
Michael Wieck, who witnessed both raids, wrote about this in the book "The Decline of Königsberg — the Testimony of a German Jew": "Two raids... once and for all destroyed what had been diligently created and accumulated for centuries. The ocean of flames has ruined an incomparably beautiful, glorious, ancient city. ” About the August 29/30 raid: "This time, the entire city center — from the North Station to the Main Station — the bombers systematically and conscientiously dotted with canisters with napalm, first used here, and explosive and incendiary bombs of various designs. As a result, the whole center flared up almost at once. A sharp increase in temperature and the instant occurrence of a severe fire did not leave the civilian population living in narrow streets any chance of rescue. People burned down both near houses and in basements... Everyone knows about the bombing of Dresden, it was often described in all terrifying detail. The same thing happened to Koenigsberg six months earlier. It was impossible to enter the city for about three days. And at the end of the fires, the earth and stone remained hot and cooled slowly. Black ruins with empty window openings looked like skulls. The funeral teams collected the charred bodies of those who died on the street and the twisted bodies of those who were suffocated by the smoke in the basement. Many thousands died, and each had its own destiny. As it turned out later, there were also Jews living in mixed marriages. Who is able to tell about the last minutes of life of the unfortunate The leadership of the Anglo-American troops should have known that civilians, women and children suffered from such raids, and the course of hostilities hardly changed. These acts of revenge were neither heroic nor sensible and were indicative of an immoral mindset similar to that of the Nazis. In this way, the Hitlerite military machine could not be stopped — on the contrary, such actions led to fierce and desperate resistance. "
Let's look at the views of the beautiful ancient city, and then at the photo after the British bombing on August 29/30, 1944. And now let's look at the pre-war map of Königsberg and compare it with the plan for hitting bombs, compiled on the basis of photo reconnaissance data, which the 5th Group of the Royal Air Force Bomber Squadron presented after the raid. The British always photographed the cities they wanted to destroy before the bombing to identify targets, and afterwards to analyze hits. This is how they improved their knowledge and gained experience. Evaluation of the photographs taken after the raid on Koenigsberg on August 29/30, 1944, allows us to accurately establish that only the center of Königsberg, that is, the area between the Main (South) and North Railway Stations, was bombed, and the station complexes, platforms and rails themselves remained intact.
With Stockholm's acquiescence
Consider how British bombers managed to cover a considerable distance from England to Königsberg — about 1,500 kilometers one way. They flew back and forth over the territory of Sweden, which remained neutral. The Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet published an article about this on Wednesday, 30 August 1944:
"The largest flight of all previous ones: about 10 aircraft crashed over Skåne (a province in Sweden — Herfried Horst). Ambulances and firefighters are involved. The largest flight since the beginning of the war, which took place over Swedish territory, was running almost over the whole of Southern Sweden on Wednesday night, when about a thousand aircraft for a long time crossed this area. The entrance was from the west between Halmstad and Falsterbo, the route ran behind Karlskrona. Approximately ten planes made an emergency landing or crashed... At about two o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, the arrival of the air squadrons and the flight in the opposite direction were observed. "
"Svenska Dagbladet" noted the impression made by the British bombers flying over Sweden: "At first, it was like a faint distant roar that kept coming and coming, filling the air with a powerful roar that did not stop and disappear. It was as if a boil filled everything around. The air shook, window panes in the houses rattled. Everywhere people ran out into the street and looked at the sky. The roar was as strong as if the planes were flying low, and there was not a single pause in this rumble. ”
The next day, August 31, the same newspaper wrote: "The Swedish air defense forces came into action and, according to the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, some aircraft were hit by Swedish air defense before the crash." In other words, in accordance with the norms of international law, Sweden fired at British aircraft that violated the boundaries of its neutral space. Then the Swedish Foreign Ministry demanded that the embassy in London hand over a note of protest to the British government. Stockholm was indignant that British bombers flew over the country. But they did not object to the destruction of the ancient Königsberg, when about six thousand of its inhabitants died. Thus, Swedish neutrality was preserved.
By double standards
In Toward Eternal Peace, Immanuel Kant wrote: “No state, in time of war with another, should allow such hostility as would make mutual trust impossible in the future state of the world. After all, even during the war, there should be at least some trust in the enemy's way of thinking, because otherwise peace cannot be concluded. And hostile actions will turn into a war of extermination. ” These ideas of Kant are reflected in the Hague Convention of 1899 on the Laws and Customs of War on Land, which was concluded during an international peace conference with the participation of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II. This convention has been signed by 49 states. Its meaning was to serve the cause of humanity and reduce the negative effects of war. According to the document, the military and civilian population, their lives and property are clearly distinguished.
Before the outbreak of World War II, it was clear that air raids on civilians and non-military targets were outlawed. On June 21, 1938, British Prime Minister Arthur Chamberlain stated that in a future war, all its participants must observe 3 principles:
1. Deliberate attack and bombardment of civilians is contrary to international law.
2. Air raids should only be directed at verifiable military targets.
3. When attacking military targets, it is necessary to pay close attention so as not to mistakenly bomb the civilian population living nearby.
On September 30 of the same year, the Assembly of the League of Nations unanimously adopted a resolution in which these principles were fixed. But if these provisions on saving the lives of civilians sound so unambiguous, then how was it possible that the British Air Force from March 1942 to February 1945 destroyed many German cities and destroyed at least 600 thousand inhabitants? The answer is that the British government said one thing and did another.
On February 14, 1942, the Ministry of the British Royal Air Force sent a directive on the carpet bombing of German cities. “From now on, your activities should be aimed at undermining the morale of the enemy's civilian population, especially the workers of industrial enterprises.” Royal Air Force chief Charles Porter said: “It should be clear to every pilot that the target of the bombing should be residential areas and not a shipyard or, say, an aircraft factory.”
The most important role in this story is played by the figure of Professor Frederick Lindemann. On May 30, he presented Churchill with a plan to destroy 58 German cities, each of which was home to at least 100,000 people. According to this plan, 22 million people were to be left homeless, 900 thousand were to be destroyed and a million were to be physically injured. "Butcher" Haris was appointed commander of the Bomber Command on February 23, 1943. And he decided to take over the execution of this plan to kill civilians. Since then, all raids on civilians have been presented as attacks on areas of military importance, and the destruction of residential areas and civilians is just a side effect.
It should be noted that in the UK there were people protesting against air strikes on German cities, against the death of civilians. They sent petitions, wrote appeals to newspapers, but their voice was not heard.
Now let's ask ourselves: what prompted the British to take part in the destruction of Königsberg? After all, it had to go under the influence of the Russians (in July 1943, at a conference in Tehran, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to Joseph Stalin's proposal to transfer Königsberg to the USSR). Why did the British Royal Air Force behave when the second front was opened, when American troops landed in the northern region of France?
At one time, such a question was posed by the Polish writer Andrzej Mencwel in his book "Kaliningrad Monamur". “Königsberg was destroyed three times. The city that was then, before — it is no more. The first time was the carpet bombing of British aircraft, which covered the city, not the industrial center, not the port. It was a terrorist absurdity, a costly anti-Russian attack. ”
In my opinion, the destruction of Königsberg was a demonstration of strength and power, and it was directed towards the Soviet Union. The British government wanted to show that the Royal Air Force could completely defeat a city falling within the sphere of interests of the USSR. The British Minister of Transport in 1942 inadvertently declared: “The British troops had to wait until the forces of the Germans and the Russians were completely exhausted.” This statement was made by him in March 1942, at a time when Great Britain was an ally of the USSR in the war against Germany. Shortly after this statement, he was forced to resign. This statement reflects the strategy of the bomb war, as well as the attitude towards the Soviet Union.
Let me remind you that from July 1942, Stalin appealed to the Allies with a request to open the Second Front in order to facilitate the Soviet soldiers' task on the Eastern Front. Churchill constantly opposed this. In turn, he pointed out to Stalin that the British Air Force could bomb German cities. At one of the conferences, Churchill persuaded Roosevelt not to agree to Stalin's wish/request for a second front. Instead, he suggested more bombing.
It is noteworthy that some strategically important objects remained untouched after the devastating bombing. For example, no one touched a number of military facilities. The same applied to oil refining facilities, refineries. This was done deliberately so that European tanks could always have fuel and had the opportunity not to let Soviet tanks into the territory of East Prussia. That is, even then, the "allies" wanted to limit the influence of communist ideology on the countries of Western Europe.
At one time, intelligence officer Pavel Sudoplatov wrote: "British military intelligence gives us metered information, at the same time they want us to disrupt the German offensive. From this, we concluded that they are interested not so much in our victory as in actions that would lead to the exhaustion of the forces of both sides. ” The same principle was implemented during the bombing of Dresden from February 12 to 14. These raids were meant to show the Soviet Union that the Western Allies would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. This follows from the text of the order to bomb Dresden: "The raid is supposed to hit the enemy where it will be most sensitive for him. It is necessary to make the city uninhabitable, no need to wait for the Russians to enter its territory. ”
Spirit of the place
At the end of August 1944, the historic center of Königsberg was destroyed. In April, after the battles on the 6-9th, the city came under the control of Soviet troops, in 1946 the region began to be reinhabited, in 1947 — 1948 the evacuation of the remaining German population took place. The restoration of the city has begun.
What is left in memory of Kant? The spirit of the place. His grave is at the Cathedral. Kant's philosophy remained. The easternmost city in Germany became the westernmost city in Russia. But it will forever remain the birthplace of Immanuel Kant. Kant unites Germans, Russians, Lithuanians, Poles — people of all nationalities. Their representatives will gather to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Kant's birth in 2024. They will gather to honor the memory of Kant and implement his philosophical principles set out in the book "Towards Eternal Peace".
That’s what the history looks like in the media and the minds of people here nowadays. Sad to say, it hasn’t changed much since then - but, the mastermind behind this BS was banned from entering the region for thirty-five years. Why? It had a lot to do with the war in Ukraine. Yep. That’s Russia for you - alternate history and lies. Now, we’ll be covering this in a companion podcast.
Stay tuned. We’ll be leaving you with a bit of wisdom from good old Immanuel.
