Bombing of Obersalzberg
Obersalzberg was a complex of residences and bunkers in Bavaria. It was used by Adolf Hitler and other members of the Nazi Party’s elite. The Allies considered attacking the complex prior to April 1945. Two Allied bombers were shot down with the loss of four airmen, and 31 Germans were killed.
About Bombing of Obersalzberg in brief
Obersalzberg was a complex of residences and bunkers in Bavaria. It was used by Adolf Hitler and other members of the Nazi Party’s elite. The Allies considered attacking the complex prior to April 1945, but decided against doing so. Hitler’s residence and the bunker network were only slightly damaged in the raid. Two Allied bombers were shot down with the loss of four airmen, and 31 Germans were killed. Historians have identified several motives for the attack on ObersalZberg. These include demonstrating the effectiveness of the British heavy bomber force, convincing die-hard Germans that the war was lost and obscuring the memory of pre-war appeasement policies. The raid was celebrated at the time, but it is little remembered today. Most post-war histories made little mention of the operation. It is believed that the Allies were better off with Hitler still in command of the German military. Shortly afterwards, plans for an attack on the Berchtesgaden area by both the Eighth and Fifteenth Air Force were blocked by the USAAF’s high command due to the difficulty of hitting the target accurately. The British Special Operations Executive also developed plans to assassinate Hitler in the area during mid-1944. This operation was never attempted, and Hitler was never killed in the battle for the Rhineland. The attack was conducted by a large force of 359 heavy bombers in an attempt to destroy the bunkers located below ObersAlzberg. After difficulties locating and marking the targets were overcome, the bombers attacked in two waves.
The approximately 3,000 people at Obers alzberg sheltered in bunkers, and the nearby town of Berchtegaden was undamaged. The complex was defended by anti-aircraft guns as well as machinery capable of covering the area in a smoke screen. All of its buildings were camouflaged during early 1944 to make them difficult to locate from the air. In June 1944 Allied intelligence confirmed that Hitler was directing the resistance to the Normandy landings from the Berghof. United States Army Air Forces reconnaissance aircraft photographed the area between 16 and 20 June. The USAAF decided against attacking the area on 20 June on the grounds that it was unlikely that Hitler would be killed, and attempting this was to the Allies’ advantage. Arnold was also concerned that the attack force would suffer heavy casualties as the area was strongly defended. Do not do not do, hence do not, do not bomb his castle, he wrote in his diary in February 1945. The Royal Air Force developed a plan to attack ObersALzberg that was designated “Hellbound”. This plan was never carried out due to a number of reasons, including the high command’s belief that Hitler’s inept leadership of the. German military was to be to the Allied advantage. Hitler usually spent more than a third of each year at Oberberzberg, and it was one of his main command centres. He spent most of early 1944 there, and left for the final time on 14 July.
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This page is based on the article Bombing of Obersalzberg published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
