Luftwaffe Bombing raids on Moscow

German Luftwaffe 1935-1945.
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Helmut Von Moltke

Luftwaffe Bombing raids on Moscow

Post by Helmut Von Moltke »

hi, does anyone know where to find any info about the small raids that the Lufwaffe made on Moscow in 1941, like how many planes were lost, etc? thanks. :D

helmut
Lorenz
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Post by Lorenz »

hi, does anyone know where to find any info about the small raids that the Lufwaffe made on Moscow in 1941, like how many planes were lost, etc? thanks.
I don't know of a book in English or German that has them all tabulated out in a couple of pages for easy reference purposes, but you might want to look at the following:

Bergström, Christer and Andrey Mikhailov. Black Cross/Red Star: Air War Over the Eastern Front.
Volume 1: Operation Barbarossa, 1941. Pacifica (CA): Pacifica Military History, 2000. ISBN: 0-936553-48-7. Hb (oversize). Dj. 307p. Heavily illus. Maps. Appendices. Source notes. Bibliography. Index.
Volume 2: Resurgence, January – June 1942. Pacifica (CA): Pacifica Military History, 2001. ISBN: 0-936553-51-7. Hb (oversize). Dj. 232p. Heavily illus. Maps. Appendices. Source notes. Bibliography. Index.

The Bergström books are exceedingly well researched from both the German and Russian side using material from the Ministry of Defense Archive in Podolsk that has never been published before.

You might also do a search over on Axis History Forum. This subject has been discussed over there and they have a lot more German and Russian members than Feldgrau does who are able to come up with some unusual sources, such as Russian web sites that have this sort of information.

--Lorenz
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Post by phylo_roadking »

Hi. Not sure these could actually be described as small, there were raids daily for at least a 14-day period in V late October-early November 1941.

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Ron Klages
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Small Strategically

Post by Ron Klages »

Gentlemen,

From the book The Luftwaffe War Diaries by Cajus Bekker I found the following:

The first raid on Moscow was carried out on the night on 21/22 July 1941 from German advance bases round Minsk, Orsha, Vitebsk and Chatalovska. It was comprised of Ju88s from KG 3 and KG 54, He 111s from KG 28, KG 53 and KG 55 and pathfinder gruppen KGr. 100 and III./KG 26. A total of 127 bombers arrived over Moscow around 2200 hours and dropped 104 tons of high explosive bombs and 46,000 incendiaries. Over 300 searchlights dazzled the bomber crews to the extent they could hardly see their objectives. It was not a success since the incendiaries were unable to penetrate the tiled roofs of the Kremlin and cause any type of inferno.

The night of 22/23 July 1941 Moscow was struck by 115 bombers and then on 23/24 July 1941. another night attack, 100 bombers participated.

The next mission was 50 bombers then 30 bombers and then a mere 15 bombers.

From 22/23 July 1941 till the end of 1941, Moscow was attacked 76 times and 59 of these attacks consisted of only 3 to 10 bombers.

One could hardly call this strategic bombing. The attacks on Moscow were SMALL and caused little damage. Larger attacks were not occurring because the Luftwaffe was primarily a tactical unit supporting the ground forces. The bombers were utilized more for attacking enemy transportation capability rather than enemy production capability.

I could find no information regarding losses in the attacks on Moscow.

Hope this information helps.

Best regards,

Ron Klages
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bombing Moscow.

Post by kanzel »

If you can find it at a good price, I found SO WE BOMBED MOSCOW ALONE, by Heinz H. Gruber of interest as a first person account. A small, 87 page book, some nice unpublished illustrations, and a simple account of his missions, including those over England in 1944.

Nice accounts of his missions in He-111 5J+IR and He-177

Published 1960, Library of Congress catalog card no. 60-11990.
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Post by phylo_roadking »

Ron, certainly small and non-strategic by American and British standards, but 157 planes for the Luftwaffe after the losses incurred a year earlier over Britain was big by THEIR standards. But yes, the Luftwaffe seemed at various times to forget the principle of mixing HE and landmines with incendiaries, to open up the roofs of houses for the incendiaries to catch.
They forgot it over London too, the only reason the East End catching fire during the first raids of the Blitz being the incredibly flammable contents of the warehousing by the Imperial Docks. But they had relearned it fine by the time of the two Fire Raids on Belfast in May 1941 :-(

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Re: bombing Moscow.

Post by 4369498 »

kanzel wrote:If you can find it at a good price, I found SO WE BOMBED MOSCOW ALONE, by Heinz H. Gruber of interest as a first person account. A small, 87 page book, some nice unpublished illustrations, and a simple account of his missions, including those over England in 1944.
Nice accounts of his missions in He-111 5J+IR and He-177
Published 1960, Library of Congress catalog card no. 60-11990.
Hi there,
For a friend of mine I'm researching the fate of the Luftwaffe pilot (or the crew member),
H. H. G(K)ruber , as it is written in Russian on the back of his only photo by my friend's deceased grandmother.
I wonder if the author of the book "So, We Bombed Moscow Alone" Heinz H. Gruber could be connected to that Luftwaffe member in Kiev, if it is possible to tell from the book that
- the author ever served in Ukraine and in Kiev;
- what military unit number (Staffeln) he served; the name of his commander;
- what rank he held in 1942-1943, or before that;
- any his personal data like place and date of birth, photos, any relatives' names, biography data, education, etc.
Any information is appreciated.
I thank you in advance -
Yuriy
Virginia
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