Anklam bombed by the Luftwaffe on 29 April 1945

[Laurent Rizzotti]

I found on German wikipedia (for what it is worth) a page called "Luftangriffe auf Anklam". It says that after Anklam was taken by the Soviets on 29 April 1945, it was bombed by the Luftwaffe the same day. Here is my translation:
"The Luftwaffe carried out a devastating bombing attack. Mainly incendiary bombs were used, which further increased the degree of destruction of the city (among other things, the old Rathaus on the Peene was bombed) and killed over 370 people."

I highly doubt that Luftwaffe would deliver such a powerful air attack on Anklam at this stage of the war. Most of the flying then was done by German fighter-bombers. Also the number of killed is very high (close to the 400 reported killed by 100 B-17s on 9 October 1943). Maybe it includes all dead of the period, including the victims of ground battles, artillery fire and so on.

So my question: has someone a more serious source describing this Luftwaffe raid on Anklam ?

[Dan History]

Originally Posted by Laurent Rizzotti

I found on German wikipedia (for what it is worth) a page called "Luftangriffe auf Anklam". It says that after Anklam was taken by the Soviets on 29 April 1945, it was bombed by the Luftwaffe the same day.

Hello Laurent,

I am afraid that the Second Belorussian Front, the army group commanding Soviet forces in this area, and the 2nd Shock Army, which took Anklam, reported nothing of the kind. The Army reported some incendiary shells, rather than bombs, were fired at the northern part of Anklam, and desultory attacks were carried out by the Luftwaffe on the 30th. The fighting for Anklam was not particularly bitter, so I suggest the damage alleged to have been caused by a Luftwaffe attack in April 1945 was most likely caused by the USAAF some time before.

Regards,

Dan

[Marcel van Heijkop]

The area around Anklam was bombed by I./KG66 in the evening of 29 April 1945 (around 21:30 hrs). Targets were vehicle and tank concentrations, (pontoon) bridges, and a railway bridge. Bombs used consisted of AB500 containers filled with SD1s, SD70s, SD250s, SD500s and some SC250s.

Looks like these attacks were specifically aimed at tactical ground targets rather than a historic inner city.

HTH,

Marcel

[leonventer]

Originally Posted by Dan History

The fighting for Anklam was not particularly bitter, so I suggest the damage alleged to have been caused by a Luftwaffe attack in April 1945 was most likely caused by the USAAF some time before.

Just as a further confirmation of what Dan said:

According to the book "Flugplatz Anklam: Geschichte & Geschichten" by Reiner Stopp and Herbert Probst, Anklam was bombed twice by the Allies, on Aug 4 and Aug 25 1944. It was subsequently also strafed by the British on Sep 23 1944. The airfield was taken over by the Red Army after a short fight on Apr 29 1945, which resulted in only minor damage.

BTW, it also states that Göring apparently visited the Flugplatz in November 1944 to inspect III/JG 1, who were there at that time for replenishment purposes.

Leon Venter

[Dan History]

Hello Marcel and Leon,

Thank you very much for your interesting contributions! I can add that Anklam was taken by the 46th and 90th Rifle Divisions of the 108th Rifle Corps. As of the afternoon of 29th April, the 108th Rifle Corps reported 23 unserviceable aircraft had been captured. The 90th Rifle Division reported some bombing during the second half of 29th April, the reports of the 46th Division are unavailable. No destruction caused by air raids is mentioned.

Regards,

Dan

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello Marcel,

Originally Posted by Marcel van Heijkop

The area around Anklam was bombed by I./KG66 in the evening of 29 April 1945 (around 21:30 hrs). Targets were vehicle and tank concentrations, (pontoon) bridges, and a railway bridge.

According to the report of 2nd Shock Army, at 21:00 MSK = 20:00 DSZ 10 Ju88 bombed and strafed the river crossings and roads near Anklam. Looks like I./KG66 raid though there is a time difference.

What is the source of info about I./KG66 raid?

Best regards,
Andrey

[Dan History]

Andrey consulted the 2nd Shock Army reports for 30 April, which I did not have time to look at. Here are the relevant extracts and links to the reports themselves:

Combat Report No. 327 HQ of 2nd Shock Army. 07:00 30.04.45

"The enemy's aviation bombed and strafed river crossings and roads in the Anklam area at 21:00 with a group of 10 Ju 88 aircraft. During the night, groups of 2 and 3 aircraft conducted reconnaissance of the area south of Anklam. A total of 15 overflights have been observed"

pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=150526654

Combat Report No. 120 HQ of 2nd Shock Army. 21:00 30.04.45

"The enemy's aviation conducted reconnaissance singly and in groups, and bombed the Anklam area with a group of 10 Ju 88s. 20 overflights have been observed"

pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=151402058

Regards,

Dan

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Thanks a lot for the replies, I was not exepting so much from both German and Soviet side.

None of the above shows a devastating raid on Anklam, so I guess we can just consider it as another Wikipedia bogus entry.

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Originally Posted by Andrey Kuznetsov

Hello Marcel,



According to the report of 2nd Shock Army, at 21:00 MSK = 20:00 DSZ 10 Ju88 bombed and strafed the river crossings and roads near Anklam. Looks like I./KG66 raid though there is a time difference.

What is the source of info about I./KG66 raid?

Best regards,
Andrey

Hi Andrey,

My sources are the Flugbuch (FB) entries of 9 different Besatzungen (crews) involved in these attacks. (NB If the Russian report mentions 10 Ju 88s, 9 FB entries of such a small unit 75 years later isn't such a bad score )

Looks like the difference in time is entirely my mistake: I was in a hurry and gave a rough average of the landing times, not the actual time over target...When looking at the FB data, one entry actually states "Um 21:03 Uhr Bomben lagen im Ziel. Strassenausgang südöstlich Anklam".

NB: The I./KG66 aircraft involved took off from 2 different airfields (Tutow and Barth). When looking at the take off and landing times, the earliest take off was at 20:32 hrs and the last landing (at Schleswig-Land) occurred at 22:13. So the brunt of the attack taking place at around 21:00 hrs would be a reasonable assumption.

HTH,

Marcel

PS MSK = Moscow Standard Time, but what's DSZ? German Summer Time?

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Originally Posted by Dan History

Andrey consulted the 2nd Shock Army reports for 30 April, which I did not have time to look at. Here are the relevant extracts and links to the reports themselves:

Combat Report No. 327 HQ of 2nd Shock Army. 07:00 30.04.45

"The enemy's aviation bombed and strafed river crossings and roads in the Anklam area at 21:00 with a group of 10 Ju 88 aircraft. During the night, groups of 2 and 3 aircraft conducted reconnaissance of the area south of Anklam. A total of 15 overflights have been observed"

pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=150526654

Combat Report No. 120 HQ of 2nd Shock Army. 21:00 30.04.45

"The enemy's aviation conducted reconnaissance singly and in groups, and bombed the Anklam area with a group of 10 Ju 88s. 20 overflights have been observed"

pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=151402058

Regards,

Dan

Dan,

Question: Does 30 April 145 stand for the date these reports were published but do they actually refer to the actions the day before (i.e. 29 April)? The I./KG66 FB entries are very clear that their attacks near Anklam took place on the 29th.

Regards,

Marcel