Posted on 01/02/2004 12:01:01 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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The Bombing of the Shellhus March 21, 1945 The Shellhus, or in English the Shell-building, was (and still is) situated near the centre of Copenhagen, 500 metres west of the Town hall. It is on the north side of Kampmandsgade between Nyrupsgade and Vester Farimagsgade (see map at right).Since the spring of 1944 the German secret police (Gestapo) had used it as headquarters. In the fall of 1944 several cells were established on the top floor to minimize transportation of prisoners from Vestre faengsel (a large prison in Copenhagen) to interrogation and torture in the Shellhus. Shellhuset, circa 1940 By the end of 1944 the resistance-movement in Copenhagen was in danger of being rolled up by the Gestapo. Many of the leaders had been arrested and a lot of material was filed in the archives of the Shellhus. Leading members of the resistance-movement requested an attack by air on the Shellhus via SOE in London. By December 1944 the plan was ready, but the German counter attack in the Ardennes stopped the attack. By the end of january 1945 the RAF was ready, but the attack was postponed probably due to the weather. In the middle of March the situation for the resistance-movement became intolerable. A desperate telegram was sent to London beggin for an attack: If the resistance-movement was at all important the RAF had to attack at all costs. On march 21st at 0855, 20 Mosquitos of the no. 2 light bomber group, escorted by 30 Mustangs from the 11th fighter group took off from RAF Fersfield in Norfolk. 18 of the bombers were Mosquito F.B. Mk. VI and 2 were Mosquito B. Mk. IV from the film production unit (FPU). The bombers carried 44x500 pound bombs. The Mustangs were Mk III's. The formation arrived at Tissoe, a lake in western Zeeland, and split up in three waves: no. 1: 7 Mosquitos (one FPU) and 12 Mustangs, no. 2: 6 Mosquitos and no. 3: 7 Mosquitos (one FPU). Apparently the three waves took different routes to Copenhagen, although they all approached Copenhagen from the south-west. The plan was to find the city of Koge some 30 km (20 miles) south of Copenhagen, then turn and follow the coast to Avedoere where they would turn north towards the Carlsberg brewery, passing it on the East-side. The last checkpoint was "Det Ny Teater", a theatre on the southeastern corner of the most southern of the four lakes. From the theater the planes would attack the Shellhus from the south. Model used to plan the mission It was only the first wave that followed the planned approach. The two following waves took a more direct course to Copenhagen. The third wave came in from west instead of south. When the first wave passed the goods yard one of the Mosquitos hit a 30 metre lamp post and crashed near the French school (see the map). The rest of the wave found and bombed the target. The second wave got confused by the smoke and flames from the crashed Mosquito. Some realized the mistake before they bombed and turned toward the Shellhus, but only one of the planes were able to bomb the target. One or two of the planes in the 2nd wave dropped their bombs on the French school. The third wave approached Copenhagen from the west, passing the ZOO on their way in. All but one of the planes in the third wave dropped their bombs on the French school killing 123 civilians of whom 87 were children. The circles represents exploded bombs The Shellhus was hit by 8x500 pound bombs, 6 in the western wing towards Nyropsgade, and 2 in the eastern wing towards Vester Farimagsgade. The west wing collapsed and a fire started. It was a windy day: 12 metres per second from west. The fire spread to the rest of the building and it burned down. At the time of the attack 26 members of the resistance were in the Shellhus: 23 in their cells on the top floor and 3 under interogation on the 5th floor. The Burning Shell house building in Copenhagen The attack has always been seen as a success because of the many surviving prisoners. Some accounts of the attack state that the bombers targeted the lower parts of the building, trying to avoid damage to the cells on the top floor. The reason for the targeting of the lower parts could be the obvious, that the planes aimed at the centre of the building to be sure to hit some of it. As the author of one of the books about the attack points out: "No pilots, not even the best of RAF, were able to destroy a concrete building without destroying the upper floors." The reason why so many (18 of 26) prisoners survived is probably that relatively few bombs hit the building. As mentioned above, 6 bombs exploded in the western wing. There were 9 prisoners in this part of the building, 6 were killed instantly and one more died when jumping from the 5th floor to the ground. All 14 prisoners in the southern wing survived (no bombs hit this part of the building). The 3 remaining prisoners were under interrogation on the 5th floor, one died. There were no prisoners in the eastern wing. The German casualties were around 50 Germans and 50 Danes who worked for the Gestapo. Of the 20 Mosquito's taking part in the attack 16 returned. One crashed in the goods yard before bombing and three more were shot down off the coast of northern Zeeland after the attack. 3 Mustangs had to turn around shortly after takeoff. Mustang fighter flying low over Copenhagen during the attack One Mustang crashed in a park north of the Shellhus. The primary objective for the fighters was to attack AA positions in central Copenhagen. 9 RAF pilots and crew were killed in the attack. 3 are buried at Bispebjerg kirkegaard the remaining 6 crashed over the sea and they were never found. The Museum of Resistance (Frihedsmuseet) has on display one of the models of Copenhagen built and used by the RAF when they planned the attack. The Shellhus of today is the head office of the Shell Oil Company in Denmark. Mounted on the wall of the building is a bronze-cast of a propeller from one of the crashed Mosquito bombers. Below the propeller is a plaque with the names of the RAF crews members who were killed in the attack.
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Air Power |
'The Wooden Wonder', as the Mosquito is affectionately known, almost never came to be. Air Ministry opposition to de Havilland's original proposal for an unarmed, all-wooden bomber almost forced de Havilland to abandon the design, but thanks to some behind-the-scenes lobbying, the Air Ministry reluctantly agreed to progress with the design.
The Mosquito was almost too radical a concept for the Air Ministry. Bomber designs were, by design, slow, cumbersome beasts, heavily-armed and metal in construction. Despite a specification being issued by the ministry for a bomber with some wooden construction in the airframe (B17/38), the idea of leaving the aircraft with no means of self-defence was too much of a risk to take. But some gentle persuasion of the ministry by Air Marshal Sir Wilfred Freeman, who sat on the Air Council as Member for Research and Development, resulted in a new Specification, B1/40, detailing a light bomber capable of carrying a 1,000lb load over a distance of 1,500 miles which could, presumably if it failed in this respect, be quickly modified as a fighter or photo-reconnaissance aircraft. An initial order for 50 aircraft was placed in March 1940.
In November 1940, Geoffrey de Havilland took the prototype Mosquito into the air for the first time. The performance of the aircraft was something of a revelation, the two Merlin engines giving fighter-like handling and a top speed which would allow the aircraft to outpace enemy fighters. The first bomber version, the B.IV first flew in the following September and the first deliveries to No 105 Squadron at Swanton Morley followed in November 1941.
Following its operational debut in a raid by four aircraft on Cologne on 31 May 1942, the Mosquito joined the Main Force but became famous for a number of set-piece attacks, and the first of these was a low-level attack on the Gestapo Headquarters in Oslo on 25 September 1942.
By this time, No 109 Squadron, based at Marham, had formed on Mosquitos, but was unusual in that the squadron was tasked with the development of various bombing aids then in the pipeline. The first of these aids was a blind-bombing device known as 'Oboe' and this was tried for the first time during an attack on a power station in Holland during the night of 20th/21st December 1942. Trials with 'Oboe' continued and gradually introduced across the remainder of Bomber Command during 1943.
No 105 Squadron was not idle, and along with the third Mosquito bomber squadron, No 139 at Marham, set about carrying out a series of highly-publicised precision attacks on enemy targets during the early months of 1943. Indeed, over 100 such attacks took place in the first half of 1943, notably raids on Copenhagen (27 January), Berlin (30 January) and Jena (27 May). The Jena raid, on the Zeiss optical factory and Schott glassworks was the final such attack to be carried out in daylight.
Shortly after the raid at Jena, Nos 105 and 139 Squadrons were transferred from No 2 Group, which had left Bomber Command for the newly-formed Second tactical Air Force, to the Pathfinder Force (No 8 Group) and began to re-equip with an improved bomber Mosquito, the B.IX. With these aircraft, the Mosquito squadrons flew ahead of the Main Force, marking out waypoints for the bombers to guide them onto their intended target and used 'Oboe' increasingly to mark as accurately as possible.
The next bomber variant was the B.XVI, and this became the standard version of the aircraft in Bomber Command, eventually equipping 16 squadrons. This version could fly at altitudes up to 40,000ft thanks to a pressurised cockpit, and could also carry a 4,000lb bomb in an enlarged bomb-bay. With additional wing fuel tanks, the Mosquito could take one of these mighty bombs to Berlin and still evade much of the defending night fighter force.
In 1944, with the tide turned against the Germans, the Mosquitos were transferred to the new Light Night Striking Force (LNSF), part of No 100 (Bomber Support) Group. Here, the Mosquitos were tasked with carrying out diversionary raids to attract the defending fighters away from the main bomber stream. These 'spoof' attacks, many of which were against Berlin, were aided by electronic aids to deceive the German radar network into believing that the much smaller Mosquito force was the main attack.
Some Mosquitos which served with the LNSF and Pathfinders were Canadian-built Mark 25s. After the War, a number of B35s were produced and entered service from late 1947 onwards, many with squadrons on the Continent. The final home-based bomber Mosquitos, some 1,690 of which had been built (from a total of 7,781 of all versions), serving with No 139 Squadron, were eventually replaced by Canberras in November 1953.
An example of the tremendous accuracy achieved by Mosquitos can be shown by comparing figures for the attacks on the V-weapons sites. The average tonnage of bombs required to destroy one of these sites by B-17 Flying Fortresses was 165; for B26 Marauders it was 182 tons and for B25 Mitchells 219 tons. The average for the Mosquito was just under 40 tons!
Specifications:
Manufacturer: de Havilland
Primary function: Fighter-bomber
Power plant: Two Rolls-Royce Merlin XXI engines with Thrust 1,635 HP 1,220 kW each
Crew: Two
Date deployed: 1943
Dimensions:
Wingspan: 54.2 ft
Length: 40.9 ft
Height: 15.25 ft
Wingarea: 454 sq ft
Weights: empty 14,300 lb / Max. 22,300 lb
Performance :
Speed: 380 mph
Ceiling: 36,090 ft
Range: 1,205 mi
Armaments:
4x 20mm cannon,
4x 7.7mm machine gun;
2 x 227 kg bomb or
2x 227 lt (or 2x 454 lt) ext. tanks or
8x 27 kg rockets
All photos Copyright of RAF Mod.UK and Military.Cz websites
LOL. Great tagline!!
I shoulda known. I've wondered for years who started these.
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