Peenemünde raid

Peenemünde raid, night precision bombing operation mounted by RAF Bomber Command against the German V-weapons research station on the Baltic coast. Its existence had first been revealed to the British by the Oslo report in November 1939, but no action was taken until the bugged conversation of two captured German generals in March 1943, and rumours from other sources, intimated that rocket research was under way there. Churchill's son-in-law, Duncan Sandys, was appointed to lead an investigation, photographic reconnaissance sorties were flown, and a rocket on a trailer was identified in one photograph by the MI6 scientist, R. V. Jones.

The raid took place on 17/18 August 1943 only a few hours after the USAAF mounted raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt, and a diversionary raid was also made on Berlin. Out of the 596 bombers used, 560 reached the target, which was marked by the Pathfinder Force.

Opposing this formidable force was an equally formidable one of German fighters using Wilde Sau tactics. For the first time the fighters were also being guided to their targets by German radio commentaries on the bombers' flight path. This system lacked central control and most of the 213 German fighters which were operational that night were diverted to the Berlin raid. Some did reach the area later, but they were too few and too late to stop the destruction of much of Peenemünde, some of which was caused by 4,000 lb. (1,810 kg.) blockbuster bombs. Nevertheless, the RAF lost 44 bombers and 42 crews (290 men), only three of which were downed by Flak. The Germans lost 12 fighters and their crews, and between 120 and 178 killed in the bombing. One of these was a scientist working on an anti-aircraft rocket projectile and the two-stage A-9 rocket. About 600 inmates of a nearby forced labour camp also lost their lives from stray bombs.

Although Peenemünde continued to operate on a very limited scale—and was subsequently bombed three times by the Americans in 1944—much of the work was moved elsewhere. It has been estimated that the raid delayed the V-2 rocket, first used operationally in September 1944, by between four weeks and six months.

Bibliography

Middlebrook, M. , The Peenemünde Raid (London, 1982).