Bloody Easter. Bombing in Belgrade in April 1944
American bombs fell on the Serbian capital not only in 1999, but also in 1944 — during the occupation of Yugoslavia by Hitler’s troops. These attacks in Russia are less known than the events of the recent past. Meanwhile, even then the expediency of the raids raised great questions and was accompanied by a large number of civilian casualties. In the Yugoslav history those raids on Belgrade came in under the name "Bloody Easter" since the American aviation bombed the city during one of the most important Orthodox holidays.
Formally, the American command had reasons to bomb Belgrade, which was a major transportation center of communications and played an important role in industrial supplies. It was a major railway junction on the way from Greece, as well as a large river port on the important navigable river Danube. The Danube, in particular, was used to transport Romanian oil to Germany. For this used transport barges. In addition, it was an important sorting center on the supply chain of the Wehrmacht in Greece.
The main objectives of the bombing of Belgrade were industrial and transport facilities. However (recall the air war strategy and the “precision” of the American bombardments that the residents of Dresden and Tokyo felt on themselves), this operation ended with a large number of civilian casualties. In addition, for some reason, the American command did not take into account the fact (or did not know about it at all) that the raid took place during Easter.
Bloody Easter
16 April 1944, residents of Belgrade heard the sounds of an air-raid alert and saw American planes in the sky. These were the Libeater B-24 bombers (from the English Liberator). According to some reports, up to 600 bombers participated in the raid. The inhabitants of Belgrade were absolutely sure that the planes were simply flying through Belgrade in the direction of the Romanian front and the Romanian oil fields. Some residents joyfully greeted the Allied airplanes, but joy soon gave way to disappointment as soon as bombs rained down from American planes on Belgrade.
The raid began at 12 hours of the day, at which time many residents of the Yugoslav capital were in temples at festive divine services. According to eyewitnesses, the American bombs dropped haphazardly on the districts, which increased the scale of destruction with the destruction of ground objects. The plans of the Allied Air Command were to destroy the most important German military installations, as well as the largest communication hubs in Belgrade. However, for the most part residential areas, hospitals, temples turned out to be under the Allied bombs, and civilians prevailed among the dead.
The Serbian Patriarch Gavrila (Dojic) wrote then that the bombardment of allied aviation on the first and second day of Easter turned Belgrade into a desert. After those victims that the Serbian people suffered in the fight against the fascist invaders, as well as the Ustashi, the allies destroyed the capital. The Serbian patriarch noted that the Americans and the British seemed to have lost the feeling of Christian love, without which a person cannot live in the world. Even during the fighting with the Germans at Easter and Christmas, the fighting stopped. However, the allies for some reason chose the days of the holy holiday for the Orthodox to attack Belgrade.
From the attacks on the city, which took place on 16-17 on April 1944, its center suffered the most - Terazia and Slavia, the central city streets (Princess Natalia, Milos the Great, Nemani, Saraevskaya), the New Market, the People’s Theater and Zeleny Venaz. Bombs also fell on the territory of a prisoner of war camp in Old Saimishte. Here the Germans kept prisoners of war of the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, as well as partisans. 24 bombs fell in the camp, 150 people suffered from these bombs. As a result of the raid, none of the major German military installations were destroyed, with the exception of the Gestapo building on Dorol.
The next day, April 17, the Allied bombing resumed. On this day, the raid on the city began in 13: 00. At the same time, almost all parts of Belgrade were subject to air attacks. In the following days, the railway station was destroyed, as well as the buildings on Vasina Street, which were a residential complex.
Only on the first day in Belgrade, 1160 civilians died in fires and under the rubble of buildings, the losses of the German occupiers were estimated at approximately 200 people. As part of the US bomber unit, equipped with B-24 aircraft that could carry two-ton bombs, fought with the Germans and four Serbian crews. Before the raid on Belgrade, all Serbian crews received leave and could not even imagine such barbarism. During the American bombardments, residential areas of the city, hospitals and maternity hospitals, cultural facilities, bridges across the Danube and Sava, and city factories suffered.
In early May 1944, the Allies again launched the bombing of Belgrade, this time they focused on the bridges and adjacent residential areas of the Serbian capital. 21 May 1944, due to the intensive bombardment of the city, the work of all higher educational institutions and schools was stopped. 6 June 1944, the Allies bombed the depot and railway station in Belgrade. During this raid oil storage was also destroyed, resulting in burning oil spilled on the Danube and Sava. The raids were repeated 9 times, until September 18 1944. Almost until the capital of Yugoslavia was liberated from Hitlerites by Soviet troops and partisans Tito.
The bombing of Belgrade, as well as a number of other cities of Yugoslavia during the Easter holidays of 1944, led to a large number of civilian casualties, as well as serious material damage. According to various estimates, directly in Belgrade, as a result of the Allied air raids, about 2000 civilians were killed, and about 1000 people were injured. The bombings provoked a mass exodus of people from the capital and made the city deserted.
There are some similarities between the Allied bombings in 1944 and the Hitler operation Kara, which was held in April 1941. This operation was carried out on the personal order of Hitler in retaliation for the fact that Yugoslavia 27 March 1941 refused to join the Tripartite Pact, hence the frightening name for the operation. During the bombing of the city of the Luftwaffe in April 1941, the destruction of the city’s civilian and cultural sites was unprecedented.
The German bombers attacked the building of the Ministry of Defense, the headquarters of the Yugoslav Army, the power station, the railway station, the royal palace, the military academy, the guard barracks, the gendarmerie command building, the Zemun airfield, the university building, as well as residential areas throughout Belgrade. In just one day the Germans dropped tons of bombs on the city of 360. As a result of this bombing, 682 buildings were completely destroyed, 1602 buildings were significantly damaged, and 8600 suffered minor damage. As a result of an air attack, 2271 civilians were killed, more than 10 thousands of people were injured.
The Allied bombings strongly influenced the Yugoslav population and caused mass protests. The inhabitants of Yugoslavia had the firm conviction that the British and Americans kill civilians, while the Russian brothers do not bombard even German cities, not that Serbian ones. There was a strong conviction that Russian soldiers howl only with an armed enemy, and not with a peaceful population - women, children and old people.
Every year a tragic date in the history of the Serbian people is celebrated with memorial prayers, which are held in all Orthodox churches in Serbia.
Information sources:
http://russdom.ru/oldsayte/2004/200404i/20040425.html
http://www.shambala.ru/serbia/Pasha.htm
http://alternathistory.org.ua/ubiistvo-zhitelei-belgrada-samoletami-ssha-i-velikobritanii-v-1944-godu
http://byzantine-way.livejournal.com/38292.html
Formally, the American command had reasons to bomb Belgrade, which was a major transportation center of communications and played an important role in industrial supplies. It was a major railway junction on the way from Greece, as well as a large river port on the important navigable river Danube. The Danube, in particular, was used to transport Romanian oil to Germany. For this used transport barges. In addition, it was an important sorting center on the supply chain of the Wehrmacht in Greece.
The main objectives of the bombing of Belgrade were industrial and transport facilities. However (recall the air war strategy and the “precision” of the American bombardments that the residents of Dresden and Tokyo felt on themselves), this operation ended with a large number of civilian casualties. In addition, for some reason, the American command did not take into account the fact (or did not know about it at all) that the raid took place during Easter.
Bloody Easter
16 April 1944, residents of Belgrade heard the sounds of an air-raid alert and saw American planes in the sky. These were the Libeater B-24 bombers (from the English Liberator). According to some reports, up to 600 bombers participated in the raid. The inhabitants of Belgrade were absolutely sure that the planes were simply flying through Belgrade in the direction of the Romanian front and the Romanian oil fields. Some residents joyfully greeted the Allied airplanes, but joy soon gave way to disappointment as soon as bombs rained down from American planes on Belgrade.
The raid began at 12 hours of the day, at which time many residents of the Yugoslav capital were in temples at festive divine services. According to eyewitnesses, the American bombs dropped haphazardly on the districts, which increased the scale of destruction with the destruction of ground objects. The plans of the Allied Air Command were to destroy the most important German military installations, as well as the largest communication hubs in Belgrade. However, for the most part residential areas, hospitals, temples turned out to be under the Allied bombs, and civilians prevailed among the dead.
The Serbian Patriarch Gavrila (Dojic) wrote then that the bombardment of allied aviation on the first and second day of Easter turned Belgrade into a desert. After those victims that the Serbian people suffered in the fight against the fascist invaders, as well as the Ustashi, the allies destroyed the capital. The Serbian patriarch noted that the Americans and the British seemed to have lost the feeling of Christian love, without which a person cannot live in the world. Even during the fighting with the Germans at Easter and Christmas, the fighting stopped. However, the allies for some reason chose the days of the holy holiday for the Orthodox to attack Belgrade.
From the attacks on the city, which took place on 16-17 on April 1944, its center suffered the most - Terazia and Slavia, the central city streets (Princess Natalia, Milos the Great, Nemani, Saraevskaya), the New Market, the People’s Theater and Zeleny Venaz. Bombs also fell on the territory of a prisoner of war camp in Old Saimishte. Here the Germans kept prisoners of war of the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, as well as partisans. 24 bombs fell in the camp, 150 people suffered from these bombs. As a result of the raid, none of the major German military installations were destroyed, with the exception of the Gestapo building on Dorol.
The next day, April 17, the Allied bombing resumed. On this day, the raid on the city began in 13: 00. At the same time, almost all parts of Belgrade were subject to air attacks. In the following days, the railway station was destroyed, as well as the buildings on Vasina Street, which were a residential complex.
Only on the first day in Belgrade, 1160 civilians died in fires and under the rubble of buildings, the losses of the German occupiers were estimated at approximately 200 people. As part of the US bomber unit, equipped with B-24 aircraft that could carry two-ton bombs, fought with the Germans and four Serbian crews. Before the raid on Belgrade, all Serbian crews received leave and could not even imagine such barbarism. During the American bombardments, residential areas of the city, hospitals and maternity hospitals, cultural facilities, bridges across the Danube and Sava, and city factories suffered.
In early May 1944, the Allies again launched the bombing of Belgrade, this time they focused on the bridges and adjacent residential areas of the Serbian capital. 21 May 1944, due to the intensive bombardment of the city, the work of all higher educational institutions and schools was stopped. 6 June 1944, the Allies bombed the depot and railway station in Belgrade. During this raid oil storage was also destroyed, resulting in burning oil spilled on the Danube and Sava. The raids were repeated 9 times, until September 18 1944. Almost until the capital of Yugoslavia was liberated from Hitlerites by Soviet troops and partisans Tito.
The bombing of Belgrade, as well as a number of other cities of Yugoslavia during the Easter holidays of 1944, led to a large number of civilian casualties, as well as serious material damage. According to various estimates, directly in Belgrade, as a result of the Allied air raids, about 2000 civilians were killed, and about 1000 people were injured. The bombings provoked a mass exodus of people from the capital and made the city deserted.
There are some similarities between the Allied bombings in 1944 and the Hitler operation Kara, which was held in April 1941. This operation was carried out on the personal order of Hitler in retaliation for the fact that Yugoslavia 27 March 1941 refused to join the Tripartite Pact, hence the frightening name for the operation. During the bombing of the city of the Luftwaffe in April 1941, the destruction of the city’s civilian and cultural sites was unprecedented.
The German bombers attacked the building of the Ministry of Defense, the headquarters of the Yugoslav Army, the power station, the railway station, the royal palace, the military academy, the guard barracks, the gendarmerie command building, the Zemun airfield, the university building, as well as residential areas throughout Belgrade. In just one day the Germans dropped tons of bombs on the city of 360. As a result of this bombing, 682 buildings were completely destroyed, 1602 buildings were significantly damaged, and 8600 suffered minor damage. As a result of an air attack, 2271 civilians were killed, more than 10 thousands of people were injured.
The Allied bombings strongly influenced the Yugoslav population and caused mass protests. The inhabitants of Yugoslavia had the firm conviction that the British and Americans kill civilians, while the Russian brothers do not bombard even German cities, not that Serbian ones. There was a strong conviction that Russian soldiers howl only with an armed enemy, and not with a peaceful population - women, children and old people.
Every year a tragic date in the history of the Serbian people is celebrated with memorial prayers, which are held in all Orthodox churches in Serbia.
Information sources:
http://russdom.ru/oldsayte/2004/200404i/20040425.html
http://www.shambala.ru/serbia/Pasha.htm
http://alternathistory.org.ua/ubiistvo-zhitelei-belgrada-samoletami-ssha-i-velikobritanii-v-1944-godu
http://byzantine-way.livejournal.com/38292.html
Information