Bombing of the Bezuidenhout: Difference between revisions

Bombing of the Bezuidenhout
	Part of World War II Operation Crossbow
	; Bezuidenhout burning, shortly after the bombing, photographed from the tower of the Church of James the Greater, at Parkstraat in The Hague
Date	3 March 1945
Location	The Hague, Netherlands52°05′02″N 4°20′17″E / 52.084°N 4.338°E
Result	All bombs missed the 2.4-kilometre (1.5 mi) x 0.8-kilometre (0.50 mi) forest target (Haagse Bos) by more than 460 metres (500 yd) ("incorrect allowance for the wind"/"map-reading error") and hit the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood instead.
Belligerents
Second Tactical Air Force No. 137 Wing; No. 139 Wing;	902nd Artillery Regiment z.V. (Motorized)
Commanders and leaders
	Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham
Strength
	56 Boston & Mitchell bombers
Casualties and losses
	Bezuidenhout civilian casualties (collateral damage):; 511 killed, 344 injured,; 20,000 dehoused;
	class=notpageimage\| Location within South Holland

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Revision as of 01:55, 30 July 2022

The bombing of the Bezuidenhout (Template:Lang-nl) took place on 3 March 1945, when the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in the Dutch city of The Hague. At the time, the neighbourhood was more densely populated than usual with evacuees from The Hague and Wassenaar; tens of thousands were left homeless and had to be quartered in the Eastern and Central Netherlands.

The British bomber crews had intended to bomb the Haagse Bos ("Forest of the Hague") district where the Germans had installed V-2 launching facilities that had been used to attack English cities. However, the pilots were issued with the wrong coordinates so the navigational instruments of the bombers had been set incorrectly, and combined with fog and clouds which obscured their vision, the bombs were instead dropped on the Bezuidenhout residential neighbourhood.

Event

On the morning of 3 March 1945, medium and light bombers of the North American B-25 Mitchell and Douglas Boston types from No. 137 and No. 139 wings of the Second Tactical Air Force took off from Melsbroek near Brussels and Vitry in Northern France. Between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning the bombers dropped 67 tonnes of high explosive bombs on the Bezuidenhout,^[9] wreaking widespread destruction.^[10]

Due to insufficient fire engines and firemen (as many of them had been either called up for forced labour in German industry or had gone into hiding to prevent being signed up) the resulting fire was largely unchecked,^[9] killing 511 people,^[5] including eight firemen.

As soon as the British realized the extent of the damage, they dropped fliers over the neighbourhood apologizing for the error.^[11] Trouw, the Dutch resistance newspaper, reported:

The horrors of the war are increasing. We have seen the fires in The Hague after the terrible bombings due to the V2-launching sites. We have seen the column of smoke, drifting to the south and the ordeal of the war has descended upon us in its extended impact. We heard the screaming bombs falling on (the) Bezuidenhout, and the missiles which brought death and misery fell only a hundred metres from us. At the same time we saw the launching and the roaring, flaming V2, holding our breath to see if the launch was successful, if not falling back on the homes of innocent people. It is horrible to see the monsters take off in the middle of the night between the houses, lighting up the skies. One can imagine the terrors that came upon us now that The Hague is a frontline town, bombed continuously for more than ten days. Buildings, burning and smouldering furiously, a town choking from smoke, women and children fleeing, men hauling furniture which they tried to rescue from the chaos. What misery, what distress.^[11]

Commemoration

The bombing is commemorated every year on the first Sunday after 3 March. In 2011, Mayor Jozias van Aartsen^[12] of The Hague as well as the Mayors of Wassenaar and Leidschendam-Voorburg (residents of both towns helped with firefighting and caring for the survivors) were present at the remembrance ceremony, which consisted of a church service, the laying of a wreath at the Monument of the human mistake (Template:Lang-nl) and a remembrance concert in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.^[13] A similar church service and concert were held in 2012.^[14]

Statistics

As a result of the bombing, there were:^[5]

511 fatalities
344 wounded
20,000 people left homeless
3,250 burned out residences
3,241 damaged residences
391 irreparably damaged residences
290 destroyed businesses
5 destroyed churches
9 destroyed schools
10 destroyed public buildings

Bezuidenhout after the bombing

Unknown street in Bezuidenhout, after the bombing
Juliana van Stolberg monument and ruins of the Wilhelmina Church
Unknown street in Bezuidenhout, after the bombing
Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië (street)

The intense fire made many houses collapse entirely
On the background the ruins of the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel at Bezuidenhoutseweg (street)
Korte Voorhout (street) at the old city center, which was also struck by the bombing
Ruins of the Anglican Church of St. John and St. Philip in The Hague, after the bombing

References

^ Ordway, Frederick I, III; Sharpe, Mitchell R (1979). The Rocket Team. Apogee Books Space Series 36. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. pp. 221, 226. ISBN 1894959000. Archived from the original (hyperlink to index) on 4 March 2012.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "Bezuidenhout Bombing Remembered". The Hague Online. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
^ Collier, Basil (1976) [1964]. The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944–1945. Yorkshire: The Emfield Press. p. 133. ISBN 0-7057-0070-4.
^ ^a ^b Garliński, Józef (1978). Hitler's Last Weapons: The Underground War against the V1 and V2. New York: Times Books. p. 184.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d (in Dutch) Bombardement Bezuidenhout 3 maart '45 Voor velen stortte in luttele minuten de wereld in elkaar Archived 15 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Amigoe di Curacao, 4 March 1965
^ (in Dutch) Geschiedenis van 747. Afl.4: Bombardement Bezuidenhout Archived 7 May 2015 at archive.today, VPRO, 25 July 2004
^ (in Dutch) Bommen op Den Haag Archived 13 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, NOS, 3 March 2005
^ Kooy, J. M. J; Uytenbogaart, J. W. H. (1946). Ballistics of the Future With Special Reference to the Dynamical And Physical Theory of the Rocket Weapons. (Kooy-Uytenbogaart launch figures are from Space Travel, Gatland & Kunesch, 1953 Second impression, p. 52-3; and Kooy-Uytenbogaart location information was used as source for the 1973 Gravity's Rainbow.)
^ ^a ^b "Bombardement op Bezuidenhout maart 1945" [Bombing of the Bezuidenhout March 1945] (in Dutch). Koninklijke Bibliotheek. Retrieved 5 December 2013.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ Stichting Ons Erfdeel (1998). The Low Countries: arts and society in Flanders and the Netherlands, a yearbook. Vol. 9. Flemish-Netherlands Foundation. p. 113. ISBN 9789075862287.
^ ^a ^b Verbeek, J. R. (2005). "Bombardment on Bezuidenhout". Retrieved 13 March 2012.
^ (in Dutch) Speech by Mayor Van Aartsen at the commemoration of the bombing Archived 9 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Municipality of The Hague, 7 March 2010
^ (in Dutch) Honderden herdenken bombardement Bezuidenhout, ANP (published on Nu.nl), 6 March 2011
^ "Bezuidenhout Bombing Commemorated". The Hague Online. 5 March 2012. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 |map_type=Netherlands South Holland
 |coordinates = {{coord|52.084|4.338|type:event_region:NL|display=inline,title}}
-|result    = All bombs missed the {{convert|2.4|km|adj=on}} x {{convert|0.8|km|adj=on}} forest target ([[Haagse Bos]])<ref name="remem">{{cite web |url=http://www.thehagueonline.com/headlines/2011-03-04/bezuidenhout-bombing-remembered |title=Bezuidenhout Bombing Remembered |date=4 March 2011 |accessdate=13 March 2012 |publisher=[[The Hague]] Online |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304145414/http://www.thehagueonline.com/headlines/2011-03-04/bezuidenhout-bombing-remembered |archivedate=4 March 2012  }}</ref> by more than {{convert|500|m}} yards ("incorrect allowance for the wind"<ref name="Collier">{{cite book |last=Collier |first=Basil |year=1976 |orig-year=1964 |title=The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944–1945 |location=Yorkshire |publisher=The Emfield Press |isbn=0-7057-0070-4 |page=133}}</ref>/"map-reading error")<ref name="Garliński">{{cite book
+|result    = All bombs missed the {{convert|2.4|km|adj=on}} x {{convert|0.8|km|adj=on}} forest target ([[Haagse Bos]])<ref name="remem">{{cite web |url=http://www.thehagueonline.com/headlines/2011-03-04/bezuidenhout-bombing-remembered |title=Bezuidenhout Bombing Remembered |date=4 March 2011 |accessdate=13 March 2012 |publisher=[[The Hague]] Online |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304145414/http://www.thehagueonline.com/headlines/2011-03-04/bezuidenhout-bombing-remembered |archivedate=4 March 2012  }}</ref> by more than {{convert|460|m|yd}} ("incorrect allowance for the wind"<ref name="Collier">{{cite book |last=Collier |first=Basil |year=1976 |orig-year=1964 |title=The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944–1945 |location=Yorkshire |publisher=The Emfield Press |isbn=0-7057-0070-4 |page=133}}</ref>/"map-reading error")<ref name="Garliński">{{cite book
   |last=Garliński|first=Józef |author-link=Józef Garliński
   |year=1978 |title=Hitler's Last Weapons: The Underground War against the V1 and V2