Germans Bomb Historical Sites

April 23, 1942 - German aircraft begin bombing cathedral cities across England in reprisal for an RAF attack on the city of Lubeck on March 28. Luftwaffe bombers (left) crossed the North Sea and hit targets in Exeter on April 23, and Bath, York, and Norwich later that week. As a result of the bombing, thousands of buildings were destroyed, including the Bath Assembly Rooms and York's 15th century Guildhall.

These attacks were referred to by the Germans as the "Baedeker Raids" after the famed travel guidebooks of the same name. Angered by the British delibrately targeting the Old Town section of Lubeck, which was comprised of mostly wooden buildings, Baron Gustav Braun von Sturm stated "We shall go out and bomb every building in Britain marked with three stars in the Baedeker Guide." A second round of "Baedeker Raids" occurred that summer following a massive RAF attack on Cologne, with Canterbury the target of three consecutive raids.

Photograph Courtesy of the National Archives & Records Administration