8. The British began specifically targeting residential areas in February, 1942
On February 15, 1942, British Chief of the Air Staff Sir Charles Portal wrote to Air Chief Marshall Norman Bottomley, “I suppose it is clear that the aiming points will be the built-up areas, and not, for instance, the dockyards or aircraft factories”. Bomber Command was directed to target the most heavily populated areas of Germany’s largest cities. The British wasted little time. During the night of March 27-28 1942 (March 28 was Palm Sunday) the Hanseatic city of Lubeck was attacked by 234 bombers which dropped more than 400 tons of bombs on the city center. The city was lightly defended, and just 12 bombers were lost.
The bombs included incendiaries to start fires, and the ancient city experienced a firestorm. Sir Arthur Harris, commander of Bomber Command, wrote of Lubeck, “It was not a vital target, but it seemed to me better to destroy an industrial town of moderate importance than to fail to destroy a large industrial city”. At least 300 German civilians were killed, and up to 800 injured in the raid. Of more importance to the new British strategy, about 25,000 were rendered homeless. In 1944, the International Red Cross established Lubeck as a Red Cross port, to allow it to be used to ship Red Cross packages to Allied prisoners of war held in German camps. It was accepted, which protected the ancient city from further attacks.
