Bombing of Cologne in World War II
The German city of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids by the Allies during World War II, all by the Royal Air Force (RAF). A total of 34,711 long tons of bombs were dropped on the city by the RAF. 20,000 civilians died during the war in Cologne due to aerial bombardments.
A ruined Cologne in 1945
Innenstadt, Cologne in 1945
Official British war art imagining a bombing raid on Cologne. The city's cathedral is clearly visible. It survived the war, despite being hit dozens of times by Allied bombs.
RAF bomber H2S radar display from the 30/31 October 1944 Cologne attack with post-attack annotations
Cologne is the largest city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the Cologne Bonn urban region. Cologne is also part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, the second biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. Centered on the left (west) bank of the Rhine, Cologne is about 35 km (22 mi) southeast of the North Rhine-Westphalia state capital Düsseldorf and 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.
Image: Kranhäuser Cologne, April 2018 01
Image: Kölner Dom und Hohenzollernbrücke Abenddämmerung (9706 7 8)
Image: 12 09 WLM Cologne 40
Image: St. Gereon Köln Dekagon 9702