Operation Carthage, on 21 March 1945, was a British air raid on Copenhagen, Denmark during the Second World War which caused significant collateral damage. The target of the raid was the Shellhus, used as Gestapo headquarters in the city centre. It was used for the storage of dossiers and the torture of Danish citizens during interrogations. The Danish Resistance had long asked the British to conduct a raid against the site. The building was destroyed, 18 prisoners were freed and Nazi anti-resistance activities were disrupted. Part of the raid was mistakenly directed against a nearby school; the raid caused 123 civilian deaths. The incident was dramatised in the 2021 Danish film The Shadow in My Eye. A similar raid against the Gestapo headquarters in Aarhus, on 31 October 1944, had succeeded.
The air raid on the Shellhus
Shell House before the bombing. At the time of the bombing it was painted in camouflage colours.
Institut Jeanne d'Arc, a Roman Catholic girl school in Frederiksberg Allé, Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. Established in 1924, bombed by accident by the RAF 21 March 1945 and demolished.
Shell House burning after the bombing raid
Copenhagen is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of approximately 660,000 in the municipality and 1.4 million in the urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the Øresund strait. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road.
Image: Christiansborg fra Nikolaj Kirken
Image: Marmorkirken Copenhagen seen from Amalienborg (cropped)
Image: Tivoligardens 2
Image: Nyhavn panorama
