!!!Bombenkrieg

Bomb Warfare: The first attempts to drop bombs from balloons were made 
by Austrian troops during the siege of Venice in 1849. Aerial bombing 
first assumed military importance in the First World War. While in 
1914 bombs were still dropped by hand from aircrafts and zeppelins, 
two- to four-engined bombers could carry and drop bomb loads of up to 
2,000 kg by the end of the war. Innsbruck, for example, was 
attacked by Italian bombers in February 1918. During the Second World 
War the bombardment of Austrian civilian and military targets began 
with an attack on Graz by Yugoslav aircrafts on April 10, 1941. 
Strategic aerial bombing of Austria started with an attack on Wiener 
Neustadt by American commands on August 13, 1943. The 
14%%sup th/%  US air-force unit, set up on November 1, 1943, 
together with the British 205%%sup th/%  squadron, carried out bombing 
raids on Austria until 1945, starting from their Italian bases. The 
heaviest raids took place in February and March 1945. From 1943 to 
1945 more than 80,000 tons of Allied bombs were dropped on Austria, 
killing approximately 30,000 people and destroying 12,000 buildings 
and other constructions.

!Literature
J. Ulrich, Der Luftkrieg ueber Oesterreich 1939-1945, 
Militaerhistorische Schriftenreihe 5/6, 1967; G. Holzmann, Der 
Einsatz der Flakbatterien im Wiener Raum 1940-1945, ibid. 14, 
1970; M. Rauchensteiner, Der Luftangriff auf Wiener Neustadt ..., 
ibid. 49, 1983; L. Banny, Krieg im Burgenland, vol. 1 
(Warten auf den Feuersturm), 1983; M. Rauchensteiner, Krieg in 
Oesterreich 1945, %%sup 3/%1985.


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