- Operation Carthage
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Operation Carthage Part of World War II 
The air raid on the ShellhusDate 21 March 1945 Location Copenhagen, Denmark Result British victory Belligerents 
Royal Air Force
Gestapo
KriegsmarineStrength 20 bombers, 30 fighters Various anti-aircraft defences Casualties and losses 6 aircraft destroyed
9 crew members killed, 1 PoWGestapo's Danish headquarters destroyed
55 German soldiers and 47 of the Gestapo's Danish employees killed125 Danish civilians killed, including 86 school children
8 Danish Gestapo prisoners killedOperation Carthage, on 21 March 1945, was a controversial British air raid on Copenhagen, Denmark, during the Second World War. The target of the raid was the Shellhus, Gestapo headquarters, in the city centre, a building that had been used for the storage of dossiers and the torture of Danish citizens.
Contents
Background
The raid was requested by members of the Danish resistance movement in the hope of freeing imprisoned members and destroying Gestapo records. Britain initially turned down the request as too risky, due to the location in a crowded city core and the need for low-level bombing, but eventually approved it in early 1945 after repeated requests.
Institut Jeanne d'Arc, a Roman Catholic school in Frederiksberg Allé, Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. Established in 1924, bombed by accident by the RAF 16 March 1945 and demolished.
Once approval had been given, planning took several weeks. This included scale models of the target building and the city itself in preparation for a very-low level attack.
Raid
The attacking force Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquito F.B.VI fast bombers of 21, 464 and 487 Squadrons of No. 140 Wing RAF. These were organised in three waves of six aircraft with two RAF Film Unit Mosquito B.IVs to record the attack. Thirty RAF Mustang F.III fighters would give cover out and back from German aircraft and also attack flak during the raid.
The force left RAF Fersfield in the morning and reached Copenhagen after 11:00. The raid was carried out at rooftop level. In the course of the initial attack, a Mosquito hit a lamp post, damaging its wing and crashing into the Jeanne d'Arc School, about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) from the target. Several bombers in the second and third wave attacked the burning school, thinking it was their target and as a result 125 Danish civilians died in the school, including 86 schoolchildren.
Results
Shell House burning after the bombing raidThe following day, a photo-reconnaissance aircraft surveyed the target to assess the results. Damage was heavy with the west wing of the six-storey building reduced to nearly ground level. The Danish underground supplied a photograph showing the building burning from end to end.
The raid had succeeded in destroying Gestapo headquarters and severely disrupting Gestapo operations in Denmark, as well as allowing the escape of 18 Gestapo prisoners. Fifty-five German soldiers, 47 of the Gestapo's Danish employees, and eight prisoners died in the headquarters itself. Four Mosquito F.B.VI bombers and two Mustang F.III were lost, and nine airmen died on the Allied side.
See also
- Operation Jericho
- Oslo Mosquito raid - similar attack on Gestapo HQ in Oslo
References
- Notes
- Bibliography
- "Attack on Gestapo Headquarters, Copenhagen, 21 March 1945", RAF History Site: Bomber Command Famous Raids, http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/bombercommandattackongestapoheadquarterscopenhagen.cfm
External links
Categories:- Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom
- Conflicts in 1945
- History of the Royal Air Force during World War II
- 1945 in Denmark
- History of Copenhagen
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