The bombing of Freiburg

The bombing of Freiburg, a non-strategic, medieval German university town near the French border on the 10th May 1940 was initially thought to have been an attack by the Allies.



A military parade in Freiburg during 1940.

An investigation revealed the bombing (which killed 24 civilians) to have been a mistake by the German Luftwaffe.
However, the myth that Freiburg was an unprovoked attack by the Allies on civilians still persists.

The bombs that fell on Freiburg (which is less than 20 miles from the French border) came from three Luftwaffe aircraft of KG51 on a mission to Dijon (or the secondary target, Dole-Jura airfield) as part of the Battle of France. The pilots apparently lost their bearings in very cloudy skies, and, anxious to carry out their orders, mistakenly attacked Freiburg.



It is believed that, failing to locate either their main or secondary targets, the Luftwaffe aircraft identified Freiburg as being the French city of Colmar.

They dropped approximately 60 bombs in the area of the main railway station.
Rather than admit their error, the Germans falsified reports and threw the blame on the Allies......initially the French and then the British.

Freiburg was the first non-military target to be bombed during World War II......referred to in Hitler's 1942 Reichstag speech.