The targets of the Baedeker raids were chosen because they were cultural centres and would all have appeared in in the well known German Baedeker guide, hence the name given to these raids. The main raids were in Exeter, Bath and York in April 1942, Exeter again together with Norwich and Canterbury in May 1942, with further raids on Canterbury in June 1942.Other targets hit during the duration of the Baedeker raids, included Birmingham, Bristol and Southampton.
Baedeker was planned in response to the now devastating effectiveness of the RAF's bomber offensive on civilian targets, in particular the bombing of the ancient city of Lubeck, with its many combustible buildings in March 1942, the first major success for Bomber Command. The Germans hoped to effect civilian morale by mainly attacking targets with cultural and historical significance, the majority of the raids took place in late April1942 and May 1942, but town and cities to a lesser degree continued to be targeted over the following two years.
The considerable increase in the intensity of the RAF bomber offensive over Germany with the much improved heavy bombers, brought about an angry reaction from Hitler who ordered terror attacks of a retaliatory nature. After the raid on Bath, Propaganda minister Goebbels reported that Hitler intended to repeat these raids night after night until the English are sick and tired of terror attacks.
Each raid involved 30 to 40 bombers, and to increase their effectiveness it was planned they would fly two sorties per night, each raid would involve two periods separated by two to three hours. The first raid of the Baedeker blitz was against the historic town of Exeter in the county of Devon on night of 23/24 April 1942, with over 80 killed. On the nights 25/26 and 26/27 April 1942, Regency Bath was attacked, causing widespread damage with 417 killed, and 1,000 injured, 19,000 buildings were damaged, many historic. On 27/28 April Norwich was attacked, followed on 28/29 April with a raid on the ancient city of York. At the end of May Canterbury was attacked by 77 bombers, resulting in 43 Deaths.
On 27 April 1942, Winston Churchill told the War Cabinet to ensure that disproportionate publicity was not give to these raids, and avoid giving the impression that the Germans were making full reprisal for the heavy British raids. As a result of all the raids during April-June 1942 1,637 civilians were killed, and 50,000 houses destroyed, including notable buildings such as York's Guildhall and the Bath Assembly Rooms, Norwich, Canterbury and York cathedrals survived, though Exeter was badly damaged.
The term “Baedeker Blitz” is sometimes limited to the five main raids on Exeter, Bath, Canterbury, Norwich and York in April and May 1942, but the Luftwaffe continued to target cities and towns that had cultural value for the next two years, in July 1942 there were three raids on Birmingham and Middlesbrough and one on Hull, further significant raids took place in August, September and October1942, however as a result of heavy losses the Luftwaffe introduced high level bombing with two modified Ju 86P bombers, with only temporary success.
By the end of 1942, 3,236 people had been killed and 4,148 injured in these raids, however the strength of the Luftwaffe was declining in the western theatre of operations. But in 1943 the Luftwaffe in the west was revitalised and brought up to strength, with an extra 120 bombers, and the addition of a fast bomber wing consisting of Fw 190 fighter-bombers. Throughout 1943 raids were carried out on a variety of targets, some strategic like Southampton and Sunderland, with others such as Bournemouth and Lincoln, described as soft targets. By the end of 1943 The Luftwaffe had mounted 20 raids, in which more than 10 tonnes of bombs had been dropped, with a total for the year of 2,320 tons, causing 2,372 deaths and 3,450 casualties, during the same year the RAF dropped136,000 tons, and in one single raid on Berlin 2,480 tons were dropped, more than the entire German effort. The Baedeker style raids ended in 1944, when the Germans realised they were ineffective, with unsustainable loses. .
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