The Pittsburgh Press (April 2, 1944)
U.S. BOMBS KILL 50 SWISS
Yank fliers hit city on wrong side of border
Air Force admits navigation mistake
By Ludwig Popper, United Press staff writer
Schaffhausen. Switzerland – (April 1)
The people of Schaffhausen grieved for their dead and tended their wounded tonight, but with stoic calm.
They knew they had been victims of a tragic miscalculation by American airmen and blamed it on the fact that their ancient industrial city lies on the north bank of the Rhine, only three miles from Germany.
At least 50 killed
At least 50 persons were killed and more than 100 wounded, according to an official announcement, but fire brigades and rescue workers were still digging in the ruins of buildings tonight and it was feared the casualties would mount.
Liberators attacking Southwest Germany Saturday mistakenly dropped some bombs on Swiss territory because of the difficulties of navigation in bad weather, the U.S. Air Force headquarters in London announced.
Several Swiss of this battered city told me that the bombardiers undoubtedly had believed the Rhine River formed the Swiss border. Schaffhausen is situated in a small strip of Swiss territory which projects past the river’s northern shore and is surrounded on three sides by Germany.
No hard feelings
My main impression of the hard-hit city was of remarkable order. And there are no hard feelings toward the United States. Americans were being treated with the utmost politeness and friendliness by police, military authorities and the population.
Material damage plus compensation for the dead and wounded is unofficially estimated by the Swiss at $10-15 million.
Strict discipline and organization are visible everywhere. The air-raid defenses were at work soon after the last bomb exploded.
Fires still smoldering
When I entered the town tonight, I found it permeated with blue smoke. Fires still smoldered in a dozen places. Streets were covered with broken glass from thousands of smashed windows and other debris.
Schaffhausen, with a population of 15,000, is 23 miles northeast of Zürich and is the capital of the canton of the same name. The official Swiss announcement of the bombing took pains to note that the U.S. planes “went into action over southern Germany in the Rhine area,” implying that the Swiss were convinced the bombing was accidental.
Hundreds were wandering the streets or standing guard over household possessions, piled up before wrecked homes.
The city teemed with troops and volunteer rescue workers, including Boy Scouts and women auxiliaries.
Flames were occasionally breaking out anew.
U.S. officials investigate
U.S. Military Attaché Brig. Gen. Barnwell Legge, Consul General Samuel Woods and Consul Philip Hubbard reached Schaffhausen from Zürich tonight to make an official inspection of the damage.
Eyewitnesses said everyone dived for the air-raid cellars when the first bomb exploded. The planes were gone within five minutes.
The alarm sounded at 10:30 a.m. (CET) and a few seconds later, watchers in the streets saw a formation of 24 bombers coming in from the east at a considerable height, followed by a second formation of the same size. The second group was attacked by an unidentified fighter plane and machine-gun fire could be heard.
Scores of fires
Immediately afterward, a heavy explosion shook the town, followed by several smaller blasts. A few minutes later, scores of fires were blazing.
A number of bomb craters were visible in the streets, but I saw none more than a yard wide and a foot or so deep. Railroad traffic in and out of Schaffhausen was being restored but there was no service.
This dispatch was telephoned to the United Press office in Zürich from a neighboring village.
Schools were opened to accommodate the homeless. Soup kitchens had been established on some street corners, and the military authorities arranged to provide bedding for the homeless.
Numerous incendiaries
The bombers sowed numerous incendiaries and many small high explosives. Among rows of intact buildings stood single houses that were burst by small bombs.
In a few places were groups of small medieval houses, characteristic of this ancient city, which were fired by incendiaries and partly burned out.
As near as I could estimate, about 30 buildings were totally destroyed. Those that were partly burned out were estimated by the Swiss to number about 100. The town museum was partially destroyed and the Swiss said many valuable art treasures were lost.
One church bombed
One church was bombed and the priest’s house was still burning. A new, five-story textile factory was a mass of flaming ruins. A silverware factory had been burned out, and a string factory was partly leveled.
The cantonal government building was struck by a direct hit that killed eight persons, including Cantonal Councilor Schoch and two policemen. The railway station suffered a direct hit that killed many, including the stationmaster, and the building partly collapsed. Several bombs damaged tracks nearby.
Air Force: Weather to blame
London, England (UP) –
Liberator bombers of the 8th Air Force attacking industrial targets and communications in Southwest Germany yesterday, mistakenly dropped some bombs on Swiss territory because of difficulties of navigation in bad weather, U.S. Air Force headquarters said today.
The U.S. communiqué did not identify the Swiss territory.
There was no mention of the targets in the communiqué other than a reference to a “deep penetration” of Germany. Thunderbolt and Lightning fighters escorting the Liberator formations, which were believed to number about 250 planes, shot down five enemy fighters.
Two high-priority industrial targets lie across Lake Constance from Schaffhausen, where the Swiss announced at least 50 were killed by U.S. bombs. They are Friedrichshafen, 40 airline miles to the southeast of Ludwigshafen, 20 miles to the east.
Thirteen bombers and four fighters were missing, the communiqué said. Enemy planes which fell before the Liberators’ guns, in addition to the five shot down by fighters, are not yet tabulated.
The Thunderbolts and Mustangs also destroyed a number of planes on the ground, and other Thunderbolt fighters attacked airfields in the Bremen and Hanover areas as well as shooting up 16 locomotives and damaging tugs and barges, the announcement said.
Yesterday’s raid, opening a new month in the air war against the Reich that is confidently expected to exceed March’s all-time record of 25 attacks in 31 days, marked the first deep penetration of Germany yet made by Liberators without an accompanying force of Flying Fortresses.
The commander of one of the groups of Liberator bombers that accidentally bombed Swiss territory said today that, “We are terribly sorry that it happened.”
He said:
We were blown off our course by a wind of higher velocity than anticipated.
The boys did not know that they were dropping bombs on Switzerland – and a lot of them do not know it yet. They will all know later today and they are all going to feel badly about it.
