During World War II, Prague wasn’t as affected by bombing as many other European cities were. This was because planes didn’t have the range to reach Prague, and also because Allied bombing targets tended to be in Germany.
This article describes the Allied bombing of Prague, which happened towards the end of the war.
Allies over Czechoslovakia in World War II
As most of Europe fought World War II, Prague was so far away from the Allies that few thought to plan air raids. Planes were still small and had limited fuel. The British Spitfire, one of the main Allied planes, had a range of 500 miles1 (800 km). Prague is about 940 miles (1 500 km) away from the United Kingdom.
This spared Prague from the horror of bombing campaigns.
The first Allied plane over Prague was French, which dropped propaganda leaflets in April 19402.
The mistaken bombing
The controversial Allied bombing of Dresden took place between 13 and 15 February. On Valentine’s Day 1945, American bombers ended up over Prague3. When they saw Prague, they assumed it was Dresden.
This is a large error since the two cities are 100 km (60 miles) apart and goes to show how imperfect navigation was at the time4. (A few others ended up over the Czech cities of Karlovy Vary and Plzen3). The 62 B-17 Flying Fortresses dropped 152 tons of bombs on Prague over a 10 minute period2.
Praguers had often seen Allied planes on their way to bomb Nazi Germany. Many people stopped to watch the planes fly by and none expected them to bomb Prague4. The US bombers killed 700 people, wounded about 1 000 more3 and destroyed 2 000 buildings2. Some people died in their cellars when their building collapsed around them. They were only discovered in the 1970s when reconstruction work took place3. The Allies also destroyed the Emmaus monastery which was in use by the Gestapo2 at the time.
All the Allied bombing hit Prague’s New Town. My walking guide to Prague will show you the extent of this part of Prague.
The large central square Karlovo Namesti (Charles’ Square) was also hit2. It’s likely the large open plaza attracted the pilots’ attention from the air. They hit a hospital on the square, a church and the Palacky bridge near the Emmaus monastery2.
Needless to say, this soon became anti-Allied propaganda.
The intentional air raid
Six weeks later, the Americans returned to target engineering works and military airfields2. This was the US 15th Expeditionary Task Force, formed in the Mediterranean theatre of war in 19435. The 15th operated out of restored military airbases in Foggia, Italy5.
The Allies planned the bombardment for lunch time on Palm Sunday, hoping this would limit civilian casualties2. The eastern regions of Libeň and Vysočany included residential zones so 235 people still died, but not in the factories the Allies targeted2.
Reconstruction
Following these bombings, Prague set about to reconstruct itself. Unlike other cities the damage it suffered was manageable. Many historical buildings still exist in their original form today because of this.
The Emmaus monastery had always dominated Prague’s New Town sky line. The modern reconstruction is as iconic a part of the sky line as the old one was.
They built Frank Gehry’s modern Dancing House on the site of another destroyed building3. It took till the 1990s to use this site, but this modern addition is another iconic image of Prague today.
- Supermarine Spitfire; MilitaryFactory.com; 2019-06-13[↩]
- March 25, 1945 – the day the Americans bombed Prague deliberately; Ian Willoughby; Radio Prague International; 2020-03-25[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- Valentine’s Day 1945 – When the Americans bombed Prague; Tom McEnchroe; Radio Prague International; 2020-02-14[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- Used to US planes overhead, Praguers ignored sirens during tragic air raid of February 1945; Ian Willoughby; Radio Prague International; 2015-02-13[↩][↩]
- The Forgotten Fifteenth; Barrett Tillman; Air Force Mag; 2012-08-31[↩][↩]