| Conflict: | Bombing of Belgrade |
| Partof: | the Allied bombing of Yugoslavia in World War II |
| Date: | 16 April – 6 September 1944 |
| Place: | Belgrade, German-occupied Serbia |
| Result: |
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| Combatant1: | Allies United States United Kingdom |
| Combatant2: | Axis |
| Units1: | Fifteenth Air Force |
| Strength1: | 600 bombers |
| Casualties1: | None |
| Casualties2: | 343 German and 96 Italian soldiers killed |
| Casualties3: | 2,271 – 4,700 civilians killed |
The Allies carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Axis in Belgrade during the Allied bombing of Yugoslavia in World War II. The air strikes lasted from 16 April 1944 to 6 September 1944.
Belgrade was bombed eleven times by the Anglo–American air force. Infrastructure in Belgrade was bombed three times in April, twice in May, once in June and July and four times in September 1944.[1] [2] The heaviest casualties were recorded during the April bombing on 16 April and 17 April 1944, which coincided with the first and second days of Orthodox Easter that year. The main unit in this action was the American Fifteenth Air Force, with a base in Foggia in the south of Italy. 600 bombers took part, dropping carpet bombs from 3,000 – 5,000 metres. There was no anti-aircraft defense. Several people died on 16 April. The population of Belgrade at the time believed that the bombing was an introduction to an Allied military invasion. The bombing continued with greater intensity on 17 April, when the Sajmište concentration camp was hit where 60 detainees were killed and about 150 wounded in the camp.
Belgrade was bombed again by the Allies on 21 April, 24 April, 18 May, 6 June, 8 July, and 6 September 1944.
Belgrade was bombed by British and American air forces on 16–17 April 1944, which was Orthodox Easter Day. The largest unit that took part was the American Fifteenth Air Force, based in Foggia in the south of Italy. This carpet bombing raid was executed by 600 aircraft flying at high altitude. Civilian casualties were as many as 1,160, while German military losses were 18,[3] [4] or some 1,200 killed in total. 5,000 people were wounded.
Though officially only military and industrial targets were picked – factories, bridges, airport, ammunition depots, German barracks and garrisons - the precision of bombing was notoriously bad. Features hit in the city centre on 16 April included the Palace Albanija, the National Theater in Belgrade, Terazije, Bajloni Market, the area around Belgrade Main railway station, Krunski Venac (including the maternity hospital where several mothers who had recently given birth were killed with their babies), and a large number of hospitals, schools, and kindergartens. Bombed areas of the wider Belgrade metropolis included Dorćol, which was heavily destroyed, together with parts of Vračar, Pašino Brdo, and Dušanovac, all suburbs at the time, which had no factories or military targets.
When the bombing was continued the next day, the remains of the King Alexander Bridge, partially destroyed in April 1941, were bombed. Hits were mostly concentrated on the bank areas of the city, including the Sajmište concentration camp, part of the Independent State of Croatia at the time. Some 100 prisoners were killed in the bombing. Some citizens were hiding in surviving shelters but others massively fled the city, hiding in the woods or surrounding villages. Some 1,500 tons of bombs were used in the bombing.
Other targets included Kalenić market, the Central hygienic institute, the Hospital for infectious diseases, the Home for the blind, the Labor market, the Orthopedic institute, both state orphanages (for boys and for girls), two homes for the children of refugees from other parts of Yugoslavia, the Children's hospital, and the Children's dispensary. All bridges were damaged again, as were the railway stations in Topčider and Rakovica, Post Office No. 2, the fabrics factory of Vlada Ilić in Karaburma, the faculty of technical engineering, Vajfert's brewery, and the University campus.
One epitaph on the tombstone on Belgrade New Cemetery says: "They hoped to get freedom from the English, not knowing that hope leads them directly into death".