Bombing of the Bezuidenhout facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bombing of the Bezuidenhout
Part of World War II Operation Crossbow
Bezuidenhout burning, shortly after the bombing, photographed from the tower of the Church of James the Greater, at Parkstraat in The Hague
Date 3 March 1945 Location The Hague, Netherlands 52°05′17″N 04°20′41″E / 52.08806°N 4.34472°E / 52.08806; 4.34472
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders
Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham
Units involved
Second Tactical Air Force No. 137 Wing No. 139 Wing	902nd Artillery Regiment z.V. (Motorized)
Strength
56 Boston & Mitchell bombers
Casualties and losses
Bezuidenhout civilian casualties (collateral damage): 532 killed, 344 injured, ±30,000 dehoused

Motorized Nazi artillery launched 1,027 V-2 rockets at London from The Hague – 79 failed at launch, 600 reached London

The desolate landscape of the Hague neighborhood of Bezuidenhout in 1946. At the front the Bezuidenhoutseweg road. Completely at the back, behind the railroad tracks, a part of the municipality of Voorburg.

The bombing of the Bezuidenhout (Dutch: bombardement op het Bezuidenhout) took place on 3 March 1945, when the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in the Dutch city of The Hague resulting in the death of 532 citizens.

Bombing

On the morning of 3 March 1945, 51 medium and light bombers of the North American B-25 Mitchell and Douglas Boston types from No. 137 and No. 139 wings of the Second Tactical Air Force took off from Melsbroek near Brussels and Vitry in Northern France with a cargo of 67.000 kg of high-explosive bombs.

The British bombers were intended to bomb the Haagse Bos ("Forest of the Hague") district where the Germans had installed V-2 launching facilities that had been used to attack English cities. However, the pilots were issued with the wrong coordinates (vertical and horizontal interchanged), so the navigational instruments of the bombers had been set incorrectly, and combined with low fog and clouds which obscured their vision, the bombs were instead dropped on the Bezuidenhout residential neighbourhood. Eventually, a wind force of 9 instead of the expected 5 added to the catastrophe. All bombs missed the rocket installations in the 2.4 km (1.5 mi) x 0.8 km (0.50 mi) forest target (Haagse Bos) by 1.2 km (1,300 yd) ("incorrect allowance for the wind"/"map-reading error"), and hit the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood instead.

At 9:08 in the morning the 51 bombers dropped 67 tonnes of high-explosive bombs on the Bezuidenhout, wreaking widespread destruction.

"Everyone went out and into the street. You saw people running, running, running everywhere. But whichever way you ran, there was fire everywhere."

—Survivor

At the time, the neighbourhood was more densely populated than usual with evacuees from The Hague and Wassenaar; tens of thousands were left homeless and had to be quartered in the Eastern and Central Netherlands.

Commemoration

Monument of Juliana of Stolberg and her five sons, which survived the bombing and now also doubles as a monument for its victims

Monument van de menselijke vergissing

The bombing is commemorated every year on the first Sunday after 3 March. In 2011, Mayor Jozias van Aartsen of The Hague as well as the Mayors of Wassenaar and Leidschendam-Voorburg (residents of both towns helped with firefighting and caring for the survivors) were present at the remembrance ceremony, which consisted of a church service, the laying of a wreath at the Monument of the human mistake (Dutch: Monument van de menselijke vergissing) and a remembrance concert in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. A similar church service and concert were held in 2012.

Statistics

As a result of the bombing, there were:

• 532 fatalities
• 344 wounded
• 30,000 people left homeless
• 3,300 completely destroyed residences
• 3,250 burned out residences
• 3,241 damaged residences
• 391 irreparably damaged residences
• 290 completely destroyed businesses
• 5 completely destroyed churches
• 9 completely destroyed schools
• 10 completely destroyed public buildings

Gallery

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  Unknown street in Bezuidenhout, after the bombing

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  Juliana van Stolberg monument and ruins of the Wilhelmina Church

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  Unknown street in Bezuidenhout, after the bombing

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  Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië (street)

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  The intense fire made many houses collapse entirely

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  On the background the ruins of the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel at Bezuidenhoutseweg (street)

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  Korte Voorhout (street) at the old city center, which was also struck by the bombing

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  Ruins of the Anglican Church of St. John and St. Philip in The Hague, after the bombing