Bombing of Tallinn in World War II

The German Luftwaffe and Soviet Long Range Aviation bombed the Estonian capital Tallinn several times during World War II. The first instance was during the Summer War of 1941 (part of Operation Barbarossa). A number of bombing missions followed in 1942–43. The largest of the bombings occurred in March 1944 in connection with the Battle of Narva and is known as March bombing (Estonian: märtsipommitamine). Thousands of Soviet bombs set the town on fire, killed 757 people, of whom 586 were civilians and 75 prisoners of war, wounded 659, and left 25,000 people without shelter in the spring thaw.

Luftwaffe commenced bombing of Tallinn from the first days of the war in June, and this intensified in August due to the Soviet attempts to evacuate the city's residents, elements of the Baltic Fleet, formations of the 8th Army, and industrial assets important for war production.

Tallinn was bombed on several occasions during May and September, 1942. During 1943, several bombing missions were performed by the Red Air Force on Tallinn in February, March, May, August, and September.

The heaviest of the air assaults was on 9 March. A week before, the Mayor of Tallinn had given an order to the city dwellers to leave the town, but the evacuation failed. The extent of the attack was beyond the expectations of the local people and the headquarters of the Army Group North. A bombing run consisting of 300 aircraft dropping 3068 bombs, 1725 of them explosive and 1300 incendiary, inflicted heavy damage to the city. The fire brigades were scarce on water, as Soviet saboteurs had blown up the city pumping station before the air raid. Military damage was minor, with a few military installations and supply stores destroyed. The major military loss was the burning of a million litres of fuel in the fuel depot. Of the enterprises with some military importance, the "Luther" plywood factory and the Urania-Werke-run cable factory were destroyed. Most of the bombs fell on the dwellings and public buildings, including the Estonia Theatre, St. Nicholas Church, the city synagogue, four cinemas, and the Tallinn City Archives. A large part of the wooden suburbs burnt down and the city centre suffered major damage. According to the official report, 757 people were killed, of whom 586 were civilians, 50 were military personnel, and 121 were prisoners-of-war. 213 had serious injuries, 446 had minor injuries. Amongst the injured were 65 military servicemen and 75 prisoners-of-war. Later, more victims were found, with the number of deaths estimated at up to 800. More than 20,000 people were left without a shelter in the spring thaw, while the military objects were almost untouched. Immediately after the bombing raid Finnish air force bombers followed returning Soviet bombers to three military airbases near Leningrad and bombed them.

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