The bombing of Gorky was a series of air strikes by German aviation on the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) from the fall of 1941 to the summer of 1943. The main goal of the raids was to destroy the city's industrial potential, above all the Molotov Gorky Automobile Plant. In terms of the scale of destruction, these strikes were the largest against the rear industrial regions of the USSR during the entire war.[1]
Background and objectives
By the start of the Great Patriotic War, Gorky was one of the most important industrial centers of the country. Besides GAZ, dozens of defense enterprises operated in the city: the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard, the Sokol aircraft plant (Plant No. 21), the Lenin Radio Plant, Artillery Plant No. 92, the "Dvigatel Revolyutsii" plant, and many others.[2] The destruction of Gorky's industry had been provided for in Plan Barbarossa from the very beginning; the Nazi command planned the complete capture of the city for the second half of September 1941.[1]
By that time GAZ had concentrated an enormous range of defense products: GAZ-AA trucks and their variants, GAZ-64 off-road vehicles, T-60 and T-70 light tanks, BA-64 armored cars, the assembly of American vehicles under Lend-Lease, as well as wheels and track rollers for artillery pieces and T-34 tanks. In 1942 alone the plant produced 23,591 trucks, 4,270 T-70 tanks, 1,920 T-60 tanks, and 2,485 BA-64 armored cars.[2]
Course of the bombings
The first raid took place on November 4, 1941. The last strike dates to June 23, 1943.[1] The attacks reached their greatest intensity between June 4 and 22, 1943, when the Luftwaffe carried out a series of massed night strikes, deliberately knocking out the Gorky Automobile Plant. This strike was recognized as the largest of the entire war against a rear industrial center of the Soviet Union and ended in complete success for the German side.[2]
In total, enemy bombers made 43 raids on the city during the war. Gorky was hit with 33,934 incendiary bombs and 1,631 heavy high-explosive bombs. The Molotov Plant suffered the greatest damage.[1]
Aftermath and reconstruction
The bombing of the country's largest industrial center provoked an immediate reaction at the state level: Stalin personally signed the resolution "On the Air Defense of the City of Gorky." Reconstruction work began even while the raids were still under way and proceeded at an accelerating pace; construction and assembly crews were brought in from Moscow, the Urals, Siberia, and Central Asia. The main body of reconstruction work was completed within four months.[1]
Sources
- dibit.ru — The Bombing of Gorky — diBit
- Kommersant (Volga Region) — The Flames of the Burning GAZ