Správa Sicherheitsdienstu o prvom spojeneckom bombardovaní Bratislavy 16. júna 1944

Sicherheitsdienst Report on the First Allied Bombing of Bratislava on 16 June 1944

Autor: BAKA Igor

BAKA, Igor: Správa Sicherheitsdienstu o prvom spojeneckom bombardovaní Bratislavy 16. júna 1944

BAKA, Igor: Sicherheitsdienst Report on the First Allied Bombing of Bratislava on 16 June 1944.

Vojenská história, 19, 2, 2015, pp. 104-125.

Publishing the original document along with its translation, the author offers a deeper view of the events connected with bombing of Bratislava by the Allies on 16 June 1944. The bombing target comprised mostly the Apollo refinery and the Danube harbour. However, also several military objects and public buildings, town power plant and residential houses in different parts of the town were affected. The document provides a plastic image of the situation in town during the bombing itself and afterwards. The published document comes from the R 70 Slowakei Collection in the Federal Archive in Berlin (Bundesarchiv Berlin), where several reports prepared by the State Secret Security headquarters – Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in Vienna (SD Leitabschnitt Wien) have preserved. The published report is the most complex one and contains a summary of information obtained by the SD agents about the development but mostly consequences of the Bratislava bombing. The report provides practically a summary of previous reports and had been addressed to the ambassador in Slovakia, Hanns E. Ludin. The report is not dated, however considering its connection to the previous reports as well as its content, it might be assumed that it originated in July 1944. It contains interesting information about the material losses caused by the air raid, about the readiness of state and public authorities for bombing and liquidation of the consequences thereof, about the reactions of politicians, government officials, officers of the affected companies as well as general public to the situation occurred. According to the author, the report makes it clear that the government authorities were not sufficiently prepared to remove the consequences of bombing.

Keywords: Military history. Slovakia. World War II. Bombing of Bratislava on 6 June 1944.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.69809/vojhist.2015.19.2.5

Ročník: 19 | Číslo: 2/2015 | Stránky: 104-125