Thanks to precise aerial bombardment, Britain decided Hitler's order to go to war

Listen to the article. The audio text is automated, generated by an automated system

With the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union found itself on the side of the Allies. During that day, the German army, without declaring war, began its intervention in Soviet territory, making rapid progress.

In late 1941, the Soviets succeeded in achieving a degree of stability on the front, coinciding with their ability to stop the German advance towards Moscow.

Since 1941, Stalin demanded the opening of a second front against the Germans to the west to ease the burden on his forces. During his meeting with Churchill and Roosevelt in 1943, Stalin renewed his demand for the necessity of opening this second front to disperse the German forces.

During June 1944, Stalin got what he wanted after the Normandy landings. Meanwhile, this landing turned into a military success thanks to a precise air raid led by the British Royal Air Force.

On January 24, 1944, the German military command formed the Panzergruppe West, which represented armored reserve forces prepared to intervene to repel any landing operation that the Allies might launch on the French western coast. With its formation, these new forces were placed under the command of General Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg, who soon found himself in conflict among the senior officials of the German army.

While Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt favored keeping these forces away from the front and inserting them only to repel any Allied advances, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel preferred to move them closer to the front lines to provide fire support and prevent any Allied landings.

Following the successful Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, the commanders of the Western Panzer Group met several times to coordinate with each other with the aim of launching a major attack, using armor, to push the Allied forces to leave the beaches and raise the bridgeheads they had placed.

In addition, the Germans were not aware of the British success in breaking the codes of their secret messages, which at that time relied on the Enigma machine. On June 8, 1944, the British Surveillance Department noticed an unprecedented increase in the movement of radio signals emanating from a palace located in the municipality of La Caine, located 19 kilometers south of the city of Caen.

In light of this situation, doubts increased about the adoption of this palace as a command center for the Western Panzer Group. With reconnaissance planes sent to the place, the information was confirmed, as the British pilots noticed the presence of a large number of vehicles specialized in sending wireless messages.

After confirming the information, the British Second Tactical Air Force was assigned the task of quickly bombing the place. To make the mission successful, the British relied on 42 Hawker Typhoon aircraft and 61 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers.

At approximately 9:15 p.m. on June 10, 1944, British planes began bombing the Palais de la Caine, relying on hundreds of bombs, each of which weighed 500 pounds. During the bombing, Hawker Typhoon aircraft used RP-3 missiles, which were distinguished by having explosive warheads weighing 27 kilograms.

The bombing operation led to the death of 18 senior officers and commanders of the Western Panzer Group. General Sigismund-Helmut von Dawans was among the dead, and General Leo von Schweppenberg was also seriously wounded.

This bombing, which was described as a delicate surgical operation, led to a state of chaos within the Western Panzer Group, which lost its leadership and communication networks.

Because of this, the counterattack prepared by this group, which possessed a large number of tanks and was distinguished by its organization and coordination, against the Allies following the Normandy landings, was abandoned.

Later, parts of this group were included in the SS divisions, which preferred to retreat towards Paris to reorganize their ranks. In addition, this British bombing at the time contributed to the success of the Normandy landing, as the most important German force in the region, after the landing, lost its leadership and found itself unable to move in time.