Bombing of Wuppertal in World War II

Wuppertal, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, was bombed extensively by the RAF in the Battle of the Ruhr of World War II. More than 6,000 people died in two attacks on Wuppertal. The attack on the night of 29 May 1943, created a firestorm in the narrow streets of the city. The Germans were ill-equipped to fight these fires.

One of these RAF raids seriously damaged the Goldschmitt adhesives firm, which was making "Tego-Film" wood adhesive for the German war effort - new aircraft designs meant to make large use of wooden airframe components, such as the Ta 154 and He 162 had their development seriously delayed or even curtailed as a result of the replacement adhesive corroding the wooden aiframes of such aircraft, resulting in crashes of prototypes.

The other factor that led to such high casualty rates in Wuppertal was its location. The city is located on the banks of two very steep granite riverbanks. The RAF had dropped timed explosives that caused the foundations of buildings to literally melt away.