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Operation Hydra (1943)

1943 in GermanyAerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United KingdomAugust 1943 eventsConflicts in 1943EngvarB from February 2019
Peenemünde Army Research Center and AirfieldWorld War II strategic bombing conducted by the United KingdomWorld War II strategic bombing of Germany
Air 34 184s2a
Air 34 184s2a

Operation Hydra was an attack by RAF Bomber Command on a German scientific research centre at Peenemünde on the night of 17/18 August 1943. Group Captain John Searby, commanding officer of No. 83 Squadron RAF, commanded the operation, the first time that Bomber Command used a master bomber to direct the attack of the main force. Hydra began the Crossbow campaign against the German V-weapon programme. The British lost 215 aircrew and 40 bombers, and killed several hundred enslaved workers in the nearby Trassenheide forced labour camp. The Luftwaffe lost twelve night-fighters and about 170 German civilians were killed, including two V-2 rocket scientists. However, the impact of this British operation on German V-weapon production was apparently lumped together with subsequent Allied attacks on Peenemünde as "not effective" in the 1945 "Summary Report" of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey. (which, however, was prevented from visiting Soviet-occupied Peenemünde.) The Germans had already started to disperse the manufacturing of the V-2 in 1942, for example to Raderach near Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Operation Hydra (1943) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Operation Hydra (1943)
L 264, Usedom-Nord

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 54.143 ° E 13.794 °
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L 264
17449 Usedom-Nord
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
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Air 34 184s2a
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Karlshagen
Karlshagen

Karlshagen is a Baltic Sea resort in Western Pomerania in the north of the island Usedom. Karlshagen has 3400 inhabitants and lies between Zinnowitz and Peenemünde. In 1885, a pier was developed in Karlshagen. Today it is the most important yachting port of Usedom. Between 1939 and 1945, Karlshagen lay in the restricted area of the army laboratory Peenemünde Army Research Center. Karlshagen also was the location of the housing development for high-level personnel and scientists working in the nearby laboratory. Although the buildings were largely destroyed in the air raids of 1943/44, some parts are preserved. From 1949 to 1989, Karlshagen belonged to the German Democratic Republic. During this period, the area north of Karlshagen, including the village Peenemuende, was a restricted-access area. The 75-metre-high pylons of a three-phase 110 kV alternating current overhead line running between Peenemuende and Karlshagen are visible for a considerable distance. This line was built in the early 1950s, in order to transport the electrical power generated on the island to the mainland, as it was no longer needed in Usedom after the laboratory was shut down. Later, a branch line was established to the transformer station in Karlshagen. After the Peenemuende power plant was shut down in 1990, the branch of the overhead line to the plant was dismantled, so now only the Karlshagen transformer station is fed by the line running across the Peene.