Baedeker Raids - Haycombe Cemetery Graves
What were they?
Wikipedia:
The
Baedeker
raids
were
conducted
by
the
German
Luftwaffe
Luftflotte 3 in two periods between April and June 1942. They
targeted strategically relatively unimportant but picturesque
cities in England. The cities were reputedly selected from the
German Baedeker Tourist Guide to Britain, meeting the criterion of
having been awarded three stars, hence the English name for the
raids. Baron Gustav Braun von Stumm, a German propagandist is
reported to have said on 24 April 1942 following the first attack,
"We shall go out and bomb every building in Britain marked with
three stars in the Baedeker Guide."
What was the effect on Bath?
"High explosive bombs...killed over 400 people, totally destroyed
329 houses and shops, wrecked 700 more so severely that they had
to be demolished and inflicted some degree of damage on at least
1900 buildings." [
Rothnie 1983]
Most of the dead were buried at Haycombe Cemetery on the outskirts
of Bath "... a row of white gravestones... witness to the 247
bodies laid to rest there in a series of mass burials." [
Rothnie
1983].
A memorial stone is set at the end of a row of graves:
The memorial stone has a plaque set into one face:
The text reads
"1939-1945. This tablet marks the graves of those who died in
Bath during the air raids on the 25th 26th 27th April 1942."
The graves are overlooked by the war memorial:
Location of Haycombe Cemetery:
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