The Baedeker Raids: Germany's Revenge Attacks on British Culture

In the spring of 1942, in retaliation for the RAF's devastating raid on the medieval German city of Lübeck, the Luftwaffe launched a series of attacks on historic English cities of cultural rather than military significance.

The targets — Exeter, Bath, Norwich, York, and Canterbury — were reportedly chosen from a Baedeker tourist guidebook, giving the raids their name. Baron Gustav Braun von Sturm reportedly declared: "We shall go out and bomb every building in Britain that is marked with three stars in the Baedeker Guide."

The raids killed over 1,600 civilians and damaged many irreplaceable historic buildings, including the Bath Assembly Rooms, the Guildhall in York, and Canterbury Cathedral's library. The attacks on these smaller cities, with their limited defences, were particularly devastating.

The Baedeker raids highlighted the vulnerability of cultural heritage in total war and led to improved civil defence measures in Britain's historic cities.