Early RAF raids on Bremen beginning in May had sought out these industrial and military targets but the efforts proved costly and, given limited navigation and target-location capabilities, impractical.
From September the RAF switched to night-time "area bombing". In the spring of new directives from Bomber Command under Air Marshal Arthur Harris formalised the change of strategy. Purporting to draw lessons from the German Blitz on Britain, Bomber Command concluded that rather than being "collateral damage", the destruction of residential districts and the killing of civilians served the legitimate purpose of weakening enemy morale.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of area bombing, Bomber Command sought to overwhelm city defences with "1, bomber" raids. Six hundred houses were destroyed but civil defence measures kept civilian casualties to Flak and Luftwaffe fighters were able to shoot down 49 RAF bombers. Subsequent attacks were carried out by fewer but improved aircraft, and as Bremen's air-defence depleted fighter aircraft were redeployed to the eastern front , these caused significantly more damage.
At the beginning of , the daytime targeting of industrial and military facilities returned with the arrival over Bremen of the 8th US Air Force. In the first year, the "Mighty Eighth" suffered considerable losses. On 8 October , the British began a new wave of heavy night attacks. The heaviest air raid of the entire war hit the city on the night of August 18β19, In just 34 minutes aircraft dropped 1, tons of bombs over the densely built-up west of the city killing 1, people, destroying 8, residential buildings, and leaving 50, homeless.
The last Allied air raid hit Bremen on April 22, Advancing behind a ground barrage, the British 3rd Infantry Division under General Lashmer Whistler entered the city in late April In just over five years, the Allies carried out a total of air raids on Bremen, dropping 5, tons of explosive devices, and killing more than 4, residents. In addition to the city center, almost 65, houses and apartments were destroyed, corresponding to around 62 percent of the city's residential accommodation. The primary military formation tasked with the defense of Bremen's air space was the 8th Flak Division.
