First Luftwaffe Raid on Moscow
21st July 1941: Strong anti-aircraft defences confound the raiders and pioneering photo journalist Margaret Bourke-White is there
Hitler had ordered that both Moscow and Leningrad be razed to the ground by bombers - so that the Germans would not be feeding their populations over the winter. He was obviously confident that they would be occupying both cities fairly soon - ‘tanks should not be used for this purpose’.
Just under a month after the launch of Barbarossa, Luftwaffe planes came within range of Moscow and were poised to launch heavy raids. Yet once again, the Russians proved capable of confounding Nazi expectations.
The British military report1 gave the Russians somewhat grudging credit:
There was an air raid on Moscow on the 21st July which lasted about six hours and was on a fairly heavy scale. The main objectives were apparently the railway station, industrial areas and aerodromes. Several large fires were caused by enemy aircraft which flew over at a medium height.
The Soviet A.A. defences, of which a large proportion were light anti - aircraft guns, put up what was described as " an impressive show." The searchlights frequently held the attacking aircraft quite well. Incendiary bombs fell on the roof of the British Embassy but the fire was tackled immediately by the Embassy staff, both Russian and English, and by the Moscow fire brigade.
… shrapnel from the anti-aircraft shells clattering down on to the streets like a hailstorm; and dozens of searchlights lighting the sky; I had never seen or heard anything like it in London.
British journalist Alexander Werth2 painted a rather more rounded picture:
