Bombing of Warsaw in World War II

During the course of the war, approximately 85% of the city was destroyed due to German mass bombings, heavy artillery fire, and a planned demolition campaign.

This attack by four bomber groups was of limited effectiveness due to low-lying cloud cover and stout Polish resistance by the PZL P.11 fighters of the Pursuit Brigade, which claimed down 16 German aircraft for the loss of 10 of their own.

Finally, starting at 0800 on 25 September, Luftwaffe bombers under the command of Major Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen conducted the largest air raid ever seen by that time, dropping 560 tons of high explosive bombs and 72 tons of incendiary bombs,[3] in coordination with heavy artillery shelling by Army units.

Warsaw's infrastructure was also heavily damaged by air raids, as desperate street-to-street fighting took place in the destroyed areas.

After 63 days of heavy urban fighting, the Luftwaffe's combined efforts with artillery bombardment, and systemic destruction accounted for 85%-90% destroyed buildings by January 1945.