Bombing of Wiener Neustadt in World War II


, a city in Austria, was the target of bombing raids during World War II by the Allies.

Background

The targets in and around Wiener Neustadt included the marshalling yards, the Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke aircraft factory and the Raxwerke plants of Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik.
The three WNF plants were targets of the Combined Bomber Offensive against the German aircraft industry. WNF manufactured Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and repaired Junkers bombers and heavy fighters .
The Hirtenberger Patronen Zündhütchen und Metallwarenfabrik was an ammunition factory nearby.
DateTargetNotes
August 13, 194361 B-24 Liberators in the first Ninth Air Force raid on Austria targeted the Wiener-Neustadt aircraft factory as part of the B-24 part of Operation Juggler postponed from August 7.
October 1, 194373 B-24's based at Oudna Air Base outside of Tunis, Tunisia, temporarily on loan from the Eighth Air Force bombed the Wiener Neustadt Bf 109 factory.
November 2, 1943 The first mission by the US Fifteenth Air Force targeting the nearby Messerschmitt plant, including the 99th Bombardment Group on a 1,600 mile round trip, dropped 312 tons and hit the Raxwerke.
March 20–25, 1944Operations during Big Week destroyed 200 aircraft at the Bf 109 plants in Wiener-Neustadt.
March 7, 1944The 317th Bombardment Squadron bombed the Wiener Neustadt aircraft factory.
April 23, 1944The 317th BS bombed the Wiener Neustadt aircraft factory.
May 9, 1944 The 464th Bombardment Group bombed an aircraft factory.
May 10, 1944 The 456th BG bombed an aircraft factory at Wiener Neustadt after the other groups turned back because of bad weather. Of 31 aircraft, 5 were shot down, and the unit earned the Distinguished Unit Citation.
May 24, 1944The 317th BS bombed the Wiener Neustadt aircraft factory, and the 456th BG bombed "Wöllersdorf Air Drome Stores and Machine Shops".
May 29, 1944The 32nd BS bombed the Wiener Neustadt Wollersdorf AID.. "Successful attacks on Wiener-Neustadter complex have raised oil to high priority". WNF Bad Voslau manufactured Bf 109 components and was undamaged as of March 5, 1944.
marshalling yard
February 15, 1945main station The 485 BG bombed the main station.
March 12, 1945marshalling yards B-24s and B-17s bombed the Floridsdorf oil refinery and Wiener-Neustadt marshalling yards.
March 14, 1945 George McGovern was one of the pilots who bombed the alternate target, the Wiener Neustadt marshaling yards, instead of the Vienna oil refinery.
March 15, 1945 109 B-17s bombed the oil refinery at Ruhland ; 103 others bomb the alternate target, the refinery at Kolin, Czechoslovakia. More than 470 bombers attacked targets in Austria, including Moosbierbaum, Schwechat, and Vienna/Floridsdorf oil refineries, and the marshalling yards at Wiener-Neustadt.
March 16, 1945marshalling yardsThe 47th Bomb Wing 450th Group bombed the marshalling yards using a B-24. 238 x 500 lb G.P. bombs dropped. 197 bursts plotted. Altitude 21,140'.
March 20, 1945 760+ B-17s and B-24s, with fighter escort, bombed the Korneuburg and Kagran oil refineries in Austria, the tank works at Steyr, and marshalling yards at Wels, Sankt Polten, Amstetten, Wiener-Neustadt, & Klagenfurt
March 26, 1945The 32nd BS bombed the marshalling yards.