page_title: Bombing of Prague
section_title: Raid
hierarchical_section_title: Bombing of Prague / 14 February 1945 / Raid
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial plaque of the destroyed Vinohrady Synagogue Čeština: Pamětní deska Vinohradské synagogy
context_page_description: Prague, the capital and largest city of the German-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, was bombed several times by the Allies during World War II. The first Allied aircraft to fly over Prague was a single bomber of the French Air Force in April 1940, but it dropped propaganda leaflets, not bombs. The first bombing mission was flown by the Royal Air Force in October 1941. Prague was then bombed three times by the United States Army Air Forces between the fall of 1944 and spring of 1945. During the Prague uprising of 5–9 May 1945, the Luftwaffe made use of bombers against the rebels.
  The bombing of Prague cost 1,200 lives. Ten surviving high-quality reconnaissance photographs allow a detailed assessment of the damage caused by the raids. The first two USAAF raids were accidental. The raids were used for anti-American propaganda purposes, both by the Nazis and the subsequent Communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
context_section_description: On 14 February 1945, the US Army Air Forces carried out an air raid over Prague. According to American pilots, it was the result of a navigation mistake: at the same time, a massive bombing of Dresden was under way, 120 km north-west from Prague.
  Forty B-17 Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Army Air Force dropped about 152 tons of bombs on many populated areas of Prague. The carpet-bombing hit Vyšehrad, Zlíchov, Karlovo náměstí, Nusle, Vinohrady, Vršovice and Pankrác. The bombing resulted in the deaths of 701 people and the wounding of 1,184. About one hundred houses and historical sites were totally destroyed and another two hundred were heavily damaged. All the casualties were civilians and not one of the city's factories, which might have been of use to the Wehrmacht, were damaged.
  Many homes and national sites were destroyed, for example the Emmaus Monastery, Faust House and Vinohrady Synagogue. Some of Prague's famous modern buildings, such as the Dancing House or the Emauzy church, were constructed in locations where bombs had destroyed previously existing buildings.
  One of the pilots of the lead group was Lt. Andrew Andrako flying B-17 serial number 43-38652 V, "Stinker Jr.".  Lt. Andrako was of Czech descent.
caption: Plaque commemorating the bombing of the synagogue
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