Bombing of Leipzig in World War II During World War II , Leipzig was repeatedly attacked by British as well as American air raids . The most severe attack was launched by the Royal Air Force in the early hours of December 4 , 1943 and claimed more than 1 , 800 lives . Large parts of the city center were destroyed , while factories experienced temporary shortfalls in production , had to move production facilities or even were decentralized . At the outbreak of the war , Leipzig had more than 700 , 000 inhabitants and was therefore the sixth - largest city of the “ Greater German Reich ” ( including Vienna ) . Leipzig additionally had significance by hosting the leading trade fair of the German Empire . The Erla Maschinenwerk aircraft factory that produced Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter planes at the three locations of Heiterblick , Abtnaundorf and Mockau were important for warfare . Additionally , Leipzig was an important railroad intersection in Germany at that time . Attacks . First attacks . Prior to 1942 , Leipzig had been considered relatively safe from potential aerial assaults because of the long flight route from Britain . But after the attack on Kassel on 22 – 23 October 1943 , it became clear that British bombers were able to reach central Germany . On 27 March 1943 , bombs were dropped by British aircraft setting Gohlis on fire . In the night of 31 August to 1 September , the British RAF Bomber Command carried out a minor attacks on the towns of Eutritzsch and Schönefeld causing four casualties . 4 December 1943 . During the night of 2 December 1943 , the Royal Air Force once again attacked Berlin . Meanwhile the German night fighter s had prepared for these attacks and were able to shoot down 40 bombers . The following night , Leipzig was the target of an attack . The air route of this attack had been planned in a way to keep the German Air Defense in the dark about the attack ' s objective for as long as possible . Because the Germans did not expect an assault at this time , the Royal Air Force launched its attack in the early morning hours . The route the bomber squadrons were following crossed over the continental coastline at the Zuiderzee , continued eastwards to Northern Germany and Berlin and turned southwards over the area of the city of Brandenburg . Between 3 : 50 a . m and 4 : 25 a . m . , 442 bombers dropped a total amount of almost 1400 tons of explosives and fire bombs . At 3 . 39 a . m . the air raid warning had been raised , with the all - clear following at 5 : 39 a . m . In the city centre , where the buildings were densely crowded , the air raid caused a firestorm . Hans Rumpf , the general inspector of fire fighting , happened to be in Leipzig during the attack . He said the firestorm was even more intense than the one in Hamburg during Operation Gomorrah . Firefighters had to be called from the hinterland , as the firebrigade of Leipzig had had to send half of their own forces to Berlin . These external forces were often not able to fight the flames , because their hoses did not fit the custom - made connections to the hydrants in Leipzig , of which only 30 % had been standardised . Moreover , the water supply broke down quickly . More than 1800 people were killed in the attack . This is a small number for such a heavy attack , because many inhabitants did not follow the instruction to stay in the cellars until the all - clear was given , and so escaped the firestorm flames . In the city centre many historical buildings fell victim to the attack , namely the Old and the New Theatre , the New Trade Exchange , the nave of St . John ' s Church ( Johanniskirche ) , the Old Balance ( Alte Waage ) , St . Matthew ’ s Church ( Matthäikirche ) , the Museum of Fine Art and the Augusteum , the main building of the University . The roof truss of the Old Town Hall burned out ; a concrete ceiling that had been installed at the beginning of the 20th century during a renovation prevented a burning out of the storeys below . As another consequence of the attack the destruction of 1 , 067 commercial buildings , 472 factory buildings , 56 schools , 29 fair buildings and 9 churches was recorded . 58 out of 92 departments of the University of Leipzig were hit and partially destroyed , including the first psychology laboratory , founded by Wilhelm Wundt . 20th of February 1944 . During the so - called Big Week , Leipzig was one of the first targets that were attacked by British and American bombers . On 20 February 1944 between 3 . 15 am and 4 . 20 am residential areas in the south ( Connewitz ) as well as residential and industrial areas in the southwest of Leipzig ( Schleußig and Großzschocher ) were hit . During this night raid more than 700 bombers , which dropped about 2300 tons of bombs , were used . In the afternoon of the same day , more than 200 bombers of the 8th US Air Force attacked industrial facilities in the northeast of the city , using about 700 tons of bombs . Amongst others , the ( second ) Gewandhaus ( concert hall ) was almost totally destroyed as a result of the attacks [ 12 ] . In total , about 970 people died , most of them during the British night raid . During the following day raid some of the bombed factories were damaged severely , e . g . 65 % of the “ Erla Maschinenwerk ” in Heiterblick was destroyed . In May 1944 its production had not entirely recovered yet , while the other bombed factories were working at full capacity again [ 13 ] . Later . In May 1944 more than 15 , 000 buildings were hit . Among them , more than 4 , 000 were destroyed completely , more than 1 , 000 heavily and over 10 , 000 slightly damaged . According to a preliminary official report from 30 December 1943 , the regions which were mainly hit were the ring around the inner city , the directly adjacted areas to the west , north and east , as well as all the southern suburbs . The adjactent areas to the north and east were slightly affected , whereas no damage occurred in the outer west , southwest and northwest . About 140 , 000 people were left homeless . On February 23 , 1945 , Leipzig received two major bombings : one by the British , and another by the Americans .