Bombing of Wieluń The bombing of Wieluń refers to the bombing of the Polish town of Wieluń by the German Luftwaffe on 1 September 1939 . The Luftwaffe started bombing Wielun at 4 : 40 am , five minutes before the shelling of Westerplatte , which has traditionally been considered the beginning of World War II . It is considered to be one of the first terror bombing s in history and first in Europe in this war . It killed an estimated 1 , 300 civilians , injured hundreds more and destroyed 90 percent of the town centre . There were no military targets of any importance in the area . The casualty rate was more than twice as high as Guernica . Events . According to German records 29 Junkers Ju 87B “ Stukas ” of " Sturzkampfgeschwader 76 " under the command of Captain Walter Sigel started from Nieder - Ellguth airfield at 5 : 02 am on 1 September 1939 . Some twenty minutes later they reached the town of Wieluń unopposed and dropped 29 bombs of 500 kg and 112 bombs of 50 kg . Among the first places bombed was the hospital , despite Red Cross markings ; 26 patients were killed . The attack on the hospital was investigated by German prosecutors in 1978 and 1983 , but the charges were dropped , since prosecutors felt that the pilots could not make out the nature of the target due to poor lighting conditions at dawn . Within the hour all 29 aircraft landed at Nieder - Ellguth , when Sigel reported no observation of enemy forces . A second wave of 29 Stukas of " Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 Immelmann " commanded by Major Oskar Dinort attacked the town shortly afterwards , followed by a third wave at about 2 : 00 pm . In all , 380 bombs totalling 46 , 000 kg had been dropped on the town , hitting the hospital , killing more than 1 , 200 inhabitants and destroying 70 per cent of the buildings , up to 90 per cent in the center . According to German documents the town was burning at 06 : 00 – " Wielun brennt " - Wieluń is burning . Journalists Sylwia Słomińska and Joachim Trenkner state that there were no military or industrial targets of note in the area , except for a small sugar factory in the outskirts of the town . According to the two journalists , German bombers also destroyed the historical gothic church . Other version of the events . German aviation historian Horst Boog claims that a Polish cavalry brigade and a Polish infantry division had been located in the town by German reconnaissance the day before the attack . From reports of Luftflotte 4 , 2nd Air Division , I . / Sturzkampfgeschwader 76 and I . / Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 he concludes that the bomb attacks had been directed against these military formations and can therefore not be considered terror bombings . Due to ground fog , he argues , the German pilots missed their targets and mistakenly bombed the town . British aviation historian Peter C . Smith too , describes the bombing as collateral damage from bombs that missed their targets during ground support of the Wehrmacht operations . Polish historian Jerzy B . Cynk , author of " The Polish Air Force at War . The official history 1939 - 1943 " , wrote about the events : " Numerous direct support missions were also flown , with the heaviest attacks directed against the Polish cavalry and troop concentrations at Wielun . " At 13 : 00 a German dive bomber wing , I . / StG 2 led by Major Oskar Dinort via Nieder - Ellguth , were directed against this unit , followed a few hours later by Schwarzkopff with sixty Ju 87 Stukas of " I . / Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 " Weather conditions were unfavourable during the day , with a visibility of only one kilometre and a practically closed layer of fog at 50 metres altitude . Fog , mist and poor visibility thwarted many of the Luftwaffe ' s sorties planned for the morning of the first day of the invasion . The dive bombers , facing intense anti aircraft fire , inflicted heavy losses on the Polish cavalry , and the advance was turned into a rout by 90 Stukas . On their return home , four of the German Junkers Ju 87 bombers were shot down by the Polish 36 Academic Legion Infantry Regiment stationed nearby . Three waves of attacks were carried out during the day . The town was captured by the German Army on the first day of the invasion .