Bombing of Würzburg in World War II The Frankonian city of Würzburg was one of the German towns bombed in the last weeks of the Second World War . The most serious attack occurred on the evening of March 16 , 1945 when British Royal Air Force bombers killed approximately 5000 civilians and almost completely destroyed the historic old town . The author Detlef Siebert wrote that " Some . . . like Würzburg or Pforzheim were primarily selected because they were easy for the bombers to find and destroy . Because they had a medieval centre , they were expected to be particularly vulnerable to fire attack " . The decision to bomb the town was made by RAF Command in High Wycombe , west of London due to favorable weather conditions predicted for the sixteenth of March . The target had been relatively undamaged and was on the way to other targets including Nuremberg . The half - timber buildings and cramped old city promised the release of a firestorm . Commencing the attack would be the No . 5 group , which also executed the heaviest raid on Dresden from February 13 – 14 . The small town of Würzburg experienced an even higher proportion of death and destruction . Avro Lancaster bombers of No 5 bomber group launched at 17 : 00 hours and met at a collection point west of London . The formation took a winding route in order to deceive German air defenses , passing over the mouth of the Somme , Reims , and the Vosges mountains in order to reach their target . They crossed the Rhine at south of Rastatt . At around 21 : 00 225 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos of the No . 5 group crossed their target from the south . On the ground , a low - grade air raid alarm sounded at 19 : 00 hours , and was raised to a high alarm at 20 : 00 . Because of a message from the command center of the Franconian command in Limburg an der Lahn , the full alarm was given to the Würzburg population at 21 : 07 . The first bombs dropped at 21 : 25 , with an attack hour over Würzberg set for 21 : 35 ( H ) . The formation passed over the entire city for the target marker H + 7 minutes ( 21 : 42 ) . For this the attack had been preceded at H - 9 min . ( 21 : 26 ) with the 627th squadron of Mosquito twin - engined bombers marked with green flares . These illuminated the target area , marking them out by flares on Green parachutes , which the German population called " Christmas Trees . " As a marker for the bombers , the sport field on Mergentheimer Straße was used as a measuring guide . This point was identified at 21 : 28 with red target marker bombs . The bombing was then accomplished with a time lag in sectors ( " sector bombing " ) . The bombers had to fly over the read marker , take a specially assigned altitude and flight path , and trigger their bombs and different times . the target area was marked out like a fan , and the bombers flew in with different release times to ensure a carpetlike coverage . Monitoring the situation was a " master bomber " ( At a cruising speed of 350 km / h , each bomber would fly over the entire target area in less than a minute ) . The bombing proceeded in three waves from 21 : 25 to 21 : 42 . First the roofs and windows of the old town were destroyed with 256 heavy bombs and areal mines ( 396 tons ) . This prepared the way for 300 , 000 incendiary bombs ( 582 tons ) . Within a very short time isolated pockets of fire emerged , and this developed into a single area - wide firestorm with temperatures from 1500 - 2000 °C . The population had only minimal warning and fortified bunkers were seldom available . For most , the best option was only a provisionally prepared basement shelter . To facilitate locating these shelters , buildings were marked on their walls SR / LSR for shelter , NA for emergency exit , and KSR for no shelter . These markers may still be found today scattered among the buildings . To avoid being caught in the firestorm or suffocating , many people ran for their lives and tried to reach the bank of the Main river or the edge of town . The fire department was faced with a hopeless battle and tried to contain it with water lanes ( Wassergasse ) . On the approach to Würzburg one Lancaster was shot down by a German Night fighter and five more RAF Lancasters were lost during or after the attack . In the ruins of the city in the following days 3000 dead were recovered or identified , and an additional 2000 unregistered refugees are believed to have perished under the rubble . From a distance of 240 km away the departing bomber crews could see the glare of the burning city . Around 02 : 00 in the morning on March 17 , 1945 , the last bombers returned to base . The final report of the No . 5 bomber group on April 10 , 145 gave the destruction of the city at 89 % , and for the suburbs at 68 % . This was above average , as was the Würzburg district of Heidingsfeld , which some bomber crews targeted before reaching their primary target . The British report accounted for a total of 1207 tons of bombs . The only part of Würzburg unaffected was the Versbach neighborhood and the Veitshöchheim . Accounting for all neighborhoods , the average destruction of Würzburg stood at 82 % . Specifically this meant 21 , 062 homes destroyed and 35 churches . Among the destroyed monuments were the Würzburg Cathedral and parts of the Würzburg Residence including its hall of Mirrors . The Staircase with the famous fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo survived due to an exceptionally bold ceiling construction for the 18th century . The American occupation forces immediately after the war secured the dilapidated building monuments in an exemplary manner . 2 . 7 million cubic meters of rubble was only cleared completely in 1964 . Before the war , the population of Würzburg was about 108 , 000 , and in early 1945 it held 75 - 85000 people due to attrition due to war service . On the day of its capture by American troops ( April 6 , 1945 ) , 36 , 850 city residents registered , and the population rose again to 53 , 000 by the end of 1945 . Left at the main entrance to the main cemetery is a mass grave for the 3000 recovered bombing victims . The cemetery itself has fallen into disrepair . On 6 April 1945 , the city surrendered to American forces .