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You weren't kidding. 'Tis was easier to flatten the bordering city and all the roads rather than bombing the submarine pens!

lostlogin 8y ago
That says more about their accuracy than the bunker strength. The allied bombing was terrible.
- jacobush 8y ago
  But with "as many as 500 high-explosive bombs and more than 60,000 incendiary bombs" you'd think they could have hit the bunker a few times?
- benj111 8y ago
  They dropped grand slam (22,000lb) bombs on submarine pens. Some of the hits are detailed on wikipedia, but yeah WW2 bombing wasn't accurate. "It was the most powerful non-atomic aerial bomb used in combat until 2017" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(bomb) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(bomb)
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_submarine_pens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_submarine_pens "The Lancasters attacking Valentin each carried a single large earthquake bomb – seven carried the 5 ton 'Tallboy', thirteen carried the 10 ton 'Grand Slam'. Two 'Grand Slam's hit the target and penetrated about half-way through the 15-foot (4.6 m) thick ferrous concrete roof before exploding. The explosions blew large holes in the remaining thickness of the roof and brought down around 1,000 tons of debris into the chamber below.[8] Workers who were inside the bunker at the time survived, as the bombs did not penetrate the roof before detonating.[8]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U-Boat_Pen_Grand_Slammed.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U-Boat_Pen_Grand_Slammed.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bremen-Farge,_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945_CL2607.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bremen-Farge,_Royal_Air_F...
dsfyu404ed 8y ago
Even after the war they couldn't demolish it by blasting because even targeted explosions would have been enough to seriously harm everything around it. "Because it seemed impossible to destroy Valentin by bombing it, the decision was made to destroy it by blasting. This idea was later abandoned because the blasting would have caused severe damage to the nearby villages of Rekum and Farge including the power-station in Farge. In 1960 the bunker was taken over by the German Navy, for use as a storage depot. "[1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_submarine_pens#Post_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_submarine_pens#Post_w...

lostlogin 8y ago

That says more about their accuracy than the bunker strength. The allied bombing was terrible.

jacobush 8y ago
But with "as many as 500 high-explosive bombs and more than 60,000 incendiary bombs" you'd think they could have hit the bunker a few times?
benj111 8y ago
They dropped grand slam (22,000lb) bombs on submarine pens. Some of the hits are detailed on wikipedia, but yeah WW2 bombing wasn't accurate. "It was the most powerful non-atomic aerial bomb used in combat until 2017" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(bomb) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(bomb)
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_submarine_pens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_submarine_pens "The Lancasters attacking Valentin each carried a single large earthquake bomb – seven carried the 5 ton 'Tallboy', thirteen carried the 10 ton 'Grand Slam'. Two 'Grand Slam's hit the target and penetrated about half-way through the 15-foot (4.6 m) thick ferrous concrete roof before exploding. The explosions blew large holes in the remaining thickness of the roof and brought down around 1,000 tons of debris into the chamber below.[8] Workers who were inside the bunker at the time survived, as the bombs did not penetrate the roof before detonating.[8]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U-Boat_Pen_Grand_Slammed.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U-Boat_Pen_Grand_Slammed.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bremen-Farge,_Royal_Air_Force_Bomber_Command,_1942-1945_CL2607.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bremen-Farge,_Royal_Air_F...

dsfyu404ed 8y ago

Even after the war they couldn't demolish it by blasting because even targeted explosions would have been enough to seriously harm everything around it. "Because it seemed impossible to destroy Valentin by bombing it, the decision was made to destroy it by blasting. This idea was later abandoned because the blasting would have caused severe damage to the nearby villages of Rekum and Farge including the power-station in Farge. In 1960 the bunker was taken over by the German Navy, for use as a storage depot. "[1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_submarine_pens#Post_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_submarine_pens#Post_w...