When the US Army Air Force Accidentally Bombed Prague

On Valentines Day 1945 the US Army Air Force accidentally bombed Prague instead of a city in Nazi Germany. In this video I will tell the story.

[danielkyzlink]

My great grandfather lost his home in that bombing.

[bla]

Saddest part is it was a deliberate 'mistake'. The squadron got lost over germany and flew off course. When they finally had visibility on the ground, the lead spotted a big city, which was Prague. It didn't look like Dresden, which they had aerial photos of, they admitted they KNEW it wasn't Dresden. But they figured fuck it, german city is a german city and rather then report they got lost and failed the mission, they just dropped anyway. Hundreds of people died for absolutely nothing, because one man was too much of a chicken to admit to his superiors that he fucked up. That's the real ugly part of this story. American aviation altogether didn't maintain a good track record in the czech republic. My hometown got blasted right before the war ended and dozens of civilians were killed, just because the germans MIGHT retreat through here, there weren't even any germans around at that point, and my grandpa nearly got shot by some hillbilly in a P-47 when he was out collecting hay with his grandfather. They hid under the cart and somehow made it, but their horse got shot. It was an old man and a kid with a wagon full of hay, no idea what the hell he thought he was shooting at.

[tntfreddan]

Knowing my luck, the first bomb dropped would go straight through my livingroom window and land rigt in my lap, killing me. The following explosion wil evaporate me.

[davidson]

how do you accidentaly bomb different city 150 km

[fishefoods]

You know they almost nuked Kinston north Carolina... The hatch that holds the bomb opened but the mechanism that hold the bomb in the plane malfunctioned and didn't drop the thing. This is if you believe in nuclear warheads. But never the less even if not a nuke and just a fire bomb almost bombed themselves

[twwtjohns]

It was remarkable that that didn't happen more often. Hell, in the 1990s we accidentally bombed a Chinese embassy.

[DopravniPoradce]

Fun fact. Should one of the bombs landed several meters to the west, I wouldn't be here. My grandma was sitting in the kitchen with her sister in Malá Štěpánská during the bombing. There were two old ladies in the living room in the house across the street, sipping the tea.

Next thing they knew was the big blast and the windows shattered. When the smoke disappeared, there were no ladies across the street as the building was gone.

[nitgo]

Damn, if they were lost then why did they just drop the bombs?