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American bombing of eastern Dutch cities in World War II

American bombers destroyed the center of Nijmegen on 22 February 1944. Three other Dutch cities fell under attack the same day. 16:40 10/17/2025 About 800 people died in Nijmegen - as many as in the Nazi destruction of Rotterdam. Thousands lay wounded. Enschede, Arnhem, Deventer - all near the border - also suffered American bombardment.

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The attack was at the end of a quest for targets of opportunity after a failed mission over a Nazi aircraft factory in Gotha. It struck Nijmegen from a clear sky at 1:30 in the afternoon, obliterating most of the inner city and eliminating its train station. The "jewel of Holland," arguably the oldest Dutch city, fell into rubble in a few minutes.

"Operation Argument" - the largest Allied bombing run to that date - was an immensely complicated plan intent upon the destruction of Nazi air capability in preparation for D-Day. Hundreds of bombers were to fly in coordinated groups of smaller coordinated groups in a pattern of movement that would be difficult on a clear day in peacetime.

The mission would await specific weather conditions - a deck of clouds over England and clear skies over Germany. Clouds obscure formation of battle-groups, and clear skies allow visual targeting. Plans would be tightly synchronized between thousands of people and would await a command based upon a weather forecast.

In order to form the battle groups, individual planes departed a given airfield one or two every minute depending on conditions and rose in a great circle around a vertical radio beam which coordinated their arrangement "in place." This battle group would then depart for a second position above another vertical radio beam where a group would form relative to other battle groups — and in this way organize the pattern for onward movement, into territory where the radio contact would be strategically limited.

The Americans had developed a method of large-scale bombardment that was more effective than that of the British - and also more complicated. The British had been overflying targets in a straight line. In the American sytem, battle groups formed around the element of three aircraft - one in lead; another behind, right, and above; the other behind, left and below. Four groups of these and three groups of those would make an arrangement of 36 craft that would appear from ground-level to be flying almost at wingtip to each other. These 36 bombers in formation, a "battle group," could overfly a target and release ordnance within a moment.

Each battle group was assigned three targets in order of priority. If none of these were achievable, the commander would select a "target of opportunity."

The clouds that unexpectedly covered every specified objective over German territory that day were the doom of the unfortunate eastern Dutch cities on that hard day. In the confusion of moving about in a heirarchy of priority targeting, and responding to the logistics of re-directing massive groups of large airplanes along huge arcs — under fire, and in limited radio-contact....

There was confusion. The rail station in Nijmegen was a listed target of opportunity, used by the occupying Nazis for war. But something just went terribly wrong that day and hundreds of bombs fell throughout the city.