Bombing of Gorky in World War II

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Bombing of Gorky
Part of strategic bombing during World War II
Soldiers of the 322nd Rifle Division, before going to the front. November of 1941. Soviet Square, Gorky
Date November 4, 1941 – June 23, 1943 Location Gorky, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Soviet Union	Germany
Strength
The 784th anti-aircraft artillery regiment 515 antiaircraft guns 17 radars 231 anti-aircraft searchlight 107 barrage balloons 47 fighter planes	Bomber groups KG 27 and KG 55
Casualties and losses
Military losses: 28 Civilian losses: 590[1]

The bombing of Gorky by the German Luftwaffe was the most destructive attack on Soviet war production on the Eastern Front of World War II. It lasted intermittently from October 1941 to June 1943, with 43 raids carried out.

The main target was the Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ), which was manufacturing T-60 light infantry tanks. Defences proved inadequate, though a full-size dummy model of the main factory, and a ‘false village’ of painted images on the ground, caused some confusion to enemy pilots. The whole plant was eventually destroyed, and an inquiry immediately demanded by Stalin. The plant was reconstructed in four months.

Gorky is the name of Nizhny Novgorod in 1932–1990, a city located deep in European Russia.