Polish Guernica

Luftwaffe bombers appeared above Frampol on the afternoon of September 13. Within a few hours, around 90% of the town that had no strategic or military significance, was destroyed. The reason for selecting Frampol by the commanders of the Luftwaffe was its regular, geometric shape with the largest market square in Europe. German bombers used the layout of the village as a training target.

“Frampol was chosen as the test site because the slow-flying test bombers were not endangered by the air defense, and the centrally located town hall was an ideal landmark for their pilot crews. The commanders took into account a test of orientation according to visible signs, as well as the size of the town, which guaranteed that the bombs would fall flawlessly on Frampol. On the one hand, it was to facilitate the evaluation of this attempt, and on the other, to confirm the effectiveness of the bombing"- writes Wolfgang Schreyer in his book" Die Piratenchronik. Augen am Himmel" published in 1968 in Berlin.

The German airmen had prepared for the bombing in advance. On September 9, a German plane was circling over Frampol, with a pilot taking pictures. Five days after the raid, the reconnaissance plane again photographed the ruined town from the same altitude. According to historians, the bombs were dropped from a height of 1000 meters and at a speed of 200 km / h. Identical photos and parameters of the raid clearly indicate the experimental nature of the bombing.

The commander of the bombing group was Major General Freiherr von Richthofen - the same person, who in 1937 led the raid on the Basque town of Guernica y Luno. The bombing of a defenseless town shook the world. The similar fate that was suffered by Frampol two years later did not bring such an echo, but it will always remain in the memory of its inhabitants.

based on materials from the website of the Frampol commune and Wikipedia