DEMTILED INTERPRETATION REPORT NO.K.1297
          Photographs taken by 1 P.R.U. on 12.4.42.
               Sortie A/566
               Scale: 1/19600
               Locality: LUBECK
 
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT
     The town and suburbs are well seen on these photographs of good scale and quality.
     Factories and shipyards on both sides of the river TRAVE to the north of the town, and
the shipyards at HERRENWYK are not covered.
     
PERIOD UNDER REVIEW
     No previous damage report has been issued on LUBECK.
     All damage visible can be attributed to the raid of 28/29.3.42 fifteen days before these
photographs were taken.
 
GENERAL STATEMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF DAMAGE
     LUBECK is the most heavily damaged German town yet seen.
     Damage to the town and suburbs is on a scale almost comparable with the most heavily
"blitzed" areas in this country.
     Well over 2,000 houses have been totally destroyed or damaged beyond repair; and a
great many more have probably been damaged.
     A dozen factories have been damaged, two or three of them being totally destroyed.
     Damage is concentrated largely in the centre of town and in the suburbs of St. Lorenz to
the West and St. JURGEN to the South.  Severe damage has been caused probably by a 4000 lb
bomb in the Suburb of MARLI to the East.
     The concentration of damage in built-up areas and the lack of craters in open country
indicate the high degree of success obtained during the attack. (See Damage Plot)
 
DETAILS OF DAMAGE
     1. RESIDENTIAL
INNER TOWN
     The inner town is a closely built residential area containing mainly 3-5 storey houses,
shops, public buildings etc.  The total area covered by the island (including the relatively open
area around the Cathedral) is 570 acres, and the population of the inner town was approximately
35,000.
     It is estimated that approximately 200 acres or 40% of the inner town built-up area has
been devastated and that probably 1,500 houses have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair. 
Apart from this, buildings on the perimeter of devastated areas will probably have suffered from
lateral blast and scorching.  It is likely that casualties were heavy.
A.   The main area of devastation stretches from South of Cathedral to the swing bridge and
from the River TRAVE to the KONIGSTRASSE.  This area is over 3/4 mile long and varies in
width between 200 and 600 yards.
     Destruction has been caused almost entirely by fire and though a number of H.E. bombs
have fallen here, the whole area is so severely gutted that incidents of damage by blast are almost
indistinguishable.
     Fires undoubtedly took hold and spread rapidly and the fire fighting services do not appear
to have gained control until some hours after the raid was over.
     A number of roads appear to be still impassable, though the majority have been cleared of
debris.