History question ??

How did Prague miss the bombing during ww2? 1bull

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It was too far for the allied bombers to go.

Prague was a ceded country during the war but as far as i am aware never declared war on Germany.

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%26quot;It was too far for the allied bombers to go.%26quot;

Not exactly true. There were some - accidental - bombings in winter of 1945.

http://www.radio.cz/en/article/63404

praguepost.com/P03/2005/Art/0210/news6.php

However, Prague sustained most damage at the very end of the war during the Prague uprising (May 5-9, 1945)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_uprising

when e.g. the rear section of the Old Town city hall has been completely destroyed (and was never rebuilt because it allowed the church behing the city hall to have more distinguished spot on square).

pre-1945:

…tiscali.cz/apollo/…200044162843839107.jpg

May 1945:

http://www.ahmp.cz/povstani/foto/060.jpg

http://www.ahmp.cz/povstani/foto/058.jpg

http://www.ahmp.cz/povstani/foto/018.jpg

present:

photos23.flickr.com/29241635_c000850078.jpg

%26quot;Prague was a ceded country during the war but as far as i am aware never declared war on Germany.%26quot;

Technically speaking Czechoslovakia cesed to exist in March 1939 when the Nazi Germany occupied it and declared it %26quot;Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia%26quot;. In reality it ceased to exist in Septemeber 1938 being dismembered as a result of the Munich Agreemnt.

…wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectorate_of_Bohemia_…

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Prague was damaged in February 1945 by U.S. bombers, possibly by mistake. It is believed they thought it was Dresden. Part of Old Town Square%26#39;s town hall was destroyed and many other buildings - many were killed. But it was not on a great scale like Dresden.

Other Nazi-controlled cities like Amsterdam and Paris were not heavily bombed either by the Allies and there was not heavy fighting in many of the great western cities as the Germans retreated or surrendered.

The case was very different to the east, where the Nazis faced the Soviets and cities like Warsaw and Budapest were leveled. The war ended around the time the Soviets were getting to Prague.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Prague

praguepost.com/P03/2005/Art/0210/news6.php

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My mistake - the Old Town Hall was not hit in the bombings -- happened on the last day of the war, I believe by German tanks.

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old town hall was hit by the US bombings (not by german tanks) and was half destroyed. many scholars have said that the bombing was not a mistake

basically prague survived the war because unlike all the other countries, apart from a couple of incidents, the czechs did not really fight the germans occupying their country.

see www.radio.cz/en/issue/63404 for a very good account of what happened in the US bombings

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