On Sunday, 75 years passed since the US air force carried out its first bombing raid on Bratislava, which caused major material damage and a considerable number of deaths. The main target of the raid was the Apollo oil refinery by the Danube River, which contributed as much as 1.3% of Germany's supplies. According to American intelligence, it ranked among the top ten oil producers in Central Europe.
After the air raid, which took place on June 16, 1944, Bratislava hospitals treated 585 people, and 717 people were declared missing. Various sources set the number of those killed at 300, while according to Civil Air Defence of the wartime Slovak republic, the number of deaths exceeded 770.
"American pilots dropped on Bratislava a total of 369 tonnes of bombs. In addition to the Apollo refinery, it hit the Winter Harbour, where they sank 15 boats. The building of today's Slovak National Museum by the Danube River as well as other buildings in the broader city centre and the borough of Petržalka were hit," said the director of the Military History Institute, Peter Šumichrast.
