Berlin Bomber Offensive (1943–1944) remove the pall of fear he projected over even the most powerful of the Soviet nomenklatura See also BLAU BERLIN Capital of Adolf Hitler’s “Third Reich.” Hitler planned to rebuild Berlin as a vulgar imperial capital to govern and intimidate the huge empire he intended to carve out of Europe and western Russia The totally rebuilt city was to be called “Germania.” It was designed by his personal architect, Albert Speer Hitler tinkered with scale model plans for Germania to his final days, even as he led Berliners into moral and physical devastation Berlin was occupied by four Allied armies from 1945 West Berlin was later formed from the British, French, and American occupation zones, while the old Soviet zone became East Berlin, capital of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) The Western Allied military presence was more voluntary than an occupation from 1949 to 1994 The Soviet occupation was rougher The first rudimentary structures of the Berlin Wall were erected on August 13, 1961 Its cynical builders called it the “anti-fascist defense barrier.” The Berlin Wall remained in place until November 9, 1989, when it was torn down and the city reunited Allied occupation forces officially departed Berlin on September 8, 1994 See also Berlin bomber offensive; Germany, conquest of BERLIN, BATTLE OF (1945) See Germany, conquest of BERLIN BOMBER OFFENSIVE (1943–1944) The last great effort of Arthur Harris and RAF Bomber Command to win the war by morale bombing It was undertaken in the face of wider Western Allied agreement to shift to targeted bombing, and later to tactical support bombing for the invasion forces During August and September, 1943, three giant raids cost Bomber Command nearly percent of planes and crews The decision was therefore made to bomb Berlin only on moonless winter nights, locating the city with new electronic aids at last entering service The RAF launched the first of four November raids on the 18th, each with over 400 heavy bombers Large-scale diversionary raids were made on other cities to draw off night-fighters The Berlin campaign also saw introduction of Serrate-equipped “Mosquito” night-fighter escorts of the bomber stream Heavy winter weather and cloud cover reduced accuracy and effectiveness of the bombing, as did the vast sprawl of Berlin: the suburbs absorbed many tons of bombs as creep back affl icted British bomber accuracy Another four raids were made in December, to comparable poor strategic effect but with rising bomber losses as the Luftwaffe concentrated over 400 night-fighters and employed new Zahme Sau tactics Five more massive RAF attacks were assayed in January, but only one more by mid-February By then, the USAAF had also made several daylight raids on Berlin Even this combined offensive failed to have the desired effect on morale or war production, which was widely dispersed and largely carried out underground Civilian casualties were 14,000–15,000 killed and wounded, and 155