Deadly bombing of the suburb of Clausen

On July 8, 1918, Britain’s Royal Air Force dropped a total of thirteen bombs on the suburb of Clausen. This was the twentieth air raid on Luxembourg. Ten people died in the raid and a further eleven were injured.

Around 9am, two units comprising six bombers each were sighted above Trois Glands, and just a few seconds later the first bombs fell, one of them landing in the garden of House Stein. This is the beige-coloured building with a tower-like structure located right next to the railway bridge. The hands of Misses Stein, who was sitting at the window, were ripped off, killing her almost instantaneously. The largest number of people perished in the so-called Déiregaart district when two bombs fell right next to the pavement. There were more than seven fatalities, killed on the spot by bomb fragments. Among the victims was 17-year-old Julie Thill, who was blown to bits right there on the street by shrapnel. At Park-Mansfeld, a further seven bombs exploded. Here, too, there were civilian casualties, as there were on the Rhamplateau.

Appallingly, the bodies of all victims were disfigured beyond recognition. Shortly after the raid, helpers rushed to the scene of the disaster. The emergency service set up by the municipalities of Luxembourg and Hollerich functioned the way it had been intended to. The head of police oversaw the rescue operation. Soon, first responders were joined by paramedics to administer to the survivors. As it was as then still unclear whether the raid was over, or whether further bombs might be dropped by other planes, the police warned people not to enter the devastated district. The mayor was the next to appear on the scene of the disaster. He gave directions on the rehousing of families rendered homeless by the attack. By then, the planes had moved on to the valley of the Alzette river and Bonnevoie, where further bombs were dropped.

The Royal Air Force acknowledged that it had carried out the raids. The official report dated July 8 merely stated: “The railway station, the workshops, and the tracks used by goods trains were targeted by our formations.”

In the wake of the raid, a total of 140 reports of damage were received from members of the public. The funeral services were attended by the local council. As a mark of respect to the ten civilians who perished in the Déiregaart raid, inhabitants of the suburbs of Neudorf and Clausen erected a memorial that was unveiled on August 3, 1924.