Yes, the bombing of the French School on 21st March 1945. A major tragedy of the Occupation of DK during WWII.
By 1945 the Gestapo and other German security services had thoroughly infiltrated the Danish Resistance movement. Many were arrested almost as soon as they joined. Some groups acted independently, others were little more that criminals acting under the guise of being the Resistance. There were informants and collaborators everywhere and many of those who signed up by now, should never have been allowed to join, they were simply too indiscreet. But the German intelligence units were also very good and very experienced.
Anyway, as the Resistance was on the verge of collapse and DK was on the brink of open anarchy in the streets, a number of senior members of the Resistance were rounded up and taken to the Gestapo HQ in the Shell (office) building in Copenhagen where they were detained pending interrogation. And of course everyone would talk, eventually. The members of the Resistance were urged to hold out for 24 hours of torture, if they possibly could. So an emergency request went out and RAF dispatched a crack squadron of Mosquitos to bomb the Gestapo HG. Destroy the HQ, the personnel and the files there and provide the imprisoned members of the Resistance and chance to escape - or kill them, if they couldn't...
So on that day the a large squadron of Mosquitos flew across most of DK, hugging the ground and only increasing their altitude just before the attack.
The first bombs did hit the Gestapo HQ. Unfortunately a Mosquito was shot down causing a fire in and around several buildings some distance away, including the French School, where nuns were teaching the children. It was basically a kind of international/Catholic school (J&M's children first attended that school when they moved to Copenhagen BTW).
Other mosquitos coming in noticed the fires and dropped their bombs there in the mistaken belief that this was their target. They after all only had a few seconds, under fire, to ID and approach their target. Increasing the carnage at the school. Additional planes coming in, realized the mistake and attacked the Gestapo HQ instead.
By some fantastic miracle quite a number of the Resistance members survived the attack. They were held in cells up under the roof. But the Mosquitos did not drop their bombs on the building, instead the lopped their bombs from a distance into the facade of the building, making the building collapse. And in the hope of that happening, other Resistance members outside were able to take these survivors to safety.
But it came with a price. Several air-crews were killed. 250 people were killed. 104 among them at the French School.
The RAF crews were of course horrified that they had killed so many children. But they met and were forgiven by the parents of these children a few months later. I admire the parents for doing that. It takes a lot to forgive but also show compassion for those who have killed the most precious thing you have, you children, even if it's by accident.
The French School:
https://media.lex.dk/media/181963/article_topimage_FHM-195390.jpg
The attack:
https://k9-drupal-images.k.dk/k9-drupal-images.k.dk/special_story/293312/images/flykommer.jpg
The Gestapo HQ:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Shellhuset_210345.jpg
My mother witnessed the bombing of the Gestapo HQ in Aarhus in October 1944. Probably by the same RAF unit. And for exactly the same reasons. The Resistance had been rolled up.
She worked as a very young maid at the maternity ward at Aarhus Municipal Hospital, that is located right next to Aarhus University where Gestapo had their local HQ in one of the buildings.
She heard the air raid sirens wail and the anti-aircraft artillery beginning to fire. And curious as she was, she stepped out onto a balcony at the end of a corridor. here she saw the Mosquitos coming in low over the lakes at the University park and start bombing, in the exact same way as later on in Copenhagen. they lopped the bombs into the facade. The next things she remember is that she found herself behind some garbage bins further down the corridor, inside the building.
She and other coworkers went down on the street and being a part of the hospital, they saw wounded being dragged, carried, stumbling and in at least one case transported on a wheelbarrow towards the hospital. The Germans soon began to shoot both in the air and at the onlookers, who quickly dispersed.
During the attack. Most of the hospital is located on the far side of the street:
https://antikmuseet.au.dk/fileadmin/_processed_/c/c/csm_Bombe_luftfoto_cc7ad401a8.jpg
The Gestapo HQ after the attack:
https://auhist.au.dk/uploads/www.au...legium_truffet_biler_foran_-_raf_foto-700.jpg
It was a miraculous achievement by the RAF. Some 75 were killed, mostly Germans and collaborators and of course also some members of the Resistance. One elderly woman was killed in her home. A wheel dropped by a Mosquito went through the roof of her house.
The Mosquito bomber version:
https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/141/1200x712/4581678.jpg
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