Originally Posted by
Krautwald
I always wondered if it is true that many raids where not aimed against factories, harbours, train stations, bridges or whatever important stuff, but deliberately against densely populated working-class neighborhoods?
You need to study the development of cities in the industrial revolution era. Industry required a greater concentration of workers than an agrarian economy. The workers also needed to get to the factories and until the advent of cheap public transport would need to walk or cycle. As a consequence cheap housing would be concentrated around the factories. While the working classes might be closest their managers etc would not be too far from the centre either.
As DC10 showed us,
In 1942 Mr Butt, a senior civil servant published a report that said 90% of bombs dropped by RAF Bomber Command on raids in Germany were being dropped in excess of 5 miles from a specific aiming point.
5 miles was a pretty good navigational accuracy for DR with some astro shots provided conditions were right - cloud cover and enemy action permitting.
Target recognition at night would be pretty much hit and miss too depending much on water features and railway lines as an aid to navigation. The Germans were well aware of this and attempted concealment much as we did with Starfish. You can see this on Google Earth historic imagery where the Alstervergnugen was covered over and a false road and rail crossing constructed further north by 600 yards. Not very much perhaps but sufficient to shift the aim away from the city centre.