Air attack on the fortress of Koepenick

The air attack on the fortress of Koepenick was an incident in the air war over Germany during World War II. It took place in October 1943 and was an example of target confusion.

On 14 October 1943 the US 8th Air Force attacked the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt in central Germany, an industry which was seen as a bottleneck in the German industrial manufacturing system. The raid had led to the German air defences inflicting many losses on the bombers, but the city and the industry were severely hit. On 20 October, just a week later, the 8th Air Force sent 119 bombers to attack the northern town of Düren, near the border city of Aachen, but the German defenders assumed it was really a return to the earlier target.