Just after midnight, British bombers reached Berlin and triggered air-raid sirens across the city. The attack shocked Berliners because Nazi leaders, especially Hermann Göring, had repeatedly insisted that enemy aircraft could never penetrate the capital’s defenses.

Although anti-aircraft guns filled the sky, the raid itself caused only minor damage and no deaths. Its importance was psychological: the attack exposed the weakness of official assurances and left many Berliners stunned that Britain had managed to strike the heart of Germany.

Reporter William Shirer recorded the public disbelief, noting that many Berliners had trusted Göring’s boast that Berlin was unreachable. By the next morning, Joseph Goebbels was dealing with a wave of rumors, including claims that British bombers carried paint that made them invisible to searchlights.

Goebbels responded by ordering a precise official statement to emphasize how little damage the raid had done. At the same time, he pushed harsher unofficial measures through the Party, calling for rumor-spreaders to be dealt with severely and, if necessary, physically intimidated.