Editing Bornholm (section)

=== World War II ===
On 22 August 1942 a [[V-1 flying bomb]] crashed on Bornholm during a test – the warhead was a dummy made of concrete. The wreckage was photographed and sketched by the Danish Naval Officer-in-Charge on Bornholm, Lieutenant Commander Hasager Christiansen. When reported to British Intelligence, it was one of the first signs of Germany's aspirations to develop flying bombs and rockets, which were to become known as V-1. The Bornholm rocket turned out to be from [[Peenemünde]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mindling |first1=George |title=U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles, 1949-1969: The Pioneers |last2=Bolton |first2=Robert |date=2011 |publisher=Lulu.com |pages=4}}</ref>

During the Soviet bombing of the two main towns on 7-8 May 1945, Danish radio was not allowed to broadcast the news because it was thought it would spoil the liberation festivities in Denmark.<ref>En Ø i krig / An island at war by Børge Kure</ref> On 9 May, Soviet troops [[Landing at Bornholm|landed on the island]], and after a short fight, the German garrison (about 12,000 strong<ref>{{cite web |date=11 May 1945 |title=Soviet Information Bureau report |url=http://eng.9may.ru/eng_inform/m9004261 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720160020/http://eng.9may.ru/eng_inform/m9004261 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |access-date=2007-09-17}}</ref>) surrendered.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bornholm during World War II |url=http://www.bornholm.info/Historie/482we.aspx?langId=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928023108/http://www.bornholm.info/Historie/482we.aspx?langId=2 |archive-date=28 September 2007|access-date=2007-09-06}}</ref> Soviet forces would leave the island on 5 April 1946.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stalin's Danish Mystery |url=https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/stalin%E2%80%99s-danish-mystery |publisher=History Today}}</ref>

Later research found that the Soviet bombing of Bornholm resulted in approximately three thousand Danish civilians in [[Rønne]] becoming homeless, while damaging a majority of the houses in [[Nexø]], fully destroying roughly one-tenth. Ten Danes were killed and thirty-five wounded, considered a low number, because many civilians were evacuated to shelters on the outskirts of the respective towns before the worst raids hit.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Naimark |first=Norman |title=[[Stalin and the Fate of Europe: The Postwar Struggle for Sovereignty]] |date=2019 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=9780674242920 |pages=42–43 |chapter=The Bornholm Interlude}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jensen |first=Bent |title=Den lange befrielse: Bornholm besat og befriet, 1945-1946 |publisher=Udgivelsesar |year=1996 |location=Odense |pages=122–126 |language=da}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The final liberation of Bornholm |url=https://www.kb.dk/en/inspiration/liberation/final-liberation-bornholm |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=kb.dk |language=en-GB}}</ref>