Bombs on Kallnach

We are in the fourth winter of the First World War. On Sunday, January 6, 1918 at 6:30 am it was still dark in Kallnach, Bern. The village on the edge of the Grosses Moos lies in the fog typical of Zealand – the ground is lightly covered with snow. A fully occupied train with soldiers from the Swiss army has just left the station in the direction of Aarberg.

Then several explosions break the silence. Bombs have been dropped from an airplane! The government official from Aarberg, who hurried to the crime scene, counted three bomb craters with a diameter of two to three meters and two smaller impact sites in the immediate vicinity of the train station.

There are no deaths or injuries to report. The station staff and military personnel on the said train were very lucky. Regarding the property damage, the governor commented: “Damage is noticeable on the telegraph line to the station building, where three wire lines have been torn. A window in the building of mechanic Köhli was probably also smashed by the air pressure. Otherwise no damage will be noticeable.” The governing council of the canton of Bern later estimated the total damage at 242 francs 50, which today corresponds to about 1300 francs corrected for inflation.

On January 6, officers of the Murten Fortification Command secured the bomb fragments present and sent them to Bern. Journalists will be here soon. Which Biel Tagblatt such as The Bund detailed report from Kallnach. Because visibility was poor, no one could see the attacking aircraft. Aircraft noises could be heard in Biel, Aarberg and above the Frienisberg. Then the plane took off “over the moss”, so that Biel Tagblatt.

According to press reports, some residents suspected a targeted attack on the said military train, on the carbide factory, which was already lit up in the morning, or on the nearby power station. It was already clear on January 8 that the bombs were of French manufacture. the State Gazette of Lausanne reports: «Receiving more fragments at the place where the SFA (services français d’aviation) entry is located».

The fragments are of the same type as the bomb fragments from the bombings of Pruntrut (April 1917), Muttenz and Menziken (December 1917) seized last year. There is only material damage to complain about here.

As in the other cases, there is diplomatic back and forth between Paris and Bern. On January 11, the French foreign minister expressed to the Swiss ambassador in Paris “the deepest regret of the French government” – according to the newspaper The Bund. The French ambassador Jean-Baptiste-Paul Beau speaks to the Federal President with the same intention. The French promise a strict investigation into the incident and compensation.

The long article Biel Tagblatt on the day after the bombing closes with the statement “It seems to be about a completely lost pilot who wanted to lighten the weight of his machine a little over Kallnach. In any case, this is the most accurate version in our opinion».

This explanation seems plausible. On the night of the bombing of Kallnach, Freiburg im Breisgau and the vicinity of Breisach were bombed by the French. Was any of those machines assigned to attack lost? Does the pilot not want to risk landing with bombs on board? Lack of experience? Deaths and accidents have claimed the lives of many long-serving pilots.

One thing is certain: the bombers of those days are still primitive aircraft. Navigation is mainly visual and the aircraft are not yet equipped with lavish displays. For navigation in the open cockpit, a chart board, a compass, an airspeed meter (speed) and a clock are used. For example, after 1916 the French army used bombers of the type for moonlight night attacks Voisin III or Voisin V a.

These slow-moving biplanes became easy targets for enemy fighter pilots during daytime operations towards the end of the war. on Voisin-Bomber has a maximum altitude of 3500 meters and flies at 100-120 km/h. It can stay in the air for about three hours. As the crow flies, Kallnach is about 35 kilometers from the French border in the Jura – which in the case of a Voisin-Bombers corresponds to a flight time of only 17-20 minutes.

However, the Kallnach case is far from over with apologies from the French side. As late as January 1918, there were reports in the French-speaking Swiss press that the German Empire was suspected of being responsible for the bombing. Which Feuille d’avis de Lausanne considers some sort of German retaliatory attack on the Kallnach carbide plant possible on 14 January. The factory is said to have supplied ammunition to the German war party until the end of 1917 and to France from January 1918.

As evidenced by files of the Federal Archives in Bern, complained as a result “Imperial German Embassy” in Bern on “Swiss Political Department” about the French press and points out that the French ambassador has already apologized for the incident.

However, as is now known, Swiss newspaper articles from the time of the First World War should be viewed with great skepticism. During the war years, the two major parts of the country are separated by the opposing factions for the warring factions. In French-speaking Switzerland the sympathies are with France, in German-speaking Switzerland with the Empire. This “ditch” becomes an integral part of the political vocabulary.

Both warring parties are promoting this inner-Swiss conflict to the best of their ability. Foreign groups establish more than 30 news agencies in Switzerland and individual newspapers are secretly taken over completely. At the very least, a fierce war of words and propaganda is raging on Swiss soil.

Despite the excitement, the topic of “Kallnach bombs” disappeared from the press in January. Outside of public perception, however, the case has not yet been shelved. As can be seen from the thick file on the Kallnach case, on March 5, 1918, the federal government and the army again received diplomatic mail from France. The results of the study are now available. In the reports enriched with tables, flight statistics, etc., the French Air Force comes to the clear conclusion that the bombs were not dropped by a French aircraft.

Rather, it can be assumed that a German aircraft carrying captured French bombs was responsible for the attack – “une perfide maneuver pour exciter l’opinion suisse contre la France”. Kurz: With the attack, the German side tried to sabotage the good relations between Switzerland and France. In any case, if you consider the various propaganda operations of the German Empire on Swiss soil, the French conspiracy thesis is not entirely absurd.

However, Chief of Staff Theophil Sprecher von Bernegg does not trust the French evidence. In a letter marked “Secret” to the Federal Political Service, several data (for example, wind and weather conditions) from the French reports are called into question. «Il nous semble que si les Français veulent absolute nous convaincre que ses bombes on été lancées par un avion germany, hypothèse très peu probable, ils doivent nous fournir des preuves beaucoup plus concluantes …»

The incident has not been fully resolved. A few months after the end of the war, in May 1919, the “Report of the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on its Administration in 1918” was published. It says about the Kallnach case: “But since the nationality of the offending airmen could not be determined with certainty, it was not possible for us to claim compensation from the belligerent states.” The already mentioned 242 francs 50 in case of damage in Kallnach will ultimately be paid by the Political Service.

The Greek poet Aeschylus said it in ancient times: “Truth is the first casualty of war”. Kallnach’s micro-story lives up to the saying! Further references could be found at most in French or German archives. Today, the incident in Kallnach in 1918 is largely forgotten. It remains to be seen whether collective memory still has influence 67 years later. In the civil defense exercise “Badger” In any case, the village went through a disaster operation in 1985 after a bomb attack. Which newspaper Biel reported that the operation was “exemplary”.