The only thing that marked out Willi Schludecker from the tourists in the centre of Bath yesterday were the tiny twin Iron Crosses on his lapel and the gold eagle presented to him by Hermann Goering.

Exactly 66 years after his Dornier dive bomber unloaded nearly 4,000kg of bombs on the city, he had come back to say sorry. Mr Schludecker, now 87, one of the Luftwaffe’s most decorated pilots, took part in three raids on Bath on April 25 and 27, 1942.

He first saw the city from a height of 1,500m just after 11pm on a clear moonlit night. At the time he and the crews of the other 163 aircraft taking part in the raids had no idea that they were exacting revenge for the bombing of Lübeck in northern Germany on the direct orders of Adolf Hitler.

Lübeck was attacked by 234 Wellingtons and Stirlings that dropped about 400 tons of bombs including 25,000 incendiary devices on March 28 and 29, 1942. German police reported 301 dead, 3 missing and 783 injured. More than 15,000 lost their homes.

Plans to deploy to the Eastern Front had been delayed for what became known as the Baedeker Raids because Hitler chose his targets from the popular tourist guides. Richard Flohr-Swann, Mr Schludecker’s translator and co-pilot on what he expects to be his final mission to Bath, said: “The rumour in his unit was they were trying to kill Churchill. They thought that was why they had been ordered to bomb the city centre.”

Churchill was rumoured to be staying at the Abbey Hotel in Bath. Although the bombs damaged 19,000 buildings, the hotel was not among them. Mr Schludecker, a pilot with Kampfgeschwader 2, stationed in eastern France, had never heard of Bath before the pre-mission briefing.

The German crews could see the burning city even before they crossed the Dorset coast. Bath had never been considered a target and was only lightly defended. Mr Schludecker did not follow the radio beams directing the German crews. He knew that the RAF could detect them too and its fighters would be lying in wait.

Instead he came in across the sea, flying low to avoid radar, with two crewmen looking out for the flash of anti-aircraft guns. He had to abort his third and final mission over Portland when one of his engines failed.

Tonight, wearing his wartime Luftwaffe uniform and his medals, Mr Schludecker will apologise to the people of Bath at the annual memorial service for the victims of the bombing. He speaks no English but his words will be understood by Chris Kilminster, 61, whose grandparents were among 417 people killed during the three days of bombing.

Mr Kilminster said that it was an emotional decision to invite Mr Schludecker to Bath. “They were killed when a bomb hit an air raid shelter but I find it difficult to talk about. It still chokes me up. But there are no hard feelings against Willi. He was just doing his job and was never a supporter of the Nazi party.”

Mr Schludecker has been impressed by the beauty of the city that he tried to destroy and the warmth of his welcome. Two years ago he made a similar pilgrimage to York, another of the targets of the Baedeker Raids. He said: “I was a bit nervous when I was invited here but I had to come. In England, there has always been friendliness towards me and never hatred. At the time, we did not realise fully what we had done. The war was madness.”

Mr Schludecker is still flying, copiloting a private plane from his home near Cologne with Mr Flohr-Swann. In the war he was shot down four times and crashed-landed five times. In 1942 he crashed in the Netherlands after an encounter with an RAF Beaufort fighter and spent five months in hospital. He went back on active service in 1945 as the Allies closed in on Germany, flying a further 30 missions before being grounded by lack of fuel and bullets.

After the war he declined an invitation to join the re-formed Luftwaffe. He said: “They misused me once before and I didn’t want to give them the chance to do it again.”

Mr Schludecker’s other regret, apart from bombing civilians, is that he never learnt English. He said: “Hitler promised that after the war everyone would be speaking German, so we didn’t bother to learn.”

City in flames

163 German bombers took part in the raids on Bath but 12 bombed Bristol by mistake. Eleven bombers were shot down

417 people were killed on the ground. Thirty died when a bomb hit an air-raid shelter

19,000 buildings were damaged in the city

Source: Times database

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