 On the night of the 5th and 6 March 1943, 442 aircraft of the Royal Air Force carried out a raid on the city of Essen, which was important to the German war effort because of the Krupp steel works.In less than an hour, 137,000 incendiary bombs and 1,100 explosive bombs were dropped on the central city.The Minster caught fire and suffered heavy damage – the oldest parts of the building, the westwork and the crypt were less heavily damaged.