BAMBERG, Germany — I learned something while walking through one of Europe’s most charming cities … at least I will presume its charm ranks at or the near the top of European cities.

Near the end of World War II, Allied air forces were carpet-bombing many German cities. The air assault was led by the U.S. Army Air Force and the British Royal Air Force.

Bamberg was supposed to be hit with thousands of bombs dropped by the USAAF and the RAF on a particular mission. Except that Mother Nature intervened. The city was blanketed in fog, which meant that the aerial bomber crews couldn’t see the city below them. Given that the 1940s pre-dated global positioning systems, pilots had to rely on visual confirmation to determine whether to release their ordnance.

So it was that Bamberg was saved from carpet-bombing during WWII. I also learned that a church named after St. Martin did take a single bomb dropped from a US bomber; the explosive damaged the roof of the church. The building was repaired eventually.

The city remains full of charm 80 or so years after the bloodiest war in human history. As the saying goes … One shouldn’t ever mess with Mother Nature.