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Well London was infamous for smog from residential coal fires. AFAIK, most large cities anywhere in Europe suffered the same problems, although heavy industry cities would have been much worse. The thing about the Rhur was that there were multiple heavy industry cities in that area. I image what we called 'the black country', namely the Midlands in England was the same; even moths genetically changed to dark colored wings due to the general pollution! Now major cities like Berlin would have domestic coal fire pollution, the same with Hamburg, on top of smoke from bombing raids. Most RAF BC raid reports mentioned the Rhur smog/haze being a real problem, probably more before Oboe and good Pathfinder marking. In addition of course, the Germanscreated a lot of detour smoke to confuse the issue, something that could be made into good facilities perhaps, I think they also did that for USAAF raids. Andy's top photo is good. AFAIK high pressure on cold days kept the smog/haze in place, besides places like LA which is effectively a basin surrounded by mountains. (I remember when living in Taipei, Taiwan, I sometimes would have breakfast on the Hilton rooftop restaurant and watch the haze layer rise in the morning, as it also was partially trapped by hills.)
Most excellent !
