Air raids on Halle (Saale)

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The air raids on Halle (Saale) in World War II were, in contrast to most of the other large cities of the German Reich , not outright area bombing with the aim of destroying the housing stock. Nevertheless, at the end of the war, 3,600 buildings with 13,600 apartments (of 66,000 existing) and 400 commercial establishments were destroyed or badly damaged. Valuable cultural buildings were lost. 300,000 cubic meters of rubble had to be removed. The material damage was estimated at 90 million Reichsmarks . A total of 1,284 bomb victims were given by the NS authorities, but this number is not complete.

After three light attacks by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1940, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) carried out seven major air raids on the city between July 1944 and April 1945. A total of 1,024 8th Air Force bombers dropped a total of 2,600 tons of bomb load .

On April 16, 1945, the day before Halle was occupied by US Army troops , there was still artillery fire and the threat of a devastating bomb attack .

Air raid

Air raid shelter (around 1941) in the residential area of ​​Halle (2016)

Since 1935 there was an " air protection obligation" for all citizens . This included, in particular, self-help training. Shelters in houses, public facilities and companies had to be set up. In 1937 a flak barracks for the Flak Regiment 33 was built in Wörmlitz to the south of Halle. Halle was surrounded by a belt of heavy flak batteries. In October 1940, the " immediate Führer program " to create air raid shelters was launched for 79 German cities . This also included Halle im Luftgau IV Halle-Merseburg , which is classified as particularly worthy of protection . From then on, 14 air raid shelters were built throughout the city, the largest under the SA (today Georg-Schumann-Platz), another, very large underground bunker with 80 cm thick reinforced concrete walls under the university square . For the population living near the Siebel Flugzeugwerke there was a bunker at the corner of Helmut-Just- and Klopstock-Straße. In 1943, a very large air raid shelter was built on Seebener Strasse, on the Klausberg mountains, with the use of British and Ukrainian prisoners of war. Other bunkers were located in the other residential areas, such as on Merseburger Strasse, Damaschke Strasse and on the banks of the Rive.

From September 8, 1939 until Halle surrendered on April 17, 1945, air-raid alarms had to be triggered 553 times , mostly when Allied bomber groups were flying over or by - not least because of the proximity to the Leunawerke and other central German industrial plants. The population often had to stay in the shelters for hours and nights. The 200th alarm sounded on March 23, 1944, the 350th before Christmas 1944, the 501st on March 31st, 1945 and the 553rd on April 16, 1945.

The attacks

American B-24 Liberator strategic bombers in formation
American B-17 "Flying Fortress" throwing a bomb
American P-38 Lightning fighter-bomber
American Thunderbolt fighter-bomber
American Mustang fighter-bomber

Although Halle was a regular target in the raid plans of the RAF Bomber Command , there were only two nightly bombs dropped on the city with the code name "Pickerel" ( grass pike ) in 1940 . Arthur Harris ' deputy , Commander in Chief of Bomber Command, was Air Vice-Marshal Robert Saundby . The enthusiastic fisherman provided all of the German cities that were selected with a "Fish code". The seven medium to severe attacks on Halle were then carried out from July 1944 to April 1945 by the 8th Air Force of the US armed forces, all during the day. The accompanying fighter planes also increasingly operated as low- flying aircraft or fighter-bombers when the German air defense was flagging .

The individual attacks

This compilation is based on the descriptions by Bock, Freeman, Groehler and Piechocki listed under “Literature”.

  • 16./17. August 1940: Around 2:00 a.m., the RAF attacked military installations in the vicinity of Halle with high explosive and incendiary bombs. There was damage to homes and workshops. There were no victims.
  • 28/29 August 1940: that night, British incendiary and high-explosive bombs fell on a residential area in Halle (Giebichen-Schule, Triftstrasse and Grosse Brunnenstrasse) and seriously damaged it. Two people were killed and two seriously injured.
  • 20./21. November 1940: British incendiary bombs were thrown in large numbers on the south of Halle, around the water tower. The asylum for the blind and residential buildings were destroyed. Information on the number of victims was not given.
  • May 28, 1944: An attack by 66 bombers of the type B-24 "Liberator" with 155 tons bomb load on Lützkendorf ( Krumpa ) and Halle, mentioned in the war diary of the 8th Air Force, probably only affected the Lützkendorf hydrogenation plant , in any case it is from Bock and Piechocki not mentioned for Halle.
  • August 16, 1944: The 1st bomber division of the 8th Air Force attacked the Siebel aircraft works as a “primary target” again with 60 B-17 “Flying Fortress” and a strong escort of fighter planes, which were almost completely destroyed. Residential areas were also bombed again. Together with July 7th, over 10 roads were affected. The Heilandskirche burned out. A large number of bomb craters were built in the Gertraudenfriedhof , graves were churned up, the nursery and administration buildings were in ruins. A bomb hit a nursery shelter in front of the cemetery, causing 11 deaths. At the official memorial service it was announced that there were "23 victims of the terrorist attack on a residential area in our city".
  • November 2, 1944: 23 B-17s of the 3rd Bomber Division with 57 tons of bombs and a fighter escort (Lightnings, Mustangs) flew a "lighter attack" on Halle. One wing of the Pestalozzi School, which served as an auxiliary hospital, was destroyed. No information on fatalities was given.
  • November 25, 1944: Bombs were dropped on the south and east quarters of Halle at noon. Damage occurred in over seven streets. 29 victims (both November attacks?) Were named at a funeral service in the southern cemetery , which was also affected .
  • February 27, 1945: The hitherto heaviest attack on Halle as the "primary target" was carried out shortly after the alarm at 12.30 pm, accompanied by 314 B-24 Liberator bombers of the 2nd Air Division with 723 tons of explosive and incendiary bombs by fighter planes. The station area and the southern part of the city were particularly affected. Fires raged in these parts of the city for days. For a long time the electricity and water supply failed there. 312 victims were buried in the Südfriedhof , an unknown number more in the Gertraudenfriedhof.
  • March 31, 1945 (Holy Saturday): on this day, the heaviest attack on Halle as a "secondary target" by the 1st Air Division with 369 B-17s and the dropping of 1,069 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs, as well as strong escort of hunters (Mustangs). The 501st air alarm in Halle went ahead at 8.55 a.m. The area around the main train station , which is overcrowded with refugees , the city ​​center and the southern part of the city was particularly affected . Numerous public buildings, well-known commercial buildings and hotels disappeared from the cityscape or were damaged. These included the hotels “ Goldene Kugel ”, “Europa”, “Weltkugel”, “Hohenzollernhof” and “Riebeckbräu” on Riebeckplatz , and the “Ritterhaus” office building on Leipziger Straße. The (partially) destroyed cultural buildings included the old town hall , the Ratswaage and the ballroom in the main building of the Francke Foundations, as well as the home of AH Francke . 45 boys were buried under the foundation's high school and could only be recovered dead. The Christ Church in Freiimfelder Strasse was hit, many graves in the Stadtgottesacker were broken up and the arches were riddled by Nickel Hoffmann . Industrial plants were less affected: an iron foundry and a machine factory. For days the smell of burning and dust lay over the city. 796 dead and 369 seriously injured had to be counted. For these victims and those of the next attack on April 6, a funeral service was held in the Moritzburg courtyard on April 8. In documents from the Halle City Archives, there are sometimes higher information on the number of victims than those announced by the administration. March 31st went down in the memory of the people of Halle as a “black day”.
  • April 6, 1945: On this day 183 heavy bombers of the type B-24 Liberator of the 2nd Air Division attacked the city as a “primary target” with 402 tons of bombs, plus 11 B-17s of the 1st Air Division with 37 tons of bombs. 218 fighter planes (P-47 Thunderbolts, P-51 Mustangs) accompanied the heavy bombers that were set down on Halle and Eisleben that day and operated as low- flying aircraft . The administration buildings of the university , the Reichsbahn repair shop , the Glaucha district , but also the garden buildings of the Elisabeth hospital and the university women's clinic were particularly hard hit . As everywhere, hospitals and military hospitals were marked with the symbols of the Red Cross on the roofs. The official casualty figures were 106 dead and 30 seriously injured.
  • April 16, 1945: The city was under American artillery fire, especially the buildings around the market square. The red tower , the symbol of the city, burned down completely.
  • April 16, 1945: Threatened destruction attack . The Halle combat commander was given an ultimatum on a flyer from the 104th US Infantry Division. It said: "American fighter-bombers and heavy combat aircraft are ready to take off ... to level the hall to the ground ... if not unconditional handover ...". A letter from US Colonel Kelleher to the famous naval war hero of the First World War, Count Luckner in Halle , was formulated in a similar way . General Allen, commander of the 104th Division, said to Count Luckner - who had gone to see him with the consent of the Lord Mayor and other personalities of the city of Halle - on the same day: "Tonight I dispatched 700 bombers and 260 fighter-bombers to the destruction attack on Halle. .. Explosive bombs, then new three-part phosphorus bombs ... Firestorm ... Calculation with the death of 75,000 to 100,000 people (30–40% of the 250,000 people in Halle) ”. After an appeal by Luckner, Allen agreed to postpone the attack for 12 hours. When the Wehrmacht then withdrew to the south of Halle on the night of April 17, and the US Army was able to move into the center of the city without a fight, they decided not to undertake the planned massive air strike. Indeed, the US aircrews had been waiting for the deployment order since the morning of April 16.

Cultural loss and damage

The following information is based essentially on Renate Kroll, in the standard work Fates of German Architectural Monuments in the Second World War (1978) listed below .

"The sensitive loss of valuable cultural sites has left deep traces in the cityscape (of Halle)".

  • Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen : The Marktkirche was badly damaged in the air raid on March 31, 1945. A pillar was torn away by bombs, causing part of the vault to collapse. Master Ludolf's bronze fifth was also damaged in the process. Artillery bombardment on April 16 broke out the tracery window on the western front behind the organ, and the church roof and the hoods of the Hausmannsturm were severely damaged.
  • St. Georgen Church : During the air raid on April 6, 1945, an explosive bomb (mine bomb?) Fell right next to the church, causing severe cracks in the masonry, destroying windows and doors and covering the roofs of the nave and tower. The tower was further damaged by artillery fire on April 16.
  • Marketplace : heavy damage was caused by air strikes and artillery fire.
  • Old town hall on the east side of the market square: the historic building was destroyed in the bombing on March 31st except for the baroque wing, this and the ruin were demolished (despite protests) from 1948 onwards.
  • Ratswaage (was a university for a long time, then a community school) on the east side of the market square: destroyed in an air raid on March 31, 1945. When the ruins were demolished, a sturdy remnant of the tower from the previous building came to light, which was probably the official residence of the bailiff. The Bogenkrantz portal was secured in the Moritzburg courtyard .
  • Red tower on the market (former tower of the old St. Mary's Church, which was dismantled in 1529): The tower caught fire on April 16, 1945 due to artillery fire and burned out when the 40-meter-high, characteristic spire collapsed. The tower renovation was also hit and later demolished.
  • Stadtgottesacker (Camposanto with 94 grave vaults, four-wing complex): Crypts 1-16, 25-31 and 63-66 were destroyed by bombs on March 31, 1945 and the roof damaged and set on fire.
  • City theater of the Wilhelminian era: it was largely destroyed by explosive bombs during the air raid on March 31, 1945, especially the stage.
  • “Turkey”: Große Steinstraße 82 (baroque four-storey town house with 12 axes, inhabited by music director Türk at the beginning of the 19th century): destroyed in 1945
  • Jenastift in the Rathausstrasse: affected
  • Parabolic house: Brüderstraße 3 (three-storey, ten-axis plastered building with a loft, professor's residence): destroyed in 1945
  • Portal of the Palatinate Colonial Court: Albert-Dehne-Straße, destroyed in 1945
  • d'Altonsche Villa: Schimmelstrasse 8, destroyed in 1945

Casualty numbers

Officially, the Nazi authorities reported a total of 1,284 deaths from the bombing attacks: the number from adding the deaths quoted by Bock for the individual attacks. But the losses in one attack are completely absent, in another, the dead buried in one of the large cemeteries are missing. The number of 1,284 bomb victims is therefore not complete. In the documents of the city archive, there are sometimes higher numbers. The victims of the low-flying attacks and the artillery fire are not there, nor are the military personnel killed in the air strikes or the wounded who died later. In the attack on March 31, 1945 there was a ratio of 796 dead to 369 seriously injured.

The American bombing attacks are classified by the former director of the Halle city archive, Werner Piechocki , as terrorist attacks - as far as they affected residential areas.

Burial and memorial sites

Memorial for 689 bomb victims at the Gertraudenfriedhof in Halle

In the Gertraudenfriedhof there is a large grave field with 689 bomb victims and in the Südfriedhof with 488 bomb victims (2015) (another five, Italian military internees, were transferred to their home country in 1994). Every dead person has a flat tombstone (from the mid-1990s) in an approximate cross shape with name, year of birth and death (1944 or 1945) on the lawn; the day of death / attack day does not appear from it. There are numerous children among the victims. The limestone slabs from the post-war period were in decline and therefore had to be replaced after the fall of the Wall . On the edge of the grave fields of the two cemeteries, a memorial plaque provides information: "Bomb victims - World War II".

On the Gertraud cemetery is from the DDR (was the rezoned from another Monument) time a precisely centrally located monument with peace dove on wuchtigem base and the inscription: "The 689 bombing victims in this cemetery urge for peace" . A little further away is the large grave field (section 25) with the bomb victims: if you come from the cemetery church, to the left of the memorial. Nearby, on the other side, is the columbarium and in its center is the famous monument by the sculptor Richard Horn "The Figures of the Endless Road" , led by death. In the middle of the train, fleeing people symbolize the bomb victims with their faces looking up in fear. Not far from the crematorium there is a fountain with the inscription: "Erected in 1949 in place of the fountain destroyed by an aerial bomb in 1944".

In the south cemetery , the grave fields (1 and 3) with the bomb victims are located on the right of the connecting path from the main entrance to the cemetery church, separated by other graves. The grave fields with the remaining 488 bomb victims are particularly inconspicuous on the lawns, also due to the brown color of the lying gravestones.

  • Grave field for 689 bomb victims at Gertraudenfriedhof in Halle

  • Endless street in the columbarium (including Die Bombopfer)

  • The bomb victims in the Endless Road

  • Well rebuilt after bombing in Gertraudenfriedhof

  • Well rebuilt after bombing in Gertraudenfriedhof

  • Bomb victims at the south cemetery in Halle

  • Over 500 bomb victims in the south cemetery in Halle

Contaminated sites

Even 70 years after the air raids, duds or buried bombs are found during construction work in Halle. In November 2014, two bombs had to be detonated on site. In October 2011, a five-centimeter high-explosive bomb was found on the premises of the Elisabeth Hospital. Before the defusing, the hospital, children's and care facilities and 20,000 residents had to be evacuated.

On May 27, 2019, a 250 kg American high-explosive bomb that had been found during construction work at the main train station was successfully defused. To defuse, 12,400 residents, a hospital, seven nursing homes, six schools and six day care centers had to be evacuated. The station and its wide area were closed, the traffic obstructions on rails and roads were considerable.

See also

literature

  • Ernst-Ludwig Bock: handover or destruction. A documentation for the liberation of the city of Halle in 1945.fly head Verlag, Halle 1993, ISBN 3-910147-56-9 .
  • Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the Air War 1939–1945. Projekt-Verlag, Halle 2002, ISBN 3-931950-62-X .
  • Daniel Bohse: The last days of the “Third Reich” - the end of the war in Halle. In: Werner Freitag, Katrin Minner (ed.): History of the city of Halle. Volume 2: Halle in the 19th and 20th centuries. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 2006, ISBN 3-89812-383-9 , pp. 316–326.
  • Roger A. Freeman: Mighty Eighth War Diary. Jane's, London / New York / Sydney 1981, ISBN 0-7106-0038-0 .
  • Olaf Groehler : bombing war against Germany . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-05-000612-9 .
  • Renate Kroll: Halle / Saale (city district Halle). In: Götz Eckardt (Ed.): Fates of German architectural monuments in the Second World War. Volume 2, Henschel-Verlag, Berlin 1978, pp. 325–328.
  • Matthias J. Maurer: Our Way to Halle. The march of the "Timber Wolves" to Halle . fly head publishing house, Halle (Saale) 2001, ISBN 3-930195-44-5 .
  • Werner Piechocki : A chronicle of the air raids on Halle. In: Halle's monthly magazine for home and culture. Volume 2, No. 4, 1955, pp. 3–6.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Piechocki : A chronicle of the air raids on Halle . 1955.
  2. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 5.
  3. ^ Olaf Groehler: Bomb war against Germany . 1990, p. 448.
  4. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war 1939-1945 . Halle 2002, p. 5.6.
  5. ^ Matthias J. Maurer: Our Way to Halle . 2001, pp. 11-13.
  6. ^ Olaf Groehler: Bomb war against Germany . Berlin 1990, p. 243.
  7. ↑ Matthias J. Maurer: OUR Way to Hall . 2001, p. 14.
  8. ↑ Werner Piechocki: A chronicle of the air raids on Halle . 1955.
  9. ^ Olaf Groehler: Bomb war against Germany . Berlin 1990, pp. 22, 35, 62, 332, 356, 366, 383, 385, 389, 432.
  10. ↑ Fish code names , (British original, PDF; 292 kB), German translation (PDF; 214 kB), on: bunkermuseum.de ( Bunkermuseum Emden ), accessed on October 23, 2017.
  11. ↑ Werner Piechocki: A chronicle of the air raids on Halle. 1955.
  12. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 19.
  13. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 21.
  14. ^ Roger A. Freeman: Mighty Eighth War Diary . 1981, p. 252.
  15. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 30.
  16. ↑ Werner Piechocki: A chronicle of the air raids on Halle. 1955.
  17. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 30.
  18. ↑ Werner Piechocki: A chronicle of the air raids on Halle. 1955.
  19. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 33.
  20. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 34.
  21. ↑ Werner Piechocki: A chronicle of the air raids on Halle. 1955.
  22. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 35.
  23. ↑ Werner Piechocki: A chronicle of the air raids on Halle. 1955.
  24. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, pp. 53-61.
  25. ^ Daniel Bohse: The last days of the "Third Reich" - the end of the war in Halle. In: Werner Freitag, Katrin Minner (ed.): History of the city of Halle. Volume 2: Halle in the 19th and 20th centuries. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 2006, p. 321.
  26. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 6.
  27. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, pp. 5, 41.
  28. ^ Ernst-Ludwig Bock: Halle in the air war . 2002, p. 41.
  29. ↑ Werner Piechocki: A chronicle of the air raids on Halle . 1955.
  30. ↑ Emergencies: Bombs in Halle were not duds. In: Focus online. November 21, 2014.
  31. ↑ Hall almost deserted. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. Halle, October 28, 2011.
  32. ↑ FOCUS Online: Halle: Bomb found in Halle: Thousands of residents affected. Retrieved May 28, 2019 .
  33. ↑ https://www.mdr.de/sachsen-anhalt/halle/halle/hauptbahnhof-gesperr-bombenfund-100.html

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