Air raids on Lüneburg
The air raids on Lüneburg by Allied bombers only caused relatively little damage to the city of Lüneburg during the Second World War . Before the start of the war, the city had 35,239 inhabitants in May 1939. In addition to the freight station, the Lüneburg airfield in the northeast of the city was of military importance . In the heaviest air raid on February 22, 1945 alone, 350 people were killed.
Air strikes
The first of a total of 19 air raids on the Lüneburg area took place on the night of July 20-21, 1940, when the Lüneburg airfield and the Im Grimm district were hit by bombs.
The second air raid took place on the night of August 12th to 13th, 1941. In the Im Grimm district, various houses were destroyed, others were damaged and two people were injured.
On April 2, 1944, scattered bombs hit Lüneburg at night, killing several people and destroying two residential buildings on Bleckeder Landstrasse and one on Lüner Weg.
At midday on April 18, 1944, the air base was attacked by about 30 aircraft and severely damaged, but it remained operational. One hall was badly damaged and three others slightly damaged. Four aircraft, an engine house, several accommodation buildings, the airfield train station and a residential building on the edge of the airfield were completely destroyed.
On November 21, 1944, a residential area in the Goseburg on the Bardowicker Wasserweg in the north of the city was hit by a few bombs at noon, but no people were harmed.
On February 3, 1945, around noon, some bombs fell on the freight yard - possibly through an emergency drop - causing moderate property damage.
The heaviest air raid on Lüneburg took place on February 22, 1945 between 10.10 and 14.15 when 39 aircraft bombed the Lüneburg train station and its surroundings. Several fragmentation trenches near the train station and the air raid shelter at the train station were hit by bombs, killing 350 people. The railway bridge over the Dahlenburger Landstrasse collapsed. In the residential areas around the train station, there was severe damage to buildings, especially in Wandrahmstrasse, Altenbrückertorstrasse, Schießgrabenstrasse, on Schifferwall and on Lüner Weg. Residential houses on Rotenbleicher Weg, Am Schwalbenberg and Am Altenbrücker Ziegelhof were also completely destroyed. The Lüneburg Museum in Wandrahmstrasse , whose holdings had not been completely relocated, was completely destroyed. The terminal station of the Lüneburg-Bleckede railway line , the marshalling yard, a dairy on Lüner Weg and a factory on “Am Schwalbenberg” were severely damaged .
Another air raid took place on April 7, 1945 with 13 aircraft. Many bombs hit the station area again, where a train with prisoners from the “Alter Banter Weg” concentration camp near Wilhelmshaven , who were to be brought to Neuengamme , was parked. The inmates were locked in the wagons and could not get to safety. 71 of them were killed. The freight yard was completely destroyed, as was the waterworks and the wax bleaching factory . The teachers' seminar on Wilschenbrucher Weg, which housed an auxiliary hospital and is now used by the Leuphana University of Lüneburg , was badly damaged by a direct bombing hit, as was the auxiliary hospital at Zur Hasenburg on Soltauer Straße. Many bombs also hit the then largely undeveloped Red Field .
Damage
A total of 43 houses in Lüneburg were completely destroyed in the Second World War and numerous others partially destroyed. 270 apartments became uninhabitable, which corresponds to a degree of destruction of 2.6%. A total of 11,200 m³ of rubble was removed.
Individual evidence
- ^ German Association of Cities: Statistical Yearbook of German Communities , p. 384. Braunschweig 1952.
- ↑ https://www.landeszeitung.de/blog/lokales/luneburg/151392-explosive-vergangenheit
- ↑ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 26. Lüneburg 1982
- ↑ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 46. Lüneburg 1982
- ↑ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 47. Lüneburg 1982
- ↑ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 45. Lüneburg 1982
- ^ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 48. Lüneburg 1982
- ↑ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 52. Lüneburg 1982
- ↑ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 54. Lüneburg 1982
- ↑ http://blog.befreiung1945.de/bombenangriff-auf-den-bahnhof-in-lueneburg-ein-zug-mit-kz-haeftlingen-wird-getroffen/
- ↑ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 60. Lüneburg 1982
- ↑ Helmut C. Pless: Lüneburg 45 , p. 197. Lüneburg 1982
- ↑ German Association of Cities: Statistical Yearbook of German Communities , p. 385. Braunschweig 1952.
- ↑ German Association of Cities: Statistical Yearbook of German Communities , p. 377. Braunschweig 1952.