Air raids on Meiningen
During the Second World War , several air raids took place on the town of Meiningen . The heaviest attack took place on February 23, 1945 as part of Operation Clarion and was carried out by bomb squadrons of the 8th Air Force . The primary targets of attack were the railway facilities, bridges and the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk (RAW) in all bombardments .
The situation in the city during the war
During the war, Meiningen was a Red Cross town with eight hospitals that could care for up to 1,600 wounded. These included the Stalag IX / C (b) prisoner-of-war hospital for officers of Western Allied aircraft crews. Meiningen was also an important location for the Wehrmacht . After the regiments located here had been deployed at the front, mainly replacement and training battalions were stationed in the four barracks . From 1943, the Drachenberg barracks housed part of the Wehrmacht Information Center and Wehrmacht Loss Management (WVW) departments outsourced from Berlin with around 1400 employees. In the city there were also an army catering office, an army base administration, a military district command and military registration office, a medical unit and army technical schools. The local repair shop of the Deutsche Reichsbahn was an important part of the war effort. During the war it repaired and maintained an average of 90 steam locomotives per month for the German transport system. Meiningen was also a railway junction and owned a marshalling yard .
Due to the large number of military hospitals and the scarce industry, the Meiningen NSDAP leadership always kept the population in the belief that there would be no major air raids on Meiningen. The high command of the Wehrmacht also hoped for more security when it moved its offices here. In addition, many city dwellers in Meiningen sought refuge from the constant bombing raids on their hometowns. At the beginning of 1945, numerous refugees came from the German eastern regions , so that more than 30,000 people now lived in the city of 22,000 inhabitants.
First air strikes
Until the beginning of 1945 there were isolated bombs on Meiningen, for example on September 13, 1944, when two B-17 bombers dropped high - explosive bombs on the station, damaging three tracks and the station building, and on December 2, 1944. Only a few dead, some destroyed houses and slightly damaged tracks on the station grounds, the effects were relatively minor. The Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk Meiningen had been on the list for bombings as a possible target since mid-1944, the factory as well as the railway facilities and the Meiningen airfield were scouted with reconnaissance photos, planned attacks did not take place until February 1945. On February 6th, an attack on the airfield was planned canceled by the 457th Bombardment Group due to poor visibility.
Air raid on February 23, 1945
prehistory
The Operation Clarion was the most diffused air war operation of the Allies in World War II. Within two days, numerous traffic systems, means of transport and communication systems, especially in small and medium-sized cities in the German Reich, were to be attacked and destroyed in order to facilitate the advance of the Western Allies towards the Rhine and central Germany. Meiningen , with its railway systems and bridges, was one of the 200 selected primary and replacement targets as a substitute target, and the marshalling yard was set as the target in Meiningen . The substitute or alternative targets were flown to if the bombing of the primary targets was not possible due to bad weather or other factors.
The attack
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On the morning of February 23, 1945 a bomber formation of the 1st Air Division of the Eighth Air Force (8th Air Fleet of the USAAF) formed to approach the primary target Hof in order to destroy the railway systems there. A part of the unit flew south of Meiningen, which triggered the first air raid alarm at around 12 p.m. During the approach to Hof, the bomb squadrons received a message that the city of Hof could not be attacked due to thick cloud cover. Thereupon the association split up and flew to the fixed replacement destinations. In addition to ten other locations, this also included Meiningen. For the approach to the city, the 91st and 381st Bombardment Group formed with a total of seven squadrons, to which 74 bombers of the type B-17 Flying Fortress belonged. The 533rd Squadron of the 381st Bombardment Group with 12 bombers lost touch and attacked another replacement target , Adelsberg, with moderate success. Shortly before Meiningen, the 323rd Squadron with 13 bombers separated from the 91st Bombardment Group and attacked an initially unknown target with a train station, which was later recognized as Hildburghausen . Two bombers of this season could not drop bombs due to technical difficulties.
Around 12.40 p.m. there was another, this time serious air raid alarm in Meiningen, as reconnaissance planes set target markings in the form of silver tinfoil strips at the same time . At 12.43 p.m. the attack of the now 49 remaining B-17G bombers began, including 21 bombers from the 322nd and 324th Squadron of the 91st Bombardment Group and 28 bombers from the 532nd, 534th and 535th Squadron of the 381st Bombardment Group. The bomber squadrons flew over the city in several waves at an altitude of around 3960 meters (13,000 feet) and dropped more than 580 bombs with a total weight of 145.5 tons. After just five minutes, at 12:48 p.m., the attack was over.
It was noticeable that the bomber association kept its distance from the Drachenberg barracks and that only the southern half of the 1.3 kilometer long station area was hit. Apparently, the operations management did not want to endanger the Wehrmacht information center, which was also important for the Allies, with its extensive prisoner of war file. According to information from the bomber pilots involved, limited visibility also impaired target accuracy. As a result, the directly neighboring RAW was also spared.
consequences
The airstrike left 208 dead and many injured . 251 buildings, including 84 residential buildings, 47 administrative and commercial buildings and 120 farm buildings, were totally destroyed and a further 254 residential buildings and 190 farm buildings were seriously or slightly damaged. 800 people were left homeless. The bombardment covered an area of around one square kilometer that stretched from the eastern part of the city through the southern station area to the city center.
In addition to numerous residential buildings, the town hall, the city savings bank , the regional and district court, the water management office, the handicrafts chamber, the cemetery chapel , the crematorium and the crown pharmacy were destroyed. The town church , the Bavarian train station and the Meiningen secondary school , where 25 students and teachers were killed, were badly damaged . The attack also destroyed the school road bridge over the railway site, the road bridge over the Werra at the rifle house and parts of the train station. Here the bombs completely fell victim to the southern track systems, the tank farm with 50,000 liters of gasoline and large amounts of diesel fuel, the Bavarian freight station, a signal box and some storage sheds. The heavily affected streets included Berliner Strasse, Schulstrasse, Am Steinernen Berg, Schaubachstrasse, Frauenbrunnen, Bismarckstrasse (today Neu-Ulmer-Strasse), Freitagsgasse and Marktplatz (→ List of streets and squares in Meiningen ). Large parts of the park cemetery were also devastated , where skeletal parts had been scattered by the impacts and were themselves hanging in the trees, and the south of the English Garden .
In the evaluation of the attack by the USAAF, the result was described as "Effective". The bomber association suffered no losses.
Contaminated sites
Decades later were duds discovered and defused, particularly in the 1950 / 60s, later in 1994 and most recently in 2019, when on Tuesday, November 12, the station during construction work a dud of an American 500 south pounds - bomb was discovered. The evacuation ordered for November 13th affected around 3,000 residents within a radius of around 500 meters from the site. At 16:29 the bomb was defused, after which the evacuation order could be lifted.
Air raid on March 2, 1945
An air raid on the north of the city took place around 1 p.m. that day. Three bombers dropped explosive and incendiary bombs on the Gustloff factory , which was active in the arms industry, and the surrounding residential area. The attack cost an uncertain number of lives and damaged several homes and the plant itself.
Air raid on March 8, 1945
The air raid of some bombers took place on the northern station area. Buildings in Kasernenstrasse and Ernststrasse near the RAW were hit. The property damage was limited.
Air raid on March 19, 1945
Bomb planes wanted to bomb the Reichsbahn repair shop at around 1.55 p.m. The bombs fell south of the plant and west of the state hospital in a residential area where four houses were badly damaged and several were slightly damaged, and water supply systems were also hit.
Planned air raid on March 26, 1945
Together with other bomber groups (BG), the 384th Bombardment Group of the 1st Air Division of the 8th Air Force formed on March 26, 1945 with three squadrons with a total of 36 bombers for an air attack on the primary target hydrogenation works in the city of Zeitz . After two unsuccessful attempts to achieve this goal, the 384th BG turned to the designated secondary goal of Meiningen. The Reichsbahn repair shop and the railway facilities were to be bombed. The Depth Squadron got into turbulence, lost touch and then flew to the other alternative destination Würzburg with 11 aircraft . Because of the running out of fuel, the rest of the association feared that they would no longer be able to reach their home or replacement airports after the bombing of Meiningen. They wanted to get rid of the bomb load beforehand over a target of opportunity on the way to Meiningen and fly back immediately. The command squadron and the high squadron of the bomber group attacked the suburb “Am Fröhlichen Mann” in Suhl instead of Meiningen with 25 B-17G bombers and 62.5 tons of bombs . 31 people lost their lives there and 17 houses were destroyed. In order to simulate a successful conclusion, the American pilots nevertheless stated Meiningen as the fought target in their operational documentation.
Air raid on April 5, 1945
Before the city was taken by US troops on the evening of April 5, eight Mustang fighter-bombers (P-51) attacked the city at low altitude around 8 a.m. in support and threat . Several buildings in Bodenweg and Mauergasse were destroyed and damaged, and nine people were killed.
reconstruction
After the air raid on February 23, 1945, the Reichsbahn had the railroad tracks repaired and disruptive debris removed immediately by railway employees and with the help of Wehrmacht pioneer units and prisoners of war, so that rail operations could be resumed after just three days. The Werra bridge at the Schützenhaus (from 1947 Volkshaus) was initially replaced with a temporary roadway before it was rebuilt in 1950 under the name "Bridge of October 15, 1950". The building, known colloquially as the “Volkshausbrücke”, was replaced in 2010 with a new, larger bridge. The school road bridge over the railroad tracks was only rebuilt after the fall of the Wall in 1992, until then the city and its citizens had to be content with a temporary wooden pedestrian bridge. The Chamber of Crafts , the crematorium and the secondary school were rebuilt or repaired in their original state in the 1950s .
The reconstruction of the destroyed city district has not yet been completed. The west side of the market , where the town hall and the Stadtsparkasse had been destroyed, were not rebuilt until the 2010s for various reasons, which significantly disrupted the urban harmony of the most important square in the city. This large gap only disappeared in 2016 with a new building. In addition, a number of plots of land have not been rebuilt, and many bomb holes were only closed after the political turnaround due to a building boom in the 1990s.
Burial and memorial sites
The bomb victims of February 23, 1945 were buried in the park cemetery in a grove of honor . The individual tombstones are provided with up to four names, which often relate to entire families. The memorial stone bears the generalizing, but GDR-typical indication of "Anglo-American" aircraft, although they were exclusively American.
At the former secondary school , today's Protestant grammar school , a plaque commemorates the 25 students and teachers who were killed in the air raid on February 23, 1945. The text from 2018 reads: IN MEMORY OF THE SCHOOL MEMBERS WHO LOST THEIR LIFE ON FEBRUARY 23, 1945 BY A BOMB HIT THIS SCHOOL BUILDING. MEININGEN, FEBRUARY 2018. EVANGELIC GYMNASIUM AND FUNDING ASSOCIATION OF THE EVG ".
There are no other recognizable public places of remembrance of the air raids in Meiningen.
See also
literature
- Kuratorium Meiningen (Hrsg.): Lexicon for the history of the city of Meiningen. Bielsteinverlag, Meiningen 2008, ISBN 978-3-9809504-4-2 .
- Roger Anthony Freeman: Mighty Eighth War Diary. Motorbooks International, 1990, ISBN 978-0-87938-495-1 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Rüdiger Overmans : German military losses in World War II. Oldenbourg-Verlag 2004, pp. 325/326.
- ↑ Karla Banz: Traditions and Tractions. Meininger Heimatklänge, issue 4/2005.
- ↑ a b c d Lothar Günther: Missions and fates . Wehry-Verlag, Untermaßfeld, 2014.
- ^ A b c d Roger A. Freeman: Mighty Eighth War Diary. Operation documentation of the 8th Air Force of the USAAF.
- ^ USAAF reconnaissance photos from August 12 and October 1944.
- ↑ a b c Corresponding published and documented witness reports.
- ^ A b Operation documentation of the 381st Bombardment Group from February 23, 1945 in the National Archives (NARA) in College Park , Maryland.
- ↑ a b c Operation documentation of the 91st Bombardment Group from February 23, 1945 in the National Archives College Park, Maryland.
- ↑ FW Meininger Tageblatt , article: Five shocking minutes . Released February 23, 2010.
- ^ Mission report from Wilhelm Witt, department leader and head of operations of the fire brigades fighting fires after the air raid. Archive of the Meiningen fire brigade.
- ↑ a b FW Meininger Tageblatt, article: Meiningen's black Friday . Friday Packet for February 21, 2015.
- ^ Ingrid Reissland: February 23, 1945 - bomb attack. in Meininger Tageblatt , February 22, 1997.
- ↑ Meininger Tageblatt online editorial office : Bomb discovered during construction work in Meiningen . Retrieved November 12, 2019.
- ↑ Landratsamt Schmalkalden-Meiningen : +++ Aircraft bomb found in Meiningen +++ currently no acute danger for the population +++ evacuation has been running since 9 a.m. today +++ . Retrieved November 13, 2019.
- ↑ a b c FW Meininger Tageblatt, article: The aviators didn't leave us alone . Edition March 5, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d Operation documentation of the 384th Bombardment Group from March 26, 1945 in the National Archives College Park, Maryland.
- ↑ Meininger Tageblatt, article: Start of construction market west development . Friday Packet for April 8, 2016.
