Air raids on Meuselwitz
During the Second World War , there were two heavy air raids on Meuselwitz in what was then the Altenburg district in Thuringia . On November 30, 1944, the city experienced a daytime attack by the American "Flying Fortresses" B-17 with 54 tons of explosive bombs and on February 20, 1945 a night attack by the British Royal Air Force with Lancaster bombers and 140 tons of explosive bombs. A total of 85% of the buildings in the city were destroyed or damaged. Over 270 people lost their lives.
"February 20, 1945 was probably the blackest day in the history of our city," says the Meuselwitz official gazette about the more severe of the two attacks.
The attacks
The US attack of November 30, 1944
The day attack on Meuselwitz was carried out by the 384th Bombardment Group of the 1st Air Division of the 8th Air Force with 24 "flying fortresses" B-17 . It took place as part of a large-scale operation against twelve targets in central Germany. At 12.26 p.m., an air alarm was triggered in Meuselwitz, and the bombs fell from 1.20 p.m. The weather was sunny and the view clear. According to US data, 478 explosive bombs of 250 pounds each were thrown on Meuselwitz (54 tons), according to the city count in the built-up area about 300 bombs of about 150 kg each. The American statement also includes drops near the "Wintersdorf pit". 30 duds had to be defused.
The material damage caused in the city and in the corridors was assessed as considerable. 33 residential buildings were completely destroyed, 51 suffered moderate and 179 minor damage. The northern and eastern parts of the city were particularly hard hit. A major fire broke out in the heavily bombed armaments factory HASAG ( Panzerfaust production), and a total of 11 defenses from the city and the surrounding areas had to be used to fight it. In contrast, the fire in the Kahle weaving mill was quickly extinguished.
88 “fallen” were rescued, including 48 Germans and 38 (42) female forced laborers , including a downed “enemy plane”. There were also many, some seriously injured. The number of German deaths rose to 51. The high number of Polish and Russian forced laborers killed can be explained by the hits on the women's camp at HASAG. In view of the difficult challenges, the mayor was satisfied with the functioning of all emergency services involved in the rescue, extinguishing and repair work.
The victims of the forced laborers were buried in the Altenburg cemetery in a communal grave. The German victims were buried in row graves at the Meuselwitz cemetery, after the official memorial service at the coffins set up on the (now) Rathenau-Platz and the funeral march of the relatives and residents to the burial site.
The towns of Falkenhain and Langendorf near Meuselwitz were also badly hit, with 18 and 17 deaths respectively.
The British attack on February 20, 1945
On the night of February 19-20, 1945, 254 heavy Lancaster bombers of the 5th bomber group of the RAF Bomber Command started a planned major attack on the Böhlen hydrogenation plant south of Leipzig . The machines were each loaded with a mine bomb and 12 high explosive bombs of 500 pounds. At around 4:20 a.m. they were over a large area over the target area. The German flak managed to shoot down the master bomber - a Mosquito . As a result, the crews, who were in themselves very experienced from area bombing of German cities at night, had considerable difficulty finding their destination in the dark with the cloud cover closed and a strong anti-aircraft defense system. "The 980 tons of dump material fell everywhere, only hardly on the hydrogenation plant". This led to the bombardment of secondary targets, including Meuselwitz. All Lancasters that took off then landed back in England between 7.30 and 8.00 a.m., but some came back with their bomb load - which was very unusual.
From 4:20 in the morning, the Lancaster bombers dropped 140 tons of explosives via Meuselwitz as a second target: 7 mine bombs and around 550 explosive bombs, each weighing 250 kg. Of these, about 400 bombs fell on the built-up city and 150 on open land. Almost the entire city was affected, 923 houses were destroyed or damaged, only 15% of the buildings remained intact. Meuselwitz looked like a "ghost town". "It burned everywhere".
The northeast wing of the castle of the von Seckendorff family, built between 1724 and 1727, was damaged by bombs (it was demolished during the Soviet occupation zone). The orangery in the castle park burned down (the dome collapsed in 1954, then the orangery was reconstructed in the 1990s). The castle gate remained undamaged (it was demolished in the 1950s). The neighboring extensive manor was almost completely destroyed, including the estate inspector's house and the old brewery. The livestock in the stables perished, except for one horse that survived. The secondary school from 1916 (burned out, rebuilt, today House II of the grammar school), the girls' school from 1886–1889 in Schulstrasse (partially destroyed), the restaurant "Zur Goldenen Weintraube" (destroyed), the Gustloff-Werke machine factory were hit by bombs (destroyed), Kahles Weberei (damaged, today JUBA).
3,000 people had become homeless, "bombed out". The attack hit a city that had far more inhabitants in 1945 than the nearly 12,000 in 1939. This can be explained by the influx of evacuees from West Germany, refugees from the eastern regions, foreign workers, concentration camp inmates and prisoners of war.
175 (150) people were killed and many were seriously injured. There were families with no survivors. The dead were buried in row graves in the cemetery on February 25th: in wooden boxes because the coffins were insufficient. Funeral ceremonies took place in the market square and in front of the graves. The names of the dead were called out.
"February 20, 1945 was probably the blackest day in the history of our city," the 1995 official gazette summarized the events.
Material losses from both air strikes
85% of the building stock of Meuselwitz was destroyed or damaged. Archive images of the destruction and partial reconstruction can be found in the Meuselwitz home book of the city archivist Steffi Müller (see literature).
In August 1946, the Meuselwitz building authority compiled the following war damage to buildings in the city area:
Completely destroyed: 166 objects, severely damaged 79, moderately damaged 215, slightly damaged 497 objects.
These objects include: municipal objects 42, non-profit objects 117, private objects 798.
Total damage to all objects (only structural damage): 6.256 million Reichsmarks
Burial places
The approximately 225 civilian German victims of both air strikes were buried in row graves in the Meuselwitz cemetery. Today (2016) you can still see a very long row grave overgrown with ivy - without crosses or gravestones. Adjacent is a large memorial stone (from 1995) with the inscription: " To the victims of the bombing raids: November 30, 1944, February 20, 1945 ". The 38 (42) Eastern European forced laborers killed in the air raid on November 30, 1944 are buried in a communal grave at the Altenburg cemetery.
1995 memorial for bomb victims in Meuselwitz (1944, 1945)
Row grave with bomb victims at Meuselwitz cemetery
literature
- Official journal of the city of Meuselwitz "Bote von der Schnauder". Commemorative edition of February 19, 1995, “On the occasion of the 50th recurrence of the bombing raids on Meuselwitz”.
- Peter Findeisen : Meuselwitz (Altenburg district) . In: Götz Eckardt (Ed.) “Fate of German Architectural Monuments in the Second World War”. Henschel-Verlag Berlin 1978. Volume 2. P. 368
- Roger A. Freeman: The Mighty Eighth War Diary . JANES, London, NY, Sydney 1981. ISBN 0 7106 0038 0 . P. 308
- War diary of the First Mayor of Meuselwitz in Thür., 1944 (in the Meuselwitz City Archives)
- Steffi Müller: Meuselwitz . Sutton-Verlag 2003. ISBN 978-3-89702-475-5
- Günter Sagan: East Thuringia in the bombing war 1939-1945 . Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2013. ISBN 978-3-86568-636-7
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Official Journal of the City of Meuselwitz, special edition February 19, 1995
- ^ Freeman: The Mighty Eighth War Diary , 1981. p. 388
- ^ Günter Sagan: East Thuringia in the bombing war 1939-1945 . Imhof-Verlag, Petersberg 2013. p. 8
- ^ Official Journal Meuselwitz, February 19, 1995
- ^ Official Journal Meuselwitz, February 19, 1995
- ^ Official Journal Meuselwitz, February 19, 1995
- ^ Günter Sagan: East Thuringia in the bombing war 1939-1945 . Imhof-Verlag, Petersberg 2013. p. 86
- ^ Günter Sagan: East Thuringia in the bombing war 1939-1945 . Imhof-Verlag, Petersberg 2013. pp. 101, 102, 182
- ^ Official Journal Meuselwitz, February 19, 1995
- ↑ Steffi Müller: Meuselwitz . Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt 2003
- ^ Peter Findeisen: Meuselwitz , in Götz Eckardt (ed.): "Fate of German Architectural Monuments in the Second World War", Volume 2, p. 368
- ↑ Steffi Müller: Meuselwitz . Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt, 2003
- ^ Official Journal Meuselwitz, February 19, 1995
- ^ Official Journal Meuselwitz, February 19, 1995
- ^ Official Journal Meuselwitz, February 19, 1995
- ↑ Steffi Müller: Meuselwitz . Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt 2003. p. 114
- ^ Official Journal Meuselwitz, February 19, 1995. p. 11