Air raids on Naumburg (Saale)

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The city of Naumburg (Saale) was attacked by the American Air Force in August 1944 and April 1945 during World War II . On August 16, 1944, 15 Flying Fortresses B-17 of the 8th Air Force dropped 31 tons of explosive bombs on the Army Equipment Office and residential buildings. Eight civilians died. From April 9th ​​to 11th, 1945 a total of about 225 tactical bombers / fighter planes of the 9th Air Force attacked the Heereszeugamt and the residential town. They dropped about 392 tons of bombs and destroyed or damaged 700 buildings. The number of civilian deaths was officially around 200 Germans and over 200 foreigners. However, significantly higher losses are also stated. They are said to have been largely caused by accompanying low-flying aircraft .

Naumburg in the spring of 1945

The population of the central German city of Naumburg an der Saale had increased considerably due to air war evacuated persons , KLV camps, prisoners of war , forced laborers and recruited foreign workers, then by expellees from the eastern regions: from 36,000 in 1939 to an estimated 55,000 in the spring of 1945 the garrison town with many barracks only a few soldiers. They were members of the location company, descendants of replacement and training units and the soldiers and officials of the authorities and institutions of the Wehrmacht . Important among these were the Heerespflegungsamt (on Grochlitzer Strasse) and the Heereszeugamt (on Kroppentalstrasse). Most of the soldiers (8,000) were wounded and convalescent in the Naumburg hospitals and reserve hospitals , such as the Marien and Walter Flex schools. As in all cities, these were marked with large and widely recognizable Red Cross signs on the roofs.

Air raid

In the city there were the usual cellars under the residential buildings that had been converted into air raid shelters . The factories, administrative and military facilities had shelters. There were special air raid shelters at the main train station , at the Higher Regional Court, in the underground vaults at the Marientor , at the community center “Zur Recreation”, the bunker at the Klingerberg, at the “Auenblick” in Spechsart, at the winter aid organization on the Lindenring, in the expanded cave system under the Zuckerberg and at the "old rock cellar". There were no bunkers in Naumburg.

In Naumburg Cathedral , walls were drawn in to protect against pressure waves and bomb splinters, especially around the donor figures . The valuable glass windows were taken out and stored.

The air strikes

B-17 flying fortresses throwing a bomb
Medium-weight US bomber Martin B-26 "Marauder"
Light US bomber Douglas A-26 "Invader"
Light US bomber Douglas A-20 "Havoc"
North American P-51 "Mustang", escort fighter and "low-flying"
  • August 16, 1944 : During a daytime attack by the 8th Air Force, 31 tons of explosive bombs were dropped by 15 "Flying Fortresses" B-17 on Naumburg. The specified target, the Heereszeugamt, was hit lightly and burned. Bombs rained down in Kroppental, and Burgstrasse was badly hit. Houses were destroyed here and eight civilians (six of them women / girls) were killed. Most of the residents of the area had found shelter in the spacious cellars of the "Felsenkeller".

The daytime attacks by the tactical 9th ​​Air Force described below were carried out with medium and light bombers / fighter aircraft from bases in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands. They were flanked by simultaneous and subsequent low-flying attacks.

  • April 9, 1945 : 134 Martin B-26 “Marauder” (“looters”) bombers of the 98th and 99th Bombardment Wing headed for their first destination Naumburg an der Saale in three waves . Thick clouds lay over the city, with a corresponding obstructed view. All machines were loaded with explosive bombs.

1st wave: of 41 bombers of the 323rd Bombardment Group, which flew in three squadrons, only two squadrons (i.e. 27 or 28 planes) managed their approximately 225 250 kg bombs between 11:53 and 12:03 o'clock over the city throw off. The 3rd season bombs fell in an area between the Reichsautobahn and Bad Klosterlausnitz without causing any damage.

2nd wave: 5 of the 41 bombers were able to drop their bomb load over Naumburg from 13:08, the remaining 36 dropped their bombs over secondary targets: Neustadt an der Orla , Hermsdorf and Eisenberg .

3rd wave: 52 bombers from the 322nd Bombardment Group attacked the city between 3:45 and 3:59 p.m. with 106 high-explosive bombs weighing 500 kg and 200 high explosive bombs weighing 250 kg. Heereszeugamt and Heeresverpflegungsamt were given as the main goals. The sky was still cloudy, plus the fire and smoke from the bombs. According to the US report, “the bombardiers chose prominent points in the city as target points”: “Bombs hit the built-up urban area, in the city center, on streets, intersections and houses”. Affected were: Gartenstraße, St. Wenzel's municipal cemetery, Gutenbergstraße, Marienstraße, Salzstraße (courtyard of the former post office, savings bank building), Neustraße, Salzgasse (police building), Neugasse, Topfmarkt, St. Wenzel's town church (roof, west wall, Hildebrandt organ ) and its surroundings, the “Münze”, Medler Strasse, the Old City Cemetery, Im Weichaugrund, Schönburger Strasse. Some bombs fell on the grounds of the Heeresverpflegungsamt on Grochlitzer Strasse: without major damage. "Only very few bombs hit the Army Equipment Office at Panzerplatz". There was significant property damage and death in the city. An hour later, fighter-bombers attacked the railway station's tracks. After the bombing, low-flying people attacked people in the city area.

  • April 10, 1945 : There were bombs thrown in the area of ​​the New Cemetery on Weißenfelser Straße (cemetery chapel hit) and later fighter-bomber attacks on the station with considerable track damage.
  • April 11, 1945 : The attacks were carried out by light and medium bombers from the 97th and 99th Bombardment Wing. The Army Equipment Office was again given as the main target.

1st wave: 41 Douglas A-26 "Invader" ("Intruder") of the 386th Bombardment Group of the 99th Bombardment Wing unloaded their 246 high-explosive bombs of 250 kg each from 10:12 am to 10:49 am. There are various details regarding visibility. Möller writes of ground fog, witnesses of clear weather cited by Belau. Even the first explosions caused significant clouds of smoke. "A large part of the bombs landed in the area of ​​the streets in the area (from the Heereszeugamt and Heeresverpflegungsamt) and in the fields east of the target". In the area of ​​Grochlitzer Gries, Gerberbach, Am Gerberstein and Erbsenweg, there were massive low-flying attacks on fleeing civilians.

2nd wave: 36 bombers of the type A-26 "Invader" of the 391st Bombardment Group of the 99th Bombardment Division were supposed to attack the Heereszeugamt in Naumburg. “The sky above the goal was covered by thick clouds of smoke”. The bulk of the bombers (probably 24) dropped their 500 kg high explosive bombs over the city from 10:52 a.m. But two squadrons looked for other destinations after several unsuccessful approaches: Stöntzsch near Pegau , where 24 bombs fell into the open; and the small town of Querfurt as a target of opportunity , where 6 invaders bombed a residential area (24 dead).

3rd wave: 38 Douglas A-20 "Havoc" fighter aircraft of the 410th Bombardment Group of the 97th Bombardment Wing drop 224 explosive bombs weighing 250 kg at the Army Ordnance Office from 11:15 to 11:25, most of them but on built-up area in its vicinity.

4th wave: 38 A-26 “Invader” of the 409th Bombardment Group of the 97th Bombardment Wing dropped 278 250 kg M-17 bombs containing stick incendiary devices from 11:41 am to 11:45 am. They were supposed to start a major fire in the areas torn open by the explosive bombs, which would hinder the rescue work and destroy the remaining infrastructure. Most of the incendiary bombs landed in fields north, south and southwest of the target. But built-up areas were also severely affected, and “the attack will have devastating consequences for the city”. After Belau the following were hit: in the Heereszeugamt blocks 3, 4, 5, a forced labor camp, in the Heeresverpflegungsamt two silos, Schönburger Strasse (old people's home), Fischstrasse, Burgstrasse, Kanonierstrasse, Hindenburg- / Sedan-Strasse (August-Bebel-Strasse), cemetery Weißenfelser Strasse (chapel, crematorium), Kroppentalstrasse, Linsenberg to Erbsenweg, Gartenstrasse, Alter Friedhof, Medlerstrasse. “The aim of the bombing, the destruction of the Army Equipment Office, is not achieved despite the amount of bombs dropped. Again, most of the casualties are among the civilian population ”. “The number of victims on this day is so great that the coffins are no longer sufficient.” (Contemporary witness). According to eyewitness reports, a large proportion of the fatalities were caused by low-level aircraft attacks with on-board weapons on fleeing people: especially in the Grochlitzer Gries, Gerberbach, Am Gerberstein and Erbsenweg area, on the way to the Zuckerberg bunker. The slope above the Gerberbach was full of dead.

Because of "tank alarms" the population stayed in the air raid shelters on the night of April 11th to 12th. On April 12, 1945 at 11:00 a.m., US armored troops entered Naumburg without meeting any resistance. The city was handed over personally by Mayor Bruno Radwitz. The US Army set up the "Naumburg POW Camp" in which up to 35,000 prisoners camped, some of them outdoors. "Well-known National Socialists" were called in to disarm bombs in the badly hit cemetery on Weißenfelser Strasse.

Material damage

From April 9 to 11, 1945, 700 buildings in Naumburg were damaged in the air raids and 512 apartments were destroyed. Numerous residential and commercial buildings were hit, but not the stately patrician houses in the old town. The town church of St. Wenceslas suffered considerable damage, the cathedral and other important cultural buildings were spared. The large facilities of the Heereszeugamt and Heeresverpflegungsamt were damaged but not destroyed. The other military installations in the city were not attacked. Belau: "The bombed military area was significantly smaller than the civilian areas of the city that were hit". Electricity and water supplies were partially lost due to the bombing. You can get an impression of the destruction in the city center, for example, from a drawing by Detlef Belau (based on a painting by Erich Menzel): View from Neustraße towards St. Wenzel

Fatalities and burial places

Bomb victims from 1945 at Naumburg cemetery

A detailed compilation and evaluation of the sources can be found in Detlef Belau. 200 German and over 200 foreign fatalities (prisoners of war, forced laborers), a total of over 400 deaths must be considered safe. However, contemporary witnesses also mention significantly higher numbers, up to 1,500. Most of the victims occurred on April 11th, and Naumburg was occupied the following day. The city administration was engaged in securing the fundamental livelihoods (water, energy, food) of the residents of the hard hit city as a "pyramidal task". It cannot be assumed that the dead are registered even approximately complete, as in times of peace. In the cemetery on Weißenfelser Straße there is an “honor grove for aviator victims” with 123 dead buried there. Only these are also registered in the city archive. The row graves that used to exist were leveled. Now (2016) you can find a simple memorial stone (from 1994) on the edge of the lawn (900 m²) with the inscription: “Civilian bomb victims of the Second World War rest on this grave field”. There are contemporary witness reports that some of the dead on April 11 were buried elsewhere in the city, not in the cemetery. Bomb deaths were also found during clean-up work in 1951. The German military personnel who died in the air raids are likely to be found in the large grave fields with soldiers from the Second World War in the cemetery. Most of these come from the city's hospitals and the large prisoner-of-war camp in Naumburg that the Americans had set up in / near Naumburg. There is no designated grave field for the foreign bomb victims.

literature

  • Roger A. Freeman: Mighty Eighth War Diary. JANE'S. London, New York, Sydney 1981, ISBN 0-7106 00-38-0 .
  • Jürgen Möller: The advance of the V. US Corps to the Saale and Unstrut and the occupation of Naumburg in April 1945. An outline of military history. Arps Verlag, Weißenfels 2007.
  • Jürgen Möller: End of the war at Saale and Unstrut. April 1945. Rockstuhl Verlag, Bad Langensalza 2013. ISBN 978-3-86777-456-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Jürgen Möller: End of the war on Saale and Unstrut. April 1945. Rockstuhl Publishing House, Bad Langensalza 2013, p. 27.
  2. Detlef Belau: http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/befreiung.htm
  3. ^ Roger A. Freeman: Mighty Eighth War Diary. JANE's, 1981. p. 326.
  4. Jürgen Möller: End of the war on Saale and Unstrut. April 1945. Rockstuhl Publishing House, Bad Langensalza 2013. p. 20.
  5. Detlef Belau: http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/luftangriff.htm
  6. Jürgen Möller: End of the war on Saale and Unstrut. April 1945 . Rockstuhl Publishing House, Bad Langensalza 2013. p. 30.
  7. Jürgen Möller: End of the war on Saale and Unstrut. April 1945. Rockstuhl Verlag, Bad Langensalza 2013. pp. 30–33.
  8. Detlef Belau: http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/luftangriff.htm
  9. Detlef Belau: http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/luftangriff.htm
  10. Detlef Belau: http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/luftangriff.htm
  11. Jürgen Möller: End of the war on Saale and Unstrut. April 1945. Rockstuhl Verlag, Bad Langensalza 2013. pp. 35–38.
  12. Jürgen Möller: End of the war on Saale and Unstrut. April 1945. Rockstuhl Publishing House, Bad Langensalza 2013. p. 38.
  13. Jürgen Möller: End of the war on Saale and Unstrut. April 1945. Rockstuhl Verlag, Bad Langensalza 2013. pp. 38, 39.
  14. Detlef Belau: http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/luftangriff.htm
  15. Detlef Belau: http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/befreiung.htm
  16. Detlef Belau: http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/luftangriff.htm
  17. http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/luftangnungen2.htm
  18. http://www.naumburg-geschichte.de/geschichte/luftangriff.htm
  19. War and Peace Exhibition . Naumburg 1940–1950. City Museum Naumburg, 2005-