Air raids on Neumünster
The air raids on Neumünster during the Second World War from 1942 to 1945 caused severe damage to the city and its surroundings. More than 1,059 people were killed in seven air strikes by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). 3,959 apartments, around a third of the development, were destroyed, and a further 5,300 residential units were damaged. In the following chronology, the attacks on military and railway facilities in the surrounding area were not taken into account.
The number of prisoners of war and forced laborers who died has not yet been clarified , around 8000 of whom had to work in the city and were not allowed to seek shelter. Her death has only been partially documented.
The bomb victims were buried in two grave fields in the Südfriedhof (Lage) in Neumünster.
Chronology of attacks and damage
- Spring 1942: A house on Plöner Strasse was damaged by an incendiary bomb . The residents were able to extinguish the fire with their own resources. It may have been a matter of "disposing" of the bomb on the return flight from Kiel to Great Britain .
- August 3, 1943: The center of Neumünster was hit by an air mine . 13 deaths and 20 sources of fire were counted.
- December 13, 1943: The Friedrich Ebert Hospital was partially destroyed by several incendiary bombs.
- October 25, 1944: In an air raid on the center of the city, not only residential and commercial buildings but also businesses such as the HC Rowedder and C. Sager textile works are destroyed by incendiary and fragmentation bombs . More than 181 fatalities were registered.
- November 6, 1944: Between 10:34 and 10:50 a.m., US units dropped around 6,000 high- explosive bombs . A total of around 450 aircraft were involved, which flew over the city at seven intervals. The attacks focused on the northern urban areas. The main station, the Reichsbahn repair shop and the area around Kieler Strasse, Kloster Strasse, Wasbeker Strasse and Kuhberg were destroyed. Bombs also fell on the fallow fields gardens and the nearby wood on the outskirts. City residents fled there and some died in the attack. A total of 293 deaths were recorded in this action, which is said to have focused on the railway network.
- April 7, 1945: The attack around 1 p.m. with the highest human casualties resulted in more than 537 deaths.
- April 13, 1945: On this day, around 700 Allied aircraft dropped a total of at least 3,000 explosive bombs during 13 overflights. More than 34 deaths were recorded. If the majority of the population had not fled to the surrounding area, the number of deaths would certainly have been higher. The depot was badly damaged.
Other targets of attack, not listed here in detail, were the nearby Luftwaffe airfield and the Hindenburg barracks in most acts of war .
literature
- Paul Sieck: Neumünster. City of the oldest tradition in Holstein. From the history of Neumünster from prehistoric times to the present , Chapter 5: Military and War Times / Airport existed from 1935–1945, 1966, page 208
- Irmtraut Engling: The Neumünster book A city history in words and pictures , chapter: The time of National Socialism; 1985, pages 195-207