Air raids on Oldenburg (Oldenburg)

The air raids on Oldenburg (Oldenburg) by Allied bombers caused the city of Oldenburg (Oldenburg) only relatively little damage compared to other cities during the Second World War . In May 1939 the city had 78,967 inhabitants. In terms of military facilities, there were several Wehrmacht barracks in the city, as well as the Oldenburg air base of the Luftwaffe in the northwest . In addition, Oldenburg was important as a traffic junction with rail connections to Wilhelmshaven , Bremen , Leer and Osnabrück as well as the coastal canal , but there was hardly any industry.

Air strikes

Oldenburg was affected by seven air strikes:

In June 1941, the first air raid caused damage to the railway line to Leer . Also east of the old town in the street traffic jam houses were destroyed, likewise in the Sophienstraße and the Würzburger Straße.

On October 23, 1942, a single plane dropped a few bombs over Oldenburg.

On the night of September 22nd to 23rd, 1943, during a major British attack on Hanover, 29 planes flew a diversionary attack on Oldenburg, where the city center was hit by numerous bombs: The State Library Oldenburg am Damm was badly damaged and around 10,000 books were destroyed. Numerous bombs fell on the Oldenburg Regional Court at Elisabethstrasse 7, so that it burned out. The building of the Reich Finance Administration on the corner of Damm and Festungsgraben was also destroyed. The Krusenbusch railway area was also hit by bombs in 1943, and a bridge was destroyed.

From April 15, 1945, there were four major air raids on Oldenburg: the Ziegelhof and Georgenvilla were destroyed, as was a meat factory. The barracks on Ofener Strasse were badly damaged, as was the Donnerschweer Strasse barracks and the Cloppenburger Strasse infantry barracks. In an air raid on the Donnerschwe barracks on April 17, 1945, 13 children and 2 adults were killed. Today a memorial in the Donnerschweer cemetery commemorates them. Heavy damage also occurred in the residential areas east of Cloppenburger Strasse, and the residential area around Klingenbergplatz was also badly hit.

On April 21, 1945, the Oldenburg Central Station was badly damaged and the forecourt, the port and the industrial area east of the old town were destroyed. During the last air raid on Oldenburg in May 1945, the barracks in Kreyenbrück , which had already been damaged in the attack in April 1945, were destroyed.

Damage

A total of 130 houses and 220 apartments were destroyed by air strikes in Oldenburg. This corresponds to a degree of destruction of 1.4%. A total of 113,000 m³ of rubble was removed.

See also

• List of Allied air raids on the German Reich (1939–1945)

Web links

• Photo of the memorial for the civilian victims of the air raid of April 17, 1945 at http://www.nwzonline.de/oldenburg/blaulicht/als-13-kinder-im-bombenhagel-starben_a_1,0,556278999.html

Individual evidence

1. ^ German Association of Cities: Statistical yearbook of German municipalities. Braunschweig 1952, p. 382.
2. ↑ Lower Saxony city book. Stuttgart 1952.
3. ^ Jörg Deuter: Oldenburg - a north German townscape. Oldenburg 1988, p. 214.
4. ^ Jörg Deuter: Oldenburg - a north German townscape. Oldenburg 1988, p. 215.
5. ^ Jörg Deuter: Oldenburg - a north German townscape. Oldenburg 1988, p. 249.
6. ↑ When 13 children died in a hail of bombs. In: Nordwest-Zeitung. November 10, 2011.
7. ^ Rudolf Tjaden: Oldenburg - the undestroyed city. In: Beacon. Supplement to NW-Zeitung No. 24, 1972, episode 5.
8. ^ German Association of Cities: Statistical yearbook of German municipalities. Braunschweig 1952, p. 375.
9. ^ German Association of Cities: Statistical yearbook of German municipalities. Braunschweig 1952, p. 383.
10. ^ German Association of Cities: Statistical yearbook of German municipalities. Braunschweig 1952, p. 365.