Air raids on Wernigerode

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During World War II , the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) carried out various air raids on Wernigerode . On February 22, 1944, the 8th Air Force launched a heavy air attack on the Harz half-timbered town . Wernigerode was a prepared secondary target in the Allied air offensive Big Week . Nineteen four-engine long-range Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” bombers dropped 52.5 tons of high explosive bombs after midday(210 pieces) on the city center, which destroyed 126 houses and over 600 others were seriously or slightly damaged. 192 (250) people lost their lives, over 80% of them women and children. This was followed by a lighter bomb attack on March 15, 1944, a mine bomb on November 2, 1944 (14 dead) and a fighter-bomber attack on April 7, 1945 on railroad trains at Minsleben station (32 dead).

Wernigerode 1944

Wernigerode was a district town and a much-visited resort on the northern slope of the Harz Mountains . It had numerous hotels, boarding houses and boarding houses.

The number and structure of the population had changed fundamentally during the war up to the beginning of 1944 compared to the pre-war period (24,500 inhabitants):

Permanent residents: 26,369, evacuated bomb victims: 2,811, hospital inmates : 1,500, pregnant women in the Lebensborn home "Harz": 110, total German population: 30,790

Foreign workers 3,665, prisoners of war : 389, concentration camp inmates : 700, total: foreigners 4,700

Residents combined: 35,000. The city was overpopulated with 10,000 people.

The air raid were public, corporate and private shelters. Long and ramified air raid protection tunnels had been driven into the mountain on the Galgenberg north of the city center. Today they are filled with concrete and the entrances are closed. From 1943 onwards, cover tunnels were created in house gardens and in public spaces.

Wernigerode was a hospital town with a large number of beds (n = 1,500), also through the conversion of schools and hotels into reserve hospitals . As is customary internationally, the larger hospitals were marked with a Red Cross on the roof.

A Rautenbach AG plant was located in the north-west of the city. Since 1939 it was the most modern light metal foundry in the Reich. It produced cast parts for aircraft engines and had 5,600 employees (1944), including many foreign workers and prisoners of war, especially from the USSR . The plant was not bombed.

The attacks

US bomber Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress"
US fighter P-51 "Mustang"
Memorial plaque in the Breite Strasse for the bombing raid on February 22, 1944
Hotel "Zum Bären" before the destruction

All air raids on Wernigerode in 1944/1945 were carried out at the time of day and by US air forces .

The attack on February 22, 1944 coincided with the Allied Big Week , which was devoted to the destruction of air armaments in Germany from February 20-25, 1944. 6,000 heavy strategic bombers and 3,670 long-range escort fighters from the USAAF and the British Royal Air Force were in service. If the main targets / primary targets could not be attacked, the bomb load was dropped on prepared alternative targets / secondary targets ( Targets of Opportunity ).

In the late morning of February 22nd, a pre-alarm sounded in Wernigerode , and a full alarm at around 12:00 p.m. From 2:02 p.m. to 2:04 p.m., 210 high-explosive 500-lb high-explosive bombs (52.5 tons) were dropped by the B-17 bombers over Wernigerode from a height of around 7,000 meters. When the clouds were broken and the visibility was good on a “bright winter day” with a light blanket of snow, the bombs fell in the center of the city. 40 of the 210 bombs fell in the pleasure garden below the castle , otherwise the damage in the city ​​center would have been even more devastating. 126 houses were totally destroyed, well over 600 damaged to various degrees. The explosive bombs wreaked havoc in the partly light-weight and old houses, right up to the air raid shelter . The Neustadt was badly affected , as were the areas around Nicolaiplatz, Burgstrasse, Kochstrasse and the area of ​​the Hasseröder brewery on the Auerhahn and the Sonnenink. The Wehrmacht's war diary particularly highlighted the total loss of the "Zum Bären" reserve hospital department, the severe damage to the "Reichshof" hotel reserve hospital department, and minor damage to two other reserve hospitals. The Rautenbach works in the northwest of the city, which were not included in any of the USAAF's target plans, were not bombed. In addition to the population themselves, air raids from Wernigerode and the surrounding area, various organizations and, from February 22nd to 27th, 1,000 “auxiliary commands” from Wehrmacht District XI were deployed to rescue the buried dead and wounded. According to initial reports, 186 people were killed and 143 were wounded, later up to 250 were reported dead.

Property Damage in Detail (February 22, 1944)

The reports differ little. In addition to 126 totally destroyed and over 600 damaged houses, the following is also given: 112 totally destroyed, 109 heavily damaged, 200 moderately damaged and 305 slightly damaged houses.

The loss of housing in the city, which was mostly overcrowded with air war evacuees, was serious.

Cultural and public buildings : Numerous historical half-timbered houses fell victim to the high-explosive bombs. The former Faulbaumsche brewery and town house , a four-story half-timbered building from 1680-1684, the later hotel "Zum Bären", Breite Straße 78 (only the lower two floors repaired) was destroyed. Two metal plaques on the street side of the building remind of its history and of the American air raid on February 22nd, 1944. The ballroom and winter garden of the hotel "Weißer Hirsch" on the market square were destroyed in the rear part. The “Reichshof” hotel and the post office building on Marktstrasse were badly damaged, and the Capitol light show in Burgstrasse was destroyed. The baroque orangery in the pleasure garden was badly damaged in the western part, together with the adjacent palm house. The Löwentor, the southern entrance to the pleasure garden, was destroyed and the valuable trees were badly damaged. The Johanniskirche was damaged: the windows were shattered by the pressure waves, the limestone tracery of the windows suffered damage that can still be seen today. Due to the defective roof, the “memorial of the dead in the destroyed church” took place with snow on the coffins.

Commercial and residential buildings were affected by destruction and damage in: Breite Straße, Große Schenkstraße, Anger, Pfarrstraße, Johannisstraße, Untere Burgstraße, Nicolaiplatz, Marktstraße, Kochstraße, Oberengengasse, Unterengengasse, Büchtingenstraße and Grubestraße.

Sacrifice (February 22, 1944) and burial site

The number of fatalities on February 22nd is from 181, 192 to 250. The lower numbers are partly explained by the fact that those who died or were found were not yet recorded and only residents of Wernigerode and / or no foreign workers, prisoners or prisoners of war in them were taken into account. The last recorded victim died on July 16, 1944. 143 people were wounded.

In the local press three advertisements by the Gauleiter appeared in quick succession, with a total of 168 fatalities as a result of the attack on February 22, 1944 (" Victims of an enemy terrorist attack "). The list only contains German family names, so it is by no means complete. An analysis showed: 82% were adults, i.e. 18% children (n = 30). 79% of the adults were women. Women and children together made up 83% of those killed.

After a funeral service on April 1, 1944, most of the victims of the air raid were buried in row / community graves at the central cemetery in Wernigerode in the Hasserode district . On the well-kept "Ehrenfriedhof Mauerseite" (top / bottom / small terrace) you can find the following inscription: "250 victims 1941–1948". "The bombing raid on Wernigerode on February 22nd, 1944 deserves a special mention, which resulted in numerous victims who killed all generations." The five steles with 250 names and first names show no dates of birth or death.

War Cemetery Central Cemetery Wernigerode :

  • March 15, 1944

Another, lighter US air attack resulted in the following damage: 5 houses completely destroyed, 7 heavily damaged, 15 moderately damaged and 58 slightly damaged houses. This attack was carried out by the 9th Air Force , which flew support missions for the 8th Air Force bombers.

  • November 2, 1944

A US air mine went down on Benzingeröder Strasse . Four houses were totally destroyed, others damaged. There were 14 dead.

  • April 7, 1945

Minsleben (district of Wernigerode): Two US fighter bombers fired two passenger trains and a freight train with concentration camp prisoners at the station Minsleben. 32 fatalities and numerous seriously injured people were mourned.

  • April 11, 1945

When the city was occupied by US armored troops in the afternoon, there were only limited exchanges of fire between the hospital and the western gate, which, however, lead to 20 casualties.

  • April 19, 1945

Brocken : In the late afternoon, 20 Anglo-American bombers destroyed the buildings on the Brocken, including the Brocken Hotel , and on the same day the Brocken plateau was occupied by US troops.

reconstruction

Safety and repair work on the destroyed or damaged building structure began immediately after the attacks, despite the war. The reconstruction then took place under the conditions of the Soviet Zone / GDR , with some areas remaining undeveloped until after 1990, and after reunification under those of the Federal Republic. After 1990 the last remaining gaps were closed with new buildings. Overall, it is so successful that the visitor who is not very familiar with history hardly notices the structural consequences of the bombing. Only damage to the Johanniskirche, two metal panels in Breiten Straße 78 (former Hotel “Zum Bären”), an information panel with a reference to the heavily damaged orangery and splinter scars on preserved trees in the Lustgarten remind of this.

literature

  • Baedeckers resin . 3. Edition. Leipzig, Karl Baedecker, 1943. In it: Wernigerode and surroundings , pp. 147–153.
  • Roger A. Freeman: The Mighty Eighth War Diary . JANE's. London, New York, Sydney. 1981. ISBN 0-7106-0038-0 .
  • Olaf Groehler : bombing war against Germany . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1990. ISBN 3-05-000612-9 .
  • Renate Kroll: Wernigerode. Wernigerode district . In Fates of German Monuments in World War II . Edited by Götz Eckardt. Henschel-Verlag, Berlin 1978, Volume 1, pp. 273-274.
  • Peter Nüchterlein: Wernigerode. Target of Opportunity . A research report on the special exhibition "February 22, 1944 - a black day in the history of the city of Wernigerode". Books on Demand, 1999.
  • Josef Walz: The Harz . Du Mont Art Travel Guide. Du Mont Buchverlag, Cologne 1993. ISBN 3-7701-2668-8 , page 190.


Individual evidence

  1. a b c Entries from 1944 - Wernigerode in Jahreszahlen In: wernigerode-in-jahreszahlen.de , accessed on January 22, 2019.
  2. a b Freeman, 1981. p. 185
  3. Nüchterlein, 1999. p. 12
  4. Nüchterlein, 1999
  5. Walz, 1993, p. 190
  6. ^ House history Wernigerode: Breite Straße lower part eastward In: hausgeschichte-wernigerode.de , accessed on January 22, 2019.
  7. Kroll, 1978, pp. 273-274
  8. a b c d House history Wernigerode: Wernigerode - Im Wandel der Zeit In: hausgeschichte-wernigerode.de , accessed on January 22, 2019.
  9. Nüchterlein, 1999
  10. Walz, 1993, p. 190
  11. cit. after Nüchterlein, pp. 70/71
  12. a b c Entries from 1945 - Wernigerode in Jahreszahlen In: wernigerode-in-jahreszahlen.de , accessed on January 22, 2019.