Battle of Nuremberg

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Battle of Nuremberg
Soldiers of the 3rd Division of the 7th US Army invaded Nuremberg from the north on April 16, 1945.
Soldiers of the 3rd Division of the 7th US Army invaded Nuremberg from the north on April 16, 1945.
date 16th bis 20th April 1945
place Nuremberg
output Allied victory
Parties to the conflict

United States 48United States United States

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire

Commander

United States 48United States John W. O'Daniel

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) Richard Wolf

Troop strength
30,000 12,000
losses

130 combatants

400 combatants,
371 civilians and forced laborers

Major military operations on the Western Front 1944–1945

1944:  Overlord  · Dragoon  · Mons  · Market Garden  · Scheldt estuary  · Aachen  · Hürtgenwald  · Queen  · Alsace-Lorraine  · Ardennes

1945:  Nordwind  · Bodenplatte  · Blackcock  · Colmar  · Veritable  · Grenade  · Blockbuster  · Lumberjack  · Undertone  · Plunder  · Würzburg  · Ruhrkessel  · Nuremberg

In the final phase of the Second World War in Europe, the Bavarian cities were taken by units of the US Army in April 1945, which advanced from the west after the failure of the Ardennes offensive and the company Nordwind . The battle for Nuremberg lasted five days; it claimed at least 901 deaths. The capture of Nuremberg by units of the 7th US Army was of high symbolic value; strategically, the largely destroyed Nuremberg was not of particular importance in this phase of the war. The military defense of Nuremberg was hopeless due to the overall situation and the superiority of the US Army. The Nero order was no longer carried out, so that important infrastructure was preserved.

prehistory

After France was liberated from German occupation, US troops advanced across the Rhine towards Bavaria, as planned after the Tehran Conference by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , the Allied headquarters in northwestern Europe under General Dwight D. Eisenhower . The distribution of military tasks corresponded geographically to the later zones of occupation already outlined at the Yalta conference . It was therefore up to the US Army to conquer Bavaria and end the rule of National Socialism and the Second World War there. The resistance that the remaining German troops opposed to the far superior enemy varied in strength. While in western Germany some cities were surrendered without a fight when the American forces approached, in some places fights of varying severity began.

During the Nazi era, Nuremberg was of particular political importance as the “ city of Nazi party rallies ” from both the German and the Allied perceptions. Therefore, the capture of Nuremberg by US troops developed into the battle for Nuremberg .

population

Population development of Nuremberg between 1920 and 1950

In Nuremberg the Second World War still lived 196,270 by the end of 415,813 in 1933 and about 423,000 in May 1939 by an census population recognized (see Population development of Nuremberg ). The decline in the population is due to several factors, mainly war-related. A majority of the men fit for military service and fit for work had been drafted into the Wehrmacht , SS , Reichsarbeitsdienst and other military and state organizations as well as members of the NSDAP or had volunteered. Numerous women had been drafted into the German Red Cross or had volunteered; this was often associated with leaving Nuremberg. In the course of the "extended Kinderlandverschickung" and the "Mother-Child-Dispatch", organized by the Hitler Youth and the National Socialist People's Welfare , children and adolescents up to the age of 14 and, in the case of small children, their mothers, were brought to mainly rural areas to help them Danger to evade air raids. In addition, the “Dispatch to Relatives” campaign continued to reduce Nuremberg's population. Some of the bombed out Nuremberg residents found shelter in the countryside; Others moved to the surrounding villages because of the better supply of food, if they were allowed to do so due to the existing work obligation.

With the deportation of around 2,000 Jews from Nuremberg to the extermination camps , the population continued to decline. Finally, on April 7, 1945, all women with children or without any military obligation, as well as all older residents, were asked to leave the city, which had been declared a rear operational area, after American units had reached the Würzburg area and were about 100 kilometers from Nuremberg .

In addition to these factors reducing the population, other people were settled in Nuremberg or deported there, in particular French and Italian prisoners of war and forced laborers from the Soviet Union , Poland and Czechoslovakia . In April 1945, the population of Nuremberg consisted mainly of women, children who had not been deported , male and elderly and sick citizens of both sexes who had been placed in the UK, as well as prisoners of war and forced laborers who were barracked.

Air war

Air war damage up to and including January 3, 1945, official map
light red or red: total losses before or on January 2, 1945
light blue or blue: serious damage before or on January 2, 1945
US B-17 over Nuremberg in February 1945

The city was badly damaged by air strikes by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces . The air strikes on Nuremberg (with more than ten dead) were in detail:

No. date Type of attack Fatalities
1 August 29, 1942 Royal Air Force night raid 137
2 25./26. February 1943 Royal Air Force night raid 16
3 8/9 March 1943 Royal Air Force night raid 316
4th 10/11 August 1943 Royal Air Force night raid 582
5 27./28. August 1943 Royal Air Force night raid 89
6th March 31, 1944 Royal Air Force night raid 75
7th September 10, 1944 US Army Air Forces day attack 74
8th October 3, 1944 US Army Air Forces day attack 365
9 October 19, 1944 Royal Air Force night raid 243
10 25./26. November 1944 Royal Air Force night raid 72
11 November 28, 1944 Royal Air Force night raid 24
12 January 2, 1945 Royal Air Force night raid around 1800
13 February 20, 1945 US Army Air Forces day attack together
1390
14th February 21, 1945 US Army Air Forces day attack
15th March 16, 1945 Royal Air Force night raid 597
16 April 5, 1945 US Army Air Forces day attack 195
17th April 11, 1945 Royal Air Force day attack 91
total around 6066

The heaviest air raid on Nuremberg took place on January 2, 1945 from 7:20 pm to 8:06 pm; it was led by the Royal Air Force with 521 four-engine bombers. The old town in particular was hit hard in this attack. The extent of the destruction up to January 2, 1945 is shown on the map at the top right. Here light red and red stand for total losses, light blue and blue for severe damage, respectively before or on January 2, 1945.

Further air strikes, which were already aimed at making it easier for the approaching ground troops to capture the city and making it more difficult for the German troops to defend themselves in ground combat, were carried out on February 20 and 21 by the US Army Air Forces with 850 and 1100 four-engine bombers respectively flown. An attack by the Royal Air Force on March 16, 1945 pursued the same purpose. On April 5 and 11, 1945, American air forces again attacked the old town and, above all, the marshalling yard, where all traffic from April 11 until the end of the war came to a complete standstill. In the latter two attacks, the number of people killed was relatively low, at 286.

The air raid on April 11, 1945 was the last air raid on Nuremberg. Nuremberg had been bombed ready for a storm. In the old town, around 90 percent of all buildings were completely destroyed or uninhabitable.

Preparations on the German side

Lord Mayor Willy Liebel, around 1942
Karl Holz
Recording of unknown date from the main archive of the NSDAP in the holdings of the Federal Archives

The decision-makers were on the German side

The following units were available for defense in Nuremberg:

In total, there were 11,000 to 12,000 men and young people aged 14 and over. The equipment of the units was poor; so no tanks and no heavy artillery were available. In addition to rifles and pistols, the main weapons were the approximately 140 anti-aircraft guns in the city, among them several 8.8 cm anti-aircraft guns , feared by the Allies as artillery , which were mostly stationary and used by RAD men and Hitler boys and Soviet "volunteers" were served. There was no shortage of ammunition after an ammunition train with considerable amounts of anti-aircraft ammunition was found in the Nuremberg marshalling yard.

Some of the units had been fought off, decimated and relocated to Franconia for refreshment and replenishment (SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment 38 and Air Force Field Regiment 21). The other part of the associations was not or insufficiently trained, had no uniforms, but, according to the orders of the Volkssturm, wore “robber civilian clothes with a sporty touch” and an armband that identified the wearer as a combatant . The latter was essential because combatants who were not identified as members of an armed force were viewed and treated as partisans and therefore as criminals. Furthermore, the airfield ground staff, the Hitler Youth and the Volkssturm in particular lacked any armament. To explain such circumstances, a daily order from the Battle of Berlin by the Reich Defense Commissioner Joseph Goebbels serves : “Ultimately, weapons are not so important; in battle the soldier will somehow acquire a weapon ”. This fits in with the request of the NSDAP district inspector Georg Haberkern that the combatants deployed by the Hitler Youth should "bite the throats off" of the American soldiers. Of the last-named units, only the Hitler Youth were equipped with the bazooka , with which tanks could be fought at a distance of a few meters, in addition to their trip knives, which were useless for combat use . Combat commander Wolf tried to stop the Americans from advancing through trenches and anti-tank barriers made of wooden slats and trams. These measures were dubious. Wolf expected the American units to arrive from the west, that is, from the neighboring town of Fürth ; this assumption turned out to be wrong. Based on this false assumption, he prepared the demolition of the remaining bridges over the Rednitz River .

One pupil described the deployment of his 50-year-old father as a Volkssturmmann at the Battle of Nuremberg as follows: “Equipped with a French rifle from 1865, ten cartridges, only suitable for an Italian rifle from 1870, a bazooka without a fuse - in the face of two im City moat in front of the castle of chained oxen, which should serve as food during the siege, (should he) defend the castle of Nuremberg […]. All the activity consisted of hoisting the white flag and handing over the castle to the liberators ”.

The German units were concentrated on the western access roads, especially Fürther Strasse , as well as at several points along the main roads. On April 7, 1945, Nuremberg was declared a "rear operational area", and the Volkssturm was called on April 13. With that the preparations were finished.

Preparations on the American side

General John W. O'Daniel

The US 3rd Infantry Division under General John W. "Iron Mike" O'Daniel was after fighting on West Wall set over the Rhine and had Bamberg (13 April 1945) and Erlangen (16 April 1945) ingested. Parallel to the north and east of it, the 45th US Infantry Division under General Robert T. Frederick advanced via Worms and Aschaffenburg . Both units were used for the final battles for Nuremberg, Augsburg and Munich for the XV. Corps united under the command of Lieutenant General Wade H. Haislip and subordinated to the 7th Army. From the west approached the XXI. Corps subordinated the 42nd Division and, further away and as a support group, the 12th Armored Division, from the east the 14th Armored Division, from the south the 106th Armored Cavalry Group. The fighting on the American side was led by the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, General O'Daniel.

Overall, the units provided had a strength of about 100,000 men; the troops actually intervening in the fighting (especially 3rd and 45th Infantry Divisions) of about 30,000 men. These divisions were equipped with tanks, artillery and heavy artillery. The other units that were concentrated around Nuremberg were no longer needed; the war was in its final phase. In order to avoid surprises like the Ardennes offensive in December 1944, they accompanied the fighting troops as reserve units. Another reason for continuing the advance with this combat strength was the concern of the American generals that the intelligence reports that there might be a reduit on the part of the Germans in the Alps , the so-called Alpine fortress , were correct. However, the alpine fortress was never realized. The ring around Nuremberg was initially not closed in the southwest, so that the German troops could have withdrawn via Rothenburger Strasse . This corresponded to the tactics of the American military leadership, which tried to keep the losses low, while on the German side, despite oppressive inferiority, mass and material battles were sought, which is to be judged as unreasonable from a military-historical point of view. The German troops, with the exception of individuals ( deserters ), did not withdraw. The battle for Nuremberg began on April 16, 1945 around noon.

Fighting

Course of the Battle of Nuremberg
Phase 1: 16. – 19. April 1945
Course of the Battle of Nuremberg
Phase 2: 19. – 20. April 1945

External combat conditions

The weather was spring-like warm and friendly throughout the fighting. It was dry. Since summer time was in effect in the German Reich from April 2, 1945 , the fighting activities began at an early hour of the day.

April 16, 1945, Monday

When Reich Defense Commissioner Holz received reports that the Americans were approaching with strongly superior troops, large numbers of tanks, artillery and heavy artillery, Holz set about initiating the self-destruction of Nuremberg after Adolf Hitler's so-called Nero order of March 19, 1945. According to this, when the Allies approached a city, all infrastructure facilities such as gas works, water works, sewage treatment plants, power plants, bridges, and telecommunications offices had to be destroyed. It was Hitler's declared intention to reduce the value of a captured city to the Allies. In addition, even the most primitive needs of the German people would no longer have to be taken into account, since they would have failed against the stronger Eastern peoples and would therefore have to cede. Gauleiter Holz gave the order on April 16, 1945 to trigger the self-destruction. For this purpose, the command “Attention! Attention! Special command Z: Code 'Puma'! “. In tacit or amicable cooperation between Mayor Liebel, who was more ready to hand over, and the broadcaster's spokesman, Sergeant of Flak Artillery Arthur Schöddert, the order, which would probably have claimed thousands of lives, was not sent. In response to a query by Holz the following day, Uncle Valerian , as Schöddert was called because of his calming voice among the population, untruthfully assured that he had read the destruction command twice. Wood also ordered that the food stored in Linde AG's cold storage , 1.75 million kilograms of frozen meat and 670,000 kilograms of butter be distributed to the population. This should be offset against future food stamps after the attempted rejection of the American attack. From this it can be seen that the supplies should not fall into the hands of the Americans if they did take Nuremberg. For many residents of the city, the battle for Nuremberg is thus associated with the first extensive meals (four pounds of beef per person) since the radical cut in food allocations in the winter of 1941/1942. In March 1945, a “normal consumer” was allocated 1,700 grams of bread, 250 grams of meat, and 125 grams of fat per week.

Around noon the first American tanks reached the city ​​limits from the east near Erlenstegen . At 12:45 p.m., an air-raid alarm was erroneously given, then a tank alarm, also known as an enemy alarm. Since the air raid sirens became inoperable along with the destroyed houses, the alarm was announced on the radio and through loudspeaker vans. The non-combatants were asked to go to the cellars. On April 16, the armored spearheads of the 3rd Division advanced via Buchenbühl to Ziegelstein and those of the 45th Division advanced via Erlenstegen to the southwest in the direction of the marshalling yard . There was no major fighting until dark. Both sides tried to avoid fighting in the dark. Due to the darkening measures , there was no lighting, so that the risk of self-fire was assessed as too high for both sides . The exception to this was artillery fire by the US Army after the direction of the bullet and the lead angle had been determined while it was still bright .

April 17, 1945, Tuesday

Artillery fire began on Nuremberg on April 17, 1945. Mayor Willy Liebel left a telephone request to stop the fighting and surrender of the city unanswered; Such a decision would probably not have been enforceable against the fanatical Gauleiter Karl Holz. It should be noted here that political power was divided between Liebel and Holz, but Holz held the stronger position, which he further consolidated through an exchange of telegrams with Hitler, especially in the days discussed here. The wine warehouse in the customs warehouse was looted by Nuremberg residents. Numerous drunks who were out and about in the city celebrating "... grotesque orgies of drunkenness" were partially hit, injured and killed by artillery shells. Goods wagons with food were also broken into and looted at the marshalling yard ; clarified butter in particular is said to have been the prey; the town's clothing depot was also stormed by looters; first attacks on private companies occurred. The American units made further progress that day, also at the centers of German resistance in Almoshof , Lohe (3rd Inf.-Div.) And at the SS barracks in the south of the city (45th Inf.-Div.). On the evening of April 17th the main German battle line in the north, east and south-east was lost.

April 18, 1945, Wednesday

On April 18, 1945, the defenders' resistance increased. Especially along the main roads in the north, east and south-east (Bucher Strasse, Rollnerstrasse, Bayreuther Strasse, Sulzbacher Strasse, Ostendstrasse and Regensburger Strasse), SS and air force units in particular opposed the advancing Americans in street battles, but were unable to prevent their advance. The resulting destruction, which in connection with the damage and devastation from the air raids partially left nothing identifiable, can still be localized in the streets mentioned on the basis of today's buildings. In the evening of the day, the American associations were grouped in a circle, at a distance of about 1 kilometer from the Altstadtring; the initially open gap in the southwest was closed. On the night of that day the military and political commanders (Colonel Wolf, Gauleiter Holz, Lord Mayor Liebel) left their previous command post in the panier bunker , as it was now within range of American grenade launchers, and retired to the Palmenhofbunker at the police headquarters in the southwest corner of the Old town back. Gauleiter Holz radioed a fanatical telegram of devotion to Hitler , in which he announced resistance to the point of ruin.

Holz pursued the plan to prevent the Allies from taking Nuremberg, but at the same time he knew that this project was not realistic. Even if the attacking units had been successfully stopped, the consequence would not have been that the American advance would have been stopped, but that a pocket would have arisen around Nuremberg and the remaining American units around Nuremberg would have continued their advance. From this it follows that even if Holz's plan succeeded, nothing could be achieved militarily or politically, but the city's population and the fighting units would have died in great numbers. The project can therefore be seen as a planned mass killing of the own population. This attitude of preferring collective murder or suicide to surrender was in line with Hitler's demands of the Reich Defense Commissioners.

April 19, 1945, Thursday

Soldiers of the 3rd Inf.-Div. on April 20, 1945 at the toll hall

On the morning of April 19, 1945, Fürth was surrendered without a fight, so that the 42nd Division could advance unhindered from the west to Nuremberg. In the St. Johannis district near the castle (especially on Burgschmietstrasse near the Tiergärtnertor ), at the Maxtor and Laufer Tor, as well as at the main train station and on the Plärrer , the street fight turned into a house- to- house fight . The extent of the destruction, which can still be seen in the cityscape today, was correspondingly large. The Germans used snipers in particular in urban warfare . On the evening of April 19, the Americans had reached the last line of defense, the Altstadtring. The American soldiers stood at the main train station in Königstrasse and at Plärrer .

April 20, 1945, Friday

Title page of the Stars and Stripes from April 21, 1945

On April 20, 1945, which was celebrated as the “ Führer birthday ” in National Socialist Germany , Lord Mayor Liebel either committed suicide or was shot by Gauleiter Holz due to his willingness to hand over the city; what happened was not cleared up for sure. According to the surviving combat commandant Wolf, Liebel shot himself to death around 00:30 on April 20, 1945 in the room of Gauleiter Holz in the Palmenhof bunker . After the handover of a widely ramified tunnel system under the castle hill to the Americans (3rd Inf.-Div.) Through the independent action of the bunker occupants and evacuation of the imperial castle in the early morning hours, the artillery fire ended. At around 10:30 am, combat commander Wolf radioed the remaining defenders with the order to stop fire; however, he did not hand over the city, but gave the troops free to act. He acted in a similar way to Würzburg , whose final battle he had led two weeks earlier, where he achieved the same result as in Nuremberg: extensive destruction of the few remaining buildings, loss of numerous human lives, no influence on the war. Individual units therefore continued the fight, especially the group around Gauleiter Holz with a few hundred police and military men in the Palmenhofbunker, where the fighting lasted until evening. Among them was the Nuremberg police chief Otto Kuschow , who died during the fighting.

In the early evening of April 20, 1945, O'Daniel held a victory parade at the Hauptmarkt, which was then renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz . For this purpose, the street signs with the imprint "Adolf-Hitler-Platz" in relation to O'Daniel's nickname "Iron Mike" were overwritten with "Eiserner Michael Platz", later on the same day signs with the inscription "Roosevelt Place" were put up. The last exchange of fire with the last nest of resistance in the palm courtyard bunker did not prevent the victory parade from being held; even during the parade on the main market this last resistance (about one kilometer from the main market) was broken; Wood also died as a result of fighting or suicide after he was no longer able to prevent disintegration among the police officers he had ordered to fight, even with gun drawn (nevertheless, Holz still managed to fire a group of surrendering police officers from the police headquarters and to judge an American soldier on what was then Waizen-, today's Dr.-Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse, and to kill several people.) As a presumably last criminal act, Holz had a Belgian parliamentarian who was approaching the bunker shot. O'Daniel combined the Victory Parade with an act of mourning for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died on April 12, 1945 . On the night of April 21, 1945 Wolf tried to escape capture by escaping. Early in the morning of April 21, 1945, he was captured by an American patrol while trying to hide in a cellar. In the south of the city, individual groups of marauding German soldiers are said to have used their weapons by April 24th.

Conclusion

The defense of the city was almost useless militarily and politically. In its course, important buildings, bridges and other infrastructure facilities were completely destroyed, including the towers of St. Sebaldus Church with their bells and the gasworks, which had previously been badly damaged. The advance of the US armed forces and thus the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp was delayed by several days.

At least 901 people died in the Battle of Nuremberg:

  • 371 civilians and forced laborers
  • 130 American soldiers from the 3rd and 45th Infantry Divisions
  • at least 400 members of the German units, including many Hitler Youths in attempts to destroy tanks in close combat.

Therefore, the actions of the leading figures on the German side, Liebel, Holz and Wolf, are viewed as reprehensible.

  • View over the main market to the destroyed St. Sebaldus Church

  • American infantry take cover behind armored vehicles

  • American soldiers hoist the United States flag in the Zeppelin grandstand

  • American tanks between mountains of rubble and burned-out residential buildings in downtown Nuremberg

  • A tank serves as cover

  • The Sinwell and Heidenturm have been spared

literature

  • Michael Diefenbacher , Wiltrud Fischer-Pache: The air war against Nuremberg . Schmidt, Nuremberg 2004, ISBN 3-87707-634-3 .
  • Robert Fritzsch: Nuremberg at war . Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-8112-0697-4 .
  • Peter Heigl : Toyland - Bomber over Nuremberg: Nuremberg in World War II . Nuremberg 2004, ISBN 3-00-015199-0 .
  • Karl Kunze: End of the war in Franconia and the battle for Nuremberg in April 1945 (=  Nuremberg research , 28). Nuremberg 1995.
  • Erhard Mossack: The last days of Nuremberg. Based on a factual report from the 8 o'clock newspaper . Noris-Verlag, Nuremberg 1952. (Reprint: Verlag Deuerlein, 2000, ISBN 3-423-02701-0 )
  • Fritz Nadler: I saw Nuremberg go under . Franconian publishing house and printing house, Nuremberg 1955.

Individual evidence

Regarding the sources mentioned: see bibliography

  1. ↑ both numbers: Matthias Klaus Braun: Hitler's dearest mayor: Willy Liebel (1897–1945) (inaugural dissertation). Neustadt an der Aisch 2012, p. XIX; ISBN 978-3-87707-852-5 .
  2. ^ Robert Fritzsch: Nuremberg in the war . Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-8112-0697-4 , p. 94.
  3. ^ Peter Heigl : Toyland Bomber over Nuremberg, Nuremberg in World War II . 2004, ISBN 3-00-015199-0 , p. 17.
  4. ↑ Michael Diefenbacher, Wiltrud Fischer-Pache: The air war against Nuremberg . Schmidt, Nürnberg 2004, ISBN 3-87707-634-3 , p. 517.
  5. ↑ After Robert Fritzsch: Nuremberg at War . Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-8112-0697-4 , p. 107, there were 6111 civilian Germans and in 1965 more deaths.
  6. ↑ Michael Diefenbacher, Wiltrud Fischer-Pache: The air war against Nuremberg . Schmidt, Nürnberg 2004, ISBN 3-87707-634-3 , pp. 197 ff. And 285 ff.
  7. ^ Whereby Liebel's real possibility of influence was small; Decisions were essentially made by Holz and Wolf; see. Willy Liebel
  8. ↑ This and the previous quote: Helmut Heiber : Joseph Goebbels . Colloquium, West Berlin 1965, p. 378 f. Reprinted in 1988 by dtv, Munich: ISBN 3-423-01095-7
  9. ^ Fritz Nadler: I saw how Nuremberg went under , Fränkische Verlagsanstalt und Buchdruckerei, Nuremberg 1955, p. 112.
  10. ↑ In the jargon of the time: "cracked".
  11. ^ Robert Fritzsch: Nuremberg in the war . Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-8112-0697-4 , p. 98.
  12. ↑ Walter Kempowski: Das Echolot - Abgesang '45 , 3rd edition. Knaus, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-8135-0249-X , p. 52.
  13. ^ Robert Fritzsch: Nuremberg in the war . Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-8112-0697-4 , p. 94.
  14. ^ Robert Fritzsch: Nuremberg in War , p. 100.
  15. ↑ Because the Wehrmacht has never been superior to the American units in terms of mass or material since the Ardennes offensive, but nevertheless sought this form of conflict that would lead to defeat.
  16. ^ Robert Fritzsch: Nuremberg in the war . Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-8112-0697-4 , p. 100.
  17. ^ Ordinance on the reintroduction of normal time in the winter of 1944/45 of September 4, 1944, RGBl. I, p. 198.
  18. ↑ Der Spiegel : Uncle Valerian: The Voice in the Bunker , October 3, 2007, loaded on September 20, 2018
  19. ^ Bayerischer Rundfunk : Leben in Trümmern , dated April 9, 2015, loaded on September 20, 2018
  20. ↑ Michael Diefenbacher, Wiltrud Fischer-Pache: The air war against Nuremberg . Schmidt, Nürnberg 2004, ISBN 3-87707-634-3 , p. 381 f.
  21. ^ Fritz Nadler: I saw how Nuremberg went under , Fränkische Verlagsanstalt and Buchdruckerei, Nuremberg 1955, p. 104.
  22. ^ Robert Fritzsch: Nuremberg in the war . Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-8112-0697-4 , p. 89.
  23. ^ Fritz Nadler: I saw how Nuremberg went under , Fränkische Verlagsanstalt und Buchdruckerei, Nuremberg 1955, p. 129.
  24. ↑ For this and the previous paragraph: Fritz Nadler: I saw how Nuremberg went under , Fränkische Verlagsanstalt und Buchdruckerei, Nuremberg 1955, p. 133 f.
  25. ^ Fritz Nadler: I saw how Nuremberg went under , Fränkische Verlagsanstalt and Buchdruckerei, Nuremberg 1955, p. 131.
  26. ↑ The cause of death determined by the court in 1956 was suicide.
  27. ↑ Walter Kempowski: Das Echolot - Abgesang '45 , 3rd edition. Knaus, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-8135-0249-X , p. 51.
  28. ^ US newsreel with pictures of Nuremberg and the Victory Parade
  29. ↑ Fritz Nadler: I saw Nuremberg go under . Franconian publishing house and printing house, Nuremberg 1955, p. 133
  30. ↑ Fritz Nadler: I saw Nuremberg go under . Franconian publishing house and printing house, Nuremberg 1955, p. 133
  31. ↑ On the sections from April 17, 1945: Robert Fritzsch: Nürnberg im Krieg . Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-8112-0697-4 , p. 98 ff. And Michael Diefenbacher, Wiltrud Fischer-Pache: The air war against Nuremberg . Schmidt, Nürnberg 2004, ISBN 3-87707-634-3 , p. 380 ff.
  32. ↑ On this entire paragraph: Walter Kempowski : Das Echolot - Abgesang '45 . 3. Edition. Knaus, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-8135-0249-X , p. 52.
  33. ^ Robert Fritzsch: Nuremberg in the war . Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-8112-0697-4 , p. 105.
  34. ↑ Michael Diefenbacher, Wiltrud Fischer-Pache: The air war against Nuremberg . Schmidt, Nürnberg 2004, ISBN 3-87707-634-3 , p. 289.