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Rotterdam Blitz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The bombing of Rotterdam refer to the aerial bombardment of the city of Rotterdam by the German Airforce on 14 May 1940, during the German invasion of the Netherlands with the objective to support the German ground troops fighting in the city, and thus ultimately to force the Dutch to surrender. The event was displayed as a terror bombing by contemporary Allied press, a belief that still shared by many.
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The Germans attacked the neutral Netherlands on May 10th 1940, their initial advance was one of great speed, smashing through the Dutch border defenses with relative ease. However, on May 14th, the Dutch (despite lacking tanks, modern equipment or airplanes) had halted the German advance at the country's core region of Fortress Holland.
The situation in Rotterdam on the morning of 13 May 1940, was one of a stalemate. The Dutch garrison forces under the command of Colonel Scharroo held the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas River, which runs through the city, and prevented the Germans (consisting of German airborne forces of General Student, and the newly arrived ground forces under General Schmidt (based on the 9th Panzer Division and the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, a motorized "SS" regiment) from crossing.
A Dutch counterattack led by a Dutch marine regiment had failed to re-capture the Willemsbrug road bridge, the key crossing over the river. A last gasp effort by the Dutch air force to destroy the bridge had also failed.
Gen. Schmidt had planned for a combined assault the next day, 14 May, using tanks of the 9th Panzer supported by flame throwers and combat engineers. The SS were to make an amphibious crossing of the river farther upstream and then make a flank attack through the Kralingen district. The attack was to be preceded by a massive artillery bombardment, while Gen. Schmidt had requested the support of the Luftwaffe in the form of a gruppe (about 25 aircraft) of Ju-87 Stuka precision dive-bombers.
However, General Student was the one in overall command, and also controlled all air operations. Schmidt's request for air support had to go through Student's HQ, and instead of the precision bombers, Student requested a carpet bombing attack and had replaced the Stukas, by a massed attack by Heinkel He 111 bombers.
Schmidt used the pending destruction of Rotterdam to force Colonel Scharroo to surrender the city without a fight. Scharroo refused to surrender, and stretched out negotiations. The original start time for the attack had been set for 13:20. Schmidt postponed this to 16:20. However, just as the Dutch negotiator was crossing over the Willemsbrug to relay this information, the drone of heavy bombers was heard.
A total of 90 bombers from Kampfgeschwader 54 (54th Bomber Regiment) were sent over the city. The German forces in the city fired flares in an attempt to warn the bombers off but only 33 bombers had seen the signals and turned back; the rest proceeded with their attack, dropping down to low level where they released 97 tonnes of bombs, mostly in the heart of the city. Some bombs ignited vegetable oil tanks on the dock side, the resulting fires spread into the city centre[1]. Why the formation had not received the abort mission order sooner remains controversial. The red flare, which the Germans claimed was meant to signal abort mission but which the most of the pilots failed to see, is said to have been used by the Germans to show their location in the city to avoid friendly fire rather than avoid the bombing at all; some argue that this is backed up by the fact that the German troops firing the flare were unaware of the time the bombers would attack, let alone that a ceasefire was set in effect.[2][3] However, this argument fails to answer as to why then about one-third of the German bombers turned back before the attack.
Although exact numbers are not known, it is estimated that between 800 and 900 people were killed in the raid and some 80,000 people were made homeless. Around 1 square mile (2.6 square kilometres) of the city was almost completely levelled. 24,978 homes, 24 churches, 2,320 stores, 775 warehouses and 62 schools were destroyed.[4]
Rotterdam was meant as an example, as Germany threatened to bomb a number of other Dutch cities. The Dutch Army had no means of stopping the bombers (the Dutch Air Force was practically non-existent at this point in the war), and therefore the Dutch government decided to capitulate rather than suffer multiple repeats of the casualties at Rotterdam.
As World War II began in 1939, the president of the United States (then a neutral power), Franklin D. Roosevelt, issued a request to the major belligerents to confine their air raids to military targets.[5] The French and the British agreed to abide by the request which included the provision that "upon the understanding that these same rules of warfare will be scrupulously observed by all of their opponents".[6]
The United Kingdom had a policy of using aerial bombing only against military targets and against infrastructure such as ports and railways which were of direct military importance. Whilst it was acknowledged that the aerial bombing of Germany would cause civilian casualties, the British government renounced the deliberate bombing of civilian property, outside combat zones, as a military tactic.[7] This policy was abandoned on May 15, 1940, two days after the "Rotterdam Blitz", when the RAF was given permission to attack targets in the Ruhr, including oil plants and other civilian industrial targets which aided the German war effort, such as blast furnaces which at night were self-illuminating. The first RAF raid on the interior of Germany took place on the night of 15 May - 16 May.[8]
- Grayling, A. C. (2006). Among the Dead Cities. New York: Walker Publishing Company Inc. ISBN 0-8027-1471-4.
- Taylor, Frederick; Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945, NY: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-000676-5; London: Bloomsbury, ISBN 0-7475-7078-7.
- Spaight. James M. "Bombing Vindicated" G. Bles, 1944. ASIN: B0007IVW7K (Spaight was Principal Assistant Secretary of the Air Ministry (U.K)
- Military Operations > 1940: Germans occupy Holland (official Dutch website)
- Google Earth overlay of the area destroyed in the Blitz
- Pictures
- ^ E.R Hooton, Luftwaffe at War; Blitzkrieg in the West. London: Chervron/Ian Allen. ISBN 978-1-85780-272-6
- ^ L. Elfferich, Rotterdam werd verraden. Abcoude: Uniepers, 1990
- ^ Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, by dr. L. de Jong.
- ^ Van Nul to Nu Deel 3-De vaderlandse geschiedenis van 1815 tot 1940 Page 42, Square 2- by Thom Roep and Co Loerakker ISBN 90 5425 098 4
- ^ President Franklin D. Roosevelt Appeal against aerial bombardment of civilian populations, 1 September 1939
- ^ Taylor References Chapter "Call Me Meier", Page 105
- ^ A.C. Grayling, Among the Dead Cities (Bloomsbury 2006), Page 24.
- ^ Taylor References Chapter "Call Me Meier", Page 111
