Rotterdam Blitz
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The Blitzing of Rotterdam by the German Luftwaffe on 14 May 1940, during the Battle of the Netherlands in the initial phases of World War II, led to the surrender of the Dutch army.
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[edit] The situation on the ground
The situation in Rotterdam on the morning of 13 May 1940, was one of stalemate. The Dutch garrison forces under the command of Colonel Scharroo securely held the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas River, which runs through the city. On the south bank were the remnants of the German airborne forces of General Student, who had been facing the Dutch since 10 May, and the newly arrived ground forces under General Schmidt (based on the 9th Panzer Division and the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, a motorized SS regiment). A Dutch counterattack led by the marine regiment had failed to re-capture the Willemsbrug road bridge, the key crossing over the Nieuwe Maas River. A last gasp effort by the Dutch air force to destroy the bridge had also failed. Schmidt had planned for a combined assault the next day, 14 May. The tanks of the 9th Panzer would attempt to drive right over the Willemsbrug and an adjacent rail bridge, 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 Schmidt had secured the support of the Luftwaffe in the form of a gruppe (about 25 aircraft) of Ju-87 Stuka dive-bombers.
[edit] The command situation
The command situation in the German HQ on May 13 was confused. Schmidt's newly established XXXIX Corps was to control all ground operations, but Student remained in overall command, and also controlled all air operations. Schmidt's request for air support had to go through Student's HQ. On the evening of May 13 Student met with a Luftwaffe officer who had flown out to his HQ at Rijsoord to settle the details of the air bombardment the next day. There are no surviving documents to indicate what those details were. After the war, Lackner indicated that Student had requested a Bombenteppich, or a carpet bombing attack. Instead of the pin-point tactical support delivered by the Stukas, a massed attack by He-111 medium bombers was put in place. This change could only have come from the top levels of the Luftwaffe command, possibly by Student himself in conjunction with Goering, and thus bypassing General Kesselring, Student's rival, but technically superior commander.
[edit] The Bombing
Before launching his attack, Schmidt attempted to get Scharroo to surrender the city without a fight. Scharroo saw no immediate reason 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 and requested a delay in the aerial attack. However, just as the Dutch negotiator was crossing over the Willemsbrug to relay this information, the drone of many heavy bombers was heard. A total of 90 bombers from squadron KG54 arrived over the city at the old start time and at least 57 dropped their full load of bombs (according to German sources, consisting of 158×250 kg and 1150×50 kg bombs). Why the formation had not received the abort mission order sooner remains controversial.
Although exact numbers are not known, it is estimated that between 800 and 900 people were killed in the raid and some 70,000 people were made homeless. Around 1 square mile (2.6 square kilometres) of the city were almost completely leveled. 24,978 homes, 24 churches, 2,320 stores, 775 warehouses and 62 schools were destroyed.[1]
[edit] Result
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.
When 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.[2] The French and the British agreed to abide by the request which included in the provision that "upon the understanding that these same rules of warfare will be scrupulously observed by all of their opponents".[3]
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. While 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.[4] 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 that at night were self illuminating. The first RAF raid on the interior of Germany took place on the night of 15 May - 16 May.[5]
[edit] Further reading
- Military Operations > 1940: Germans occupy Holland (official Dutch website)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ 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
