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The 'Terror bombing of Rotterdam' was the terror bombing of the city of Rotterdam by the German Airforce on 14 May 1940, during the German invasion of the Netherlands with the objective to force the Dutch to surrender.

Contents

Prelude

Battle for Rotterdam

The bombing

Result

References

Further reading

Footnotes

Prelude

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.

Battle for Rotterdam

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)
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.

The bombing

Schmidt used the pending distruction 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 ( Battle Wing 54) arrived over the city.
The German forces in the city fired flares in an alleged attempt to warn the bombers off but the aircraft ignored them and started dropping down to low level were 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 pilots allegedly 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, 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]

Result

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 were 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]

References

★ Among the Dead Cities, , A. C., Grayling, Walker Publishing Company Inc, 2006, 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. Vindicated"'' G. Bles, 1944. ASIN: B0007IVW7K (Spaight was Principal Assistant Secretary of the Air Ministry (U.K)

Further reading

★ Military Operations > 1940: Germans occupy Holland (official Dutch website)
;Pictures

★ Pictures of Rotterdam after the Blitz

★ Pictures of the 2007 commemoration

Footnotes

1. E.R Hooton, ''Luftwaffe at War; Blitzkrieg in the West.'' London: Chervron/Ian Allen. ISBN 978-1-85780-272-6
2. L. Elfferich, ''Rotterdam werd verraden.'' Abcoude: Uniepers, 1990
3. Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, by dr. L. de Jong.
4. ''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
5. President Franklin D. Roosevelt Appeal against aerial bombardment of civilian populations, 1 September, 1939
6. Taylor References Chapter "Call Me Meier", Page 105
7. A.C. Grayling, ''Among the Dead Cities'' (Bloomsbury 2006), Page 24.
8. Taylor References Chapter "Call Me Meier", Page 111