Rotterdam Blitz

Rotterdam's city center after the bombing. The heavily damaged (now restored) Laurenskerk stands out as the only remaining building reminiscent of Rotterdam's medieval architecture.

The Rotterdam Blitz refers to the aerial bombardment of Rotterdam by the German Airforce on 14 May 1940, during the German invasion of the Netherlands in World War II. The objective was to support the German troops fighting in the city, break Dutch resistance, and to force the Dutch to surrender.

Prelude

The Germans attacked the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. Their initial advance was fast, smashing through border defenses with ease. However, on 14 May, the Dutch (despite lacking enough tanks, equipment or airplanes) halted the advance at the core region of Fortress Holland.

Battle for Rotterdam

The situation in Rotterdam on the morning of 13 May 1940 was stalemate as it had been over the past three days. Dutch garrison forces under Colonel Scharroo held the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas River, which runs through the city, and prevented the Germans from crossing; German forces included airlanding and airborne forces of General Student and 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 company had failed to re-capture the Willemsbrug traffic bridge,^[1][2][3] the key crossing. Several efforts by the Dutch air force to destroy the bridge also failed.^[4]

On the Morning of May 14, Hitler issued his "Weisung" Nr. 11. Concerning the Dutch theatre of operations he says the following:

"The resistance capability of the Dutch army has proved to be stronger than expected. Political as well as military reasons demand that this resistance is broken as soon as possible. It is the task of the army to capture the Fortress Holland by committing enough forces from the south, combined with an attack on the east front. In addition to that the air force must, while weakening the forces that up till now have supported the 6th Army, facilitate the rapid fall of the Fortress Holland."

Gen. Schmidt had planned a combined assault the next day, 14 May, using tanks of the 9th Panzer supported by flame throwers, SS troops and combat engineers.^{[3][5][6][7][8]} The airlanding troops were to make an amphibious crossing of the river upstream and then a flank attack through the Kralingen district.^[9][10] The attack was to be preceded by 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 dive-bombers, specifically for a precession raid.^[11][12][13]

Schmidt's request for air support reached Berlin, staff of Luftflotte 2. Instead of precision bombers, Schmidt got carpet bombing by Heinkel He 111 bombers besides a Gruppe of Stuka's focussing on some strategic targets.^{[3][14][15][16][17][18]}

The bombing

Rotterdam's burning city centre after the bombing.

Schmidt used the threat of destruction of Rotterdam to attempt to force Colonel Scharroo to surrender the city without a fight. Rotterdam (also the largest industrial target in the Netherlands and of major strategic importance to the Germans) was to be bombed. Scharroo refused and stretched out negotiations. The start for the airraid had been set for 13:20 [Dutch time, MET - 1 hr 40].^[19][20][21]

Schmidt postponed a second ultimatum to 16:20.^[22][23] However, just as the Dutch negotiator was crossing the Willemsbrug to relay this information, the drone of bombers was heard: a total of 90 bombers from Kampfgeschwader 54 (54th Bomber Wing) were sent over the city.^{[3][24][25][26][27][28]}

Student radioed to postpone the planned attack, but when the message reached KG 54's command post, the Kommodore, Oberst Walter Lackner, was already approaching Rotterdam and the aircraft had reeled-in their long-range aerials. Haze and smoke obscured the target, and to ensure that Dutch defences were hit Lackner brought down his formation down to 2,300ft (700m).^[29] German forces in the city fired flares^[30] to warn the bombers off, but after 3 planes of the southern formation had already unloaded the remaining 24 from the southern bomber formation turned about; the larger formation coming from the northeast - and out of position to spot red flares launched from the south side of the city - proceeded with its attack. 54 He 111s dropping low to release 97 tonnes of bombs, mostly in the heart of the city.^{[3][31][32][33][34][35][36]}

Why the formation had not received the abort mission order sooner remains controversial. On the one hand, Oberst Lackner of the largest formation claimed that his formation was unable to spot red flares due to bad visibility caused by humidity, dense smoke of burning constructions and subsequently the necessity to decrease altitude to a mere 2,000 feet.^[37] On the other hand, the red flare, which Lackner failed to see, might have been used by the Germans to show their location in the city to avoid friendly fire, for which flare was standardly used. An official German form designating red as the colour for that purpose for that particular period proves this possibility plausible^{[clarification needed][38]}.

The bombs hit and ignited some vegetable oil tanks on the dock side, resulting in uncontrollable fires that spread into the city centre.^[39] Although exact numbers are not known, 800 to 900 people were killed and 80,000 made homeless. Around 2.6 square kilometres (1 square mile) of the city was almost levelled. 24,978 homes, 24 churches, 2,320 stores, 775 warehouses and 62 schools were destroyed.^[40] Schmidt sent a conciliatory message to the Dutch commander, who surrendered shortly afterwards.^[41]

Aftermath

Lights along the fire line memorialize the bombing of Rotterdam, 14 May 2007

The Dutch Army had no means of stopping the bombers (the Dutch Air Force was practically non-existent anymore and AAA had been moved to the Hague), so when another similar ultimatum was given in which the Germans threatened to bomb the city of Utrecht, the Dutch government decided to capitulate rather than risk the destruction of more cities.^[3][42][43]

The United Kingdom had a policy of bombing only military targets and infrastructure such as ports and railways which were of military importance^{[citation needed]}. While it was acknowledged that bombing of Germany would cause civilian casualties, the British government renounced the deliberate bombing of civilian property, outside combat zones, as a military tactic.^[44] This policy was abandoned on 15 May 1940, one day 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 15/16 May 1940.^[45]

Notes

References

• Amersfoort, H. e.a. Mei 1940 - Strijd op Nederlands grondgebied, SDU 2005, ISBN 90-12-08959-X
• Brongers, E.H. Opmars naar Rotterdam, Aspect 2004, ISBN 90-5911-269-5
• Götzel, H. Generaloberst Kurt Student und seine Fallschirmjäger, Podzun-Pallas Verlag 1980, ISBN 3-7909-131-8
• Goossens, Allert, Welcome, website of 1998-2008 Stichting Kennispunt Mei 1940, Last updated on 26 April 2009
• Grayling, A. C. (2006). Among the Dead Cities. New York: Walker Publishing Company Inc. ISBN 0-8027-1471-4. 
• Hooton, E.R (1994). Phoenix Triumphant; The Rise and Rise of the Luftwaffe. London: Arms & Armour Press. ISBN 1 86019 964 X
• Lackne, a.D. (Gen-Lt). Bericht Einsatz des KG.54 auf Rotterdam, Bundesarchiv Militärarchiv Freiburg, 1953
• Spaight. James M. "Bombing Vindicated" G. Bles, 1944. ASIN: B0007IVW7K (Spaight was Principal Assistant Secretary of the Air Ministry (U.K)
• Speidel, Wilhelm (General der Flieger). The campaign in Western-Europe 1939-1940, Chief of Staff Luftflotte 2 Western theatre January-October 1940, 1958 - Washington archives, K113-107-152
• Taylor, Frederick. Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945, NY: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-000676-5; London: Bloomsbury, ISBN 0-7475-7078-7.
• van der Pauw, J.L. Rotterdam in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Uitgeverij Boom 2006, ISBN 90-8506-1601
• ?. Kriegstagebuch IR.16, May 1940

Further reading

• Google Earth overlay of the area destroyed in the Blitz

Pictures

• Pictures of Rotterdam after the Blitz
• Pictures of the 2007 and 2008 commemoration by Mothership art producers

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