the legends that some German cities were spared from bombing in WWII for some emotional reasons

[Grand Mal]

“The advocates of nuclear disarmament seem to believe that, if they could achieve their aim, war would become tolerable and decent. They would do well to read this book and ponder the fate of Dresden, where 135,000 people died as the result of an air attack with conventional weapons.”

From Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut

From what I read it was pretty indefensible, like an act of vandalism on a grand, heroic scale.

 

[BitterPill]

@ the legends that some German cities (Heidelberg, Baden-Baden etc ....) were spared from bombing in WWII for some emotional reasons or other .....

those legends exist in Germany

Have you ever heard of them?
Do you think they are true?

I haven't heard of any German cities being spared bombing for an emotional reason, but I'm not saying it couldn't be true. I just need to see some evidence:

There is, however, evidence that Kyoto was spared nuclear attack as @Lycanthrope points out, but that appears to be a result of Henry Stimson's, US Secretary of War, personal intervention.

The horrors of World War II air war, in one stark map

Despite Göring's assurances that they wouldn't get through, Allied bombers rained destruction on Germany in World War II.

bigthink.com

 

[bomberfox]

I mean deciding to spare a city for emotional reasons is at least a consideration that usually isnt made when your enemy has engaged in totalikrieg. Dresden… well is simply an outcome of a beligerant nation willing to fight to the last German…. Hitler once said either Germany wins the war or it doesnt deserve to exist. I used to think Dresden was a horrible crime but when taken in context of the nazi regime which was willing to eliminate whole peoples and sacrifice every single last German to achieve said end.

World war 2 should more accurately be called the war against humanity.

 

[Bok Tuklo]

From what I read it was pretty indefensible, like an act of vandalism on a grand, heroic scale.

I’ve read The Devil’s Tinderbox, and I am sympathetic to the concept that “war crime” is a tautology, but if there is such a thing, the bombing of Dresden would qualify.

 

[Jredbaron96]

“The advocates of nuclear disarmament seem to believe that, if they could achieve their aim, war would become tolerable and decent. They would do well to read this book and ponder the fate of Dresden, where 135,000 people died as the result of an air attack with conventional weapons.”

From Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut

The bombing didn't even kill half that.

 

[SMTA]

I have heard of some of those legends - and wonder what you think about them

They all should have been bombed

 

[Rumpel]

@ those leaflets that rained on Baden-Baden

according to legend, they had this German rhyme:
"Baden-Baden wollen wir schonen,
da werden wir später wohnen!"

In English:
"We intend to spare Baden-Baden,
for we'll live there after the war."

Or as a rhyme:
"Baden-Baden we'll spare,
we are going to live there!"

So my mother told me.

Later I read, that the Americans dropped leaflets over Heidelberg, saying:
"Heidelberg wollen wir schonen,
da werden wir später wohnen!"

Then I asked myself who had copied from whom .......

 

[Grand Mal]

They all should have been bombed

There were POW's in Dresden when the city was firebombed to the foundations.

 

[Rumpel]

Now I wonder if there are legends that say that the Soviets dropped leaflets on Berlin,
saying:
"Berlin wollen wir schonen,
da werden wir später wohnen!"

Or if the British dropped leaflets, saying:
"Bad Oeynhausen wollen wir schonen,
da werden wir später wohnen!"

 

[Rumpel]

And now the facts:
None of those legendary leaflets were ever dropped.
None of them ever existed.

 

[Rumpel]

Heidelberg, Berlin, Bad Oeynhausen, and Baden-Baden were the capitals of the military zones of the US, the Soviets, the British, the French.
Now I wonder who should have dropped leaflets on Baden-Baden - as the French had no bomber planes as far as I know.

 

[Rumpel]

Kyoto was considered as a potential target for the atomic bomb by the US military in WWII but was ultimately removed from consideration because it viewed by some as a cultural center of Japan.

.... was considered as a potential target for the atomic bomb by the US military in WWII

Heidelberg was considered as an atomic bomb target as it was not destroyed yet - but the atomic bomb was not ready yet.

 

[Rumpel]

I lived in Heidelberg for a dozen years starting from the mid 1960s and this was common knowledge and even taught in school at Heidelberg American Elementary School, which I attended. At the time, our family employed a German maid who stated that months before the war ended that several planes dropped paper notices notifying residents that the city would be spared as it would become the seat of the US Military post-war. I subsequently heard this same story from several other elderly Germans. After the war it held numerous commands.

Were any German cities spared by the Allies for personal or idiosyncratic reasons?

Histories of the bombing campaign against German cities in WW2 often mention that German civilians towards the end of war were prey to fantastical rumours that such-and-such a city "is being s...

history.stackexchange.com

This legend is told again and again.

But still it is only a legend.

 

[Rumpel]

Leaflets were mostly used this way:

Airborne leaflet propaganda is a form of psychological warfare in which leaflets (flyers) are scattered in the air.

Military forces have used aircraft to drop leaflets to attempt to alter the behavior of combatants and non-combatants in enemy-controlled territory, sometimes in conjunction with air strikes. Humanitarian air missions, in cooperation with leaflet propaganda, can turn the populace against their leadership while preparing them for the arrival of enemy combatants.

Airborne leaflet propaganda - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[bongsaway]

@ the legends that some German cities (Heidelberg, Baden-Baden etc ....) were spared from bombing in WWII for some emotional reasons or other .....

those legends exist in Germany

Have you ever heard of them?
Do you think they are true?

I do not believe it to be true. There may have been some cities not bombed for other reasons but not because of emotion. It's a war and when your buddy next to you gets shot in the head, the war becomes personal and all idealism flies out the window and revenge takes over because now you're pissed.

 

[venice_ca]

I knew a German man who had been a boy during the war, and lived through the bombing raids — (sorry, I don’t know where in Germany).

He claimed that while the nearby railroads were bombed, the Ford plant was unharmed. He implied that the bombing raids spared targets in which the Allies had a financial interest.

True, or legend? I have no idea.

 

[Rumpel]

I do not believe it to be true. There may have been some cities not bombed for other reasons but not because of emotion

So it seems to be.

 

[Rumpel]

Real British leaflets that were dropped over Germany:

Perhaps you are asking what all this has to do with Great Britain? It concerns us because we have given our word of honour to defend Poland against attack. Why did we regard it as necessary to undertake the defence of this Eastern European State when after all our interests lie in the West and your Leader has said he has no interests in the West? The answer is – I am afraid I must say it – nobody in Great Britain places any further faith whatsoever in the word of your Führer. He gave his word to respect the Locarno Pact; he broke it. He gave his word that he would not annex Austria and had no intention of doing so; he broke it. He declared he would not incorporate any Czechs in the Reich; yet he did so. After Munich he gave his word that he had no further territorial claims in Europe. He broke it. He has sworn to you for years that he is the mortal enemy of Bolshevism; today he is its ally.

Can you be surprised that for us his word is not worth the paper it is written on.

The German-Russian Pact was a cynical somersault, that aimed at shattering the Peace Front against aggression. This gamble has failed. The Peace Front stands fast. Now your Leader sacrifices you, the German People, to the even more preposterous gamble of a war in order to find for himself a way out of the impossible position into which he has led himself and you.

In this war we are fighting not against you, not against the German people, against whom we cherish no bitter feelings; we are fighting against a tyrannical and perjured regime that has betrayed not only its own people but the whole Western culture and everything that is dear to you and us.

God defend the right.

https://nfknowledge.org/contributions/propaganda-leaflets/

 

[Rumpel]

Here is a real leaflet from Air Marshal Harris:

You have no chance. You couldn't beat us in 1940 when we were alone and unarmed. Your leaders were so crazy to attack Russia and America (but your leaders ARE crazy — the whole world knows, except Italy). How can you hope for a win now that we are getting stronger with Russia and America while you are running out of strength? No, you have no chance.

* * *

Don't forget one thing: however far your armies advance, they can never get to England. They couldn't come here when we were unarmed. They can conquer as much as they want but they still have to fight the air war with us and the Americans. You can never win it — but we are already winning it.

One last word:

It's up to you to end war and the bombing. Overthrow the Nazis and you have peace! It is not true that we are planning a vengeful peace; that is a German propaganda lie. But we will certainly make it impossible for any German government to start a total war again. Isn't that just as much your interest as ours?

AT Harris
Air Marshal
RAF

the beginning in German:

Noch nie hat der Mann, der die Bombenangriffe auf ein Land leitet, eine Botschaft an die Bevölkerung dieses Landes gerichtet.
Ich, Luftmarschall Harris, Oberbefehlshaber des britischen Kampfflugzeuge, die Deutschland angreifen, habe mich entschlossen, diese Botschaft an das deutsche Volk zu richten.

=

No one directing the bombing of a country has ever sent a message to the people of that country.
I, Air Marshal Harris, Commander-in-Chief of the British military aircraft attacking Germany, have decided to send this message to the German people

 

[Rumpel]

A series of real leaflets:

Notes:

American propaganda leaflet that was dropped on fighting German troops. The front tells the soldiers that anyone who is fighting still, Is actually fighting against Germany since the NSDAP party has done nothing to help them. The back is a questionnaire that could be filled out by captured soldiers to be delivered to the International Red Cross in Geneva.

Data Provider:Western Michigan University. LibrariesCollection:World War II Propaganda Collections

Language: ger / Topic: Leaflets dropped from aircraft--United States - Detroit Housewives League - Michigan Memories Search Results

michmemories.org

 

[Rumpel]

GERMAN LEAFLETS IN WORLD WAR II​

Toward the end of World War II, Germany dropped millions of propaganda leaflets on enemy lines to encourage troops to surrender. Some of these leaflets were tailored to African American soldiers and suggested they would be treated better as German prisoners of war than as citizens in their own country.

Nazi Germany was not known for its fair treatment of people of African descent, or any persons who weren’t Aryan. Black people were frequently vilified and deemed uncivilized in Nazi propaganda. Yet, Germany was willing to use any tactics necessary to avoid defeat, including highlighting American racism, to exploit existing tensions within the U.S. military.

https://libapps.salisbury.edu/nabb-online/exhibits/show/propaganda/racism-and-equality/german-leaflets-in-world-war-ii

Curious ......

 

[Allan]

@ the legends that some German cities (Heidelberg, Baden-Baden etc ....) were spared from bombing in WWII for some emotional reasons or other .....

those legends exist in Germany

Have you ever heard of them?
Do you think they are true?

Dresden, considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world, strongly disagrees.

 

[LouC]

LOL So the dead are going to rise up in the bombed cities to attack the unbombed ones? The U.S Govt. was counting on a zombie apocalypse?

 

[Parrish]

My husband's family's home was Berlin. They are no more.

 

[mrjurrs]

I voted in the affirmative, only because in war targets are often selected or avoided for emotional reasons.

Kyoto was considered as a potential target for the atomic bomb by the US military in WWII but was ultimately removed from consideration because it viewed by some as a cultural center of Japan.

I would suggest that your example, and many other skipped targets, were strategic decisions. Destruction of some targets would increase the enemies will to fight.