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

[Jredbaron96]

Anyways, I skimmed through some of the books I have and didn't find any mention of some German cities being spared due to emotional or personal reasons.

It's possible that personal sentiment seeped into somewhere among the staff of Bomber Command, and maybe someone here has a story to tell, but as far as I can tell what German cities weren't bombed were due to various factors including logistics, strategy, and time.

 

[HK.227]

@ 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?

It's a possibility.
When the English manipulated Germany into sending V1 rockets against South London instead of Central London, it was supposedly because they wanted to save the cultural heritage of Central London.
Seems kinda crazy today to let the enemy kill your poor people in order to save some marble, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was true.
If so, it would indicate a serious desire for preservation which might also have extended to German cultural valuables. It certainly seem to have been the case for parts of Italy.

 

[Rumpel]

as far as I can tell what German cities weren't bombed were due to various factors including logistics, strategy, and time.

So it is. All those legends are just that: legends.
And like urban legends they are believed. There is always "the friend of a friend" whose grandfather claimed to have seen of of those legendary leaflets.

 

[Rumpel]

Anyways, I skimmed through some of the books I have and didn't find any mention of some German cities being spared due to emotional or personal reasons.

One can find some optimistic rumours to that effect - but no really true examples.

 

[Rumpel]

I was born in Baden-Baden shortly after the war and my mother told me later as a child that instead of bombs the allied planes had dropped leaflets saying that Baden-Baden would be saved.

But no such leaflets ever existed.

 

[Rumpel]

It certainly seem to have been the case for parts of Italy.

Here is a thread on the Italian topic:

Not really; they just didn’t go out of their way to attack places of minimal military value, which included for instance the historic centres of Venice, Florence and Rome (which was also afforded some protection against area bombing by the presence of the neutral Vatican in the city centre), while in many places industry and transport facilities were located some way from the bits that tourists go to see (and the tourists are still complaining about the long walk from the station and its scruffy precincts). The historic centres of Bologna, Milan and Turin were all seriously damaged as were most significant port cities (Venice proper had the fortune to be very well separated from most of its industrial area of Mestre, which was heavily attacked). And of course there were instances of deliberate targetting of specific sites for ground support, such as the (as it happened, quite unnecessary and counterproductive) bombing of the Abbey of Monte Cassino.

Is it true that during WW2, the Allies paid attention to not bombing landmarks and art cities in Italy?

Answer (1 of 4): I’d say no. Many art cities could be spared thanks to their insignificant strategical position, or the minuscule presence of industries. Milano, the main industrial city of Italy, was heavily bombed. Even if the main targets were the industries in the outskirts of the town, the ...

www.quora.com

 

[Lycanthrope]

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.

Sure, but it's still an emotional decision isn't it? Not wanting to rouse the emotions of the ememy?

 

[Decypher]

It's a possibility.
When the English manipulated Germany into sending V1 rockets against South London instead of Central London, it was supposedly because they wanted to save the cultural heritage of Central London.
Seems kinda crazy today to let the enemy kill your poor people in order to save some marble, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was true.
If so, it would indicate a serious desire for preservation which might also have extended to German cultural valuables. It certainly seem to have been the case for parts of Italy.

The Ponte Vecchio in Florence was the only bridge not blown up by the retreating German forces due, according to legend, to an express order by Hitler to save it.

 

[Rumpel]

Here is this legend again:

Why Adolf Hitler never destroyed Ponte Vecchio?​

The gallery to the west of the Vasari Corridor was carved out for the Führer by Benito Mussolini. By removing the three original center windows of Ponte Vecchio bridge forms a terrace for Adolf Hitler to view the beauty of Florence on 9th of May 1938. Hitler liked what he saw and ordered the retreating German army in 1944 not to harm the bridge when trying to stop the advance of the allied forces. They tore down the buildings on either side of the bridge instead! The man behind this was Gerhard Wolf, the serving consul in Florence who declared an honorary citizen of Florence in 1955 and 2007 a marble plaque dedicated to him at Ponte Vecchio.

Historical Things You Might Not Know about Ponte Vecchio

Welcome to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. We are going to list some of the facts about Ponte Vecchio Florence to pique your interest and make your visit to it more fruitful and fun experience. We will also tell you where and what to do at the Ponte Vecchio to make sure you enjoy your visit. This...

www.trip.com

And:

Thanks to his ” diplomatic ” work, Gerard Wolf managed to save the Ponte Vecchio making only undermine the streets close to the old bridge. Thanks to his artistic soul Florence still has this wonderful bridge well known all over the world.

The Ponte Vecchio Guardian, Gerhard Wolf

The Ponte Vecchio Guardian, Gerhard Wolf. Often the history has holes on how the events occurred and why they occurred remains hidden behind the importance of the moment. This story tells how a man was able

news.italy-museum.com

Maybe it's true ......

 

[Juin]

Here is this legend again:

Historical Things You Might Not Know about Ponte Vecchio

Welcome to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. We are going to list some of the facts about Ponte Vecchio Florence to pique your interest and make your visit to it more fruitful and fun experience. We will also tell you where and what to do at the Ponte Vecchio to make sure you enjoy your visit. This...

www.trip.com

And:

The Ponte Vecchio Guardian, Gerhard Wolf

The Ponte Vecchio Guardian, Gerhard Wolf. Often the history has holes on how the events occurred and why they occurred remains hidden behind the importance of the moment. This story tells how a man was able

news.italy-museum.com

Maybe it's true ......

And maybe the mother of them all.

"Brennt Paris?", Hitler demands of his Military Governor of Paris Gen Dietrich von Choltitz. Is Paris Burning? The dictator wanted to know.

Gen Cholititz had been specifically appointed military governor of Paris specifically to oversee some spectacular fireworks. Choltitz appeared to be a far cry from the dictator's conception of a hard as Krupp Steel General. Choltitz appeared to convolse into a state of nervous crisis and indecision. At the first opportunity he surrendered and faded into history. To the relief of the City of Lights, I imagine

 

[Rumpel]

And maybe the mother of them all.

"Brennt Paris?", Hitler demands of his Military Governor of Paris Gen Dietrich von Choltitz. Is Paris Burning? The dictator wanted to know.

The Germans then did not burn Paris, after all.

With the arrival of Allied troops on the edge of the city at dawn the next day on the 24th, Choltitz made the decision not to destroy the city, and on 25 August, surrendered the German garrison, not to the Supreme Allied Command, but rather to representatives of the provisional government, the Free French.[10] Because Hitler's directive was not carried out, Choltitz is often seen as the "Saviour of Paris".

Dietrich von Choltitz - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Juin]

The Germans then did not burn Paris, after all.

Correct. Hitler was unable to. At that point that fellow had become an all around danger to all, including Germany and Germans. He had orders out to Albert Speer and others to destroy Germany's basic infrastructure. The consequences on Germany and Germans? His reply could hardly have been comforting to the long suffering Germans. According to the dictator the worthy were already dead, those still alive were not worth it. Something to that effect.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

@ 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've heard of them but I'm unsure as to how solid that reasoning was because Dresden wasn't spared and that city was responsible for some of Germany's greatest art.
My older brother has one of the family heirlooms, a delicate Dresden ceramic framed mirror made circa 1906, which survived two world wars and generations after.
The factory where it was made no longer exists, it was bombed into rubble.
I'm sorry I don't have a photo of it handy, and I tried to do a Google search for "Dresden ceramic framed mirror" and was unable to even find one as intricately made as ours.
Some of the tiny floral elements around the frame are almost as thin as paper.

 

[Rumpel]

In the case of Baden-Baden it is quite likely that de Gaulle wanted this town as his military headquarters in Germany.
French, Russians, and the British had always liked this town and had made it an international resort.
The French had built an opera house and a Casino there, the British had added golfing, tennis, and horse-racing, and the Russians had built an Orthodox Church there.
And the Old Romans had founded the town as a recreation resort for the army officers of their legions.
So Baden-Baden had been more of an elegant French-British-Russian upperclass town than than an ordinary normal German town.

 

[Rumpel]

Correct. Hitler was unable to. At that point that fellow had become an all around danger to all, including Germany and Germans. He had orders out to Albert Speer and others to destroy Germany's basic infrastructure. The consequences on Germany and Germans? His reply could hardly have been comforting to the long suffering Germans. According to the dictator the worthy were already dead, those still alive were not worth it. Something to that effect.

Yes, Hitler was completely mad in the end.

 

[Manc Skipper]

But no such leaflets ever existed.

Propaganda leaflets were certainly dropped by both sides, but i suspect you are correct that none "sparing " a city were ever produced.

Propaganda leaflets

During the life of the project the team has seen some propaganda leaflets dropped by the Germans on the British and two British leaflets dropped on the Germans. British leaflets dropped on the Germans Propaganda leaflet – Warnung S1/2 Prime Minister’s Broadcast Copy of the British ‘propaganda’...

nfknowledge.org

 

[HK.227]

The Ponte Vecchio in Florence was the only bridge not blown up by the retreating German forces due, according to legend, to an express order by Hitler to save it.

That's what the locals say. I stayed in an Airbnb literally within 100 feet of it when I visited in 2017. Old Florence is an incredible place.
(Of course, like the cretin I am, I recognized more places from playing Assassin's Creed 2 and watching the "Hannibal" movie with Anthony Hopkins than from any actual cultural education on my part...)

 

[Decypher]

That's what the locals say. I stayed in an Airbnb literally within 100 feet of it when I visited in 2017. Old Florence is an incredible place.
(Of course, like the cretin I am, I recognized more places from playing Assassin's Creed 2 and watching the "Hannibal" movie with Anthony Hopkins than from any actual cultural education on my part...)

I was there in 1999 when I was student, inter-railing around Europe with my girlfriend. She was studying Art History so she knew all the Medicis and the Uffizi Gallery. I had seen A Room with A View which is set around that historical bit from the Medici Palace to the bridge.

 

[mrjurrs]

Sure, but it's still an emotional decision isn't it? Not wanting to rouse the emotions of the ememy?

I interpreted the thread as being an emotional decision made by the attacker?

 

[Lycanthrope]

I interpreted the thread as being an emotional decision made by the attacker?

I took it as two sides of the same coin - an attacker taking a target off the potential list due to emotional reasons on their end, or to prevent negative emotions from the enemy or the world community. Either decision is motivated by emotion.

 

[mrjurrs]

I took it as two sides of the same coin - an attacker taking a target off the potential list due to emotional reasons on their end, or to prevent negative emotions from the enemy or the world community. Either decision is motivated by emotion.

I disagree. Emotions play a minimal (or nonexistent) part of military strategy. Degrading the will of the enemy to fight is not an emotional decision imo.

 

[Lycanthrope]

I disagree. Emotions play a minimal (or nonexistent) part of military strategy. Degrading the will of the enemy to fight is not an emotional decision imo.

Emotions played a role in the decision not to drop the atomic bomb on Kyoto, however - American military leaders predicted that doing so would invoke a viscerally negative emotional reaction from the world and therefore hinder the US war effort against Japan.

 

[Hari Seldon]

There was no sentimentality toward Dresden. My ex-mother-in-law told me about it and the way she described it it sounded like the whole city was like some elaborate Baroque cuckoo clock. There were POWs there, too, but the Allies firebombed it anyway.

First thought that came to my mind as well.

 

[Rumpel]

First thought that came to my mind as well.

Beautiful Dresden before its destruction at the end of WWII in color: Watch and weep!​

 

[Rumpel]