Rotterdam Blitz – May 14, 1940

Today, 67 years ago, a part of the city was erased by the bombardment on Rotterdam.

The situation in Rotterdam on the morning of May 13, 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 May 10, 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 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, May 14. The 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 secured the support of the Luftwaffe in the form of a gruppe (about 25 aircraft) of Ju-87 Stuka dive-bombers.

Before launching his attack, Gen. Schmidt attempted to get Col. Scharroo to surrender the city without a fight. Col. Scharroo saw no immediate reason to surrender, and stretched out negotiations. The original start time for the attack had been set for 13:20. Gen. 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 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 craft 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. Some believe that the red flares, which the Germans claimed were meant to signal abort mission but which the pilots allegedly failed to see, were in fact used by the Germans to show their location in the city. This was common practice and was done to avoid friendly fire. Supposedly the bombing was all part of the plan or the revenge of Marshal Goering for the loss of planes which he had suffered during the attack on the Netherlands. The Germans afterwards blamed the Dutch for this outcome.

Although exact numbers are not known, it is estimated that between 800 and 900 people were killed in the 10 minute raid and some 80,000 people were made homeless. Around 1 square mile (2.6 square kilometres) of the city were almost completely levelled. 25,000 homes, 24 churches, 2,320 stores, 775 warehouses and 62 schools were destroyed.

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.

In remembrance a light-project can be seen tonight, consisting of 130 light beams and stretching some 12 km in the former medieval part of town. In 1953 the statue “The Destroyed City” by Ossip Zadkine was revealed, a person in despair without a heart, just as the city was robbed of its medieval heart.