Were Any Upper Class Neighborhoods Bombed in WWII? (facts, kings, German)

[cushla]

Originally Posted by banger

Poor neighborhoods...rich neighborhoods....

We bombed entire cities off the face of the Earth, rich and poor alike.

Simply look at the cities of Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Tokyo, etc..

Gone simply gone.

All that said, the purpose of the bombing was first and foremost the destruction of enemy war making abilities.

Therefor, factories and industrial facilities were targeted more heavily than residential areas.

Remember, bombs, planes and fuel cost money, to say nothing of the human losses of the bomber crews themselves.

Recall, we killed more people in one night in "fire raids" on Hamburg than the dropping of the atomic weapons on Japan.

The Germans didn't discriminate either when they bombed the UK.

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by cushla

The Germans didn't discriminate either when they bombed the UK.

My mother is British and grew up during the Blitz. She lived in London's West End (Kensington to be exact) and German bombs destroyed the residenbtial blocks bracketing her house. The windows were blown out but the house was still livable. Bombs fell in Westminster, Chelsea and the City prominant places like ST Pauls Cathedral, The Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace sustained damage. The worst of the bombing was sustained by the East End and the Docklands also in the East of London.
German bombing with incendiaries created a firestorm that burned a lot of London South of the Thames. British tacticians studied this attack and used their conclusions in planning the the fire bombing raids on Hamburg and Dresden.

[Visit a Library]

Originally Posted by banger

Recall, we killed more people in one night in "fire raids" on Hamburg than the dropping of the atomic weapons on Japan.

I actually did not know that, though I can't say I'm particularly surprised.

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by banger

Recall, we killed more people in one night in "fire raids" on Hamburg than the dropping of the atomic weapons on Japan.

The fire bombing of Tokyo killed more than the atomic attacks.

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by Grandstander

Hey...just a second here. Why would the Swiss need a Navy? Aren't they supposed to be neutral?

The entire Swiss Navy was sunk in the first few hours of the war. They are still clearing the debris from Lake Constance...

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by hornet67

Also, I ,like any holder of a large bank account in Zurich, want to know my deposits are extra safe.

Give me the account number and I'll have my people in Helvetia make sure it stays safe.

[hornet67]

Originally Posted by Bideshi

Give me the account number and I'll have my people in Helvetia make sure it stays safe.

Sorry, I have forgotten the number in my anguish over learning that they actually MOVED Dresden!

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by Visit a Library

I recall reading somewhere that during the Dresden bombings, only the working class neighborhoods in Dresden were targeted, leaving the wealthy unscathed. So then, I was wondering, did any wealthy neighborhoods intentionally get bombed during WWII, or were the only civilian neighborhoods targeted occupied by the non-wealthy?

As was said earlier, the accuracy of bombers tended to be anything but accurate. "On target" could have been the equivalent of trying to bomb the Empire State Building, but hitting Wall Street.

If it helps with the theory, I know of at least one wealthy semi-suburban area that was bombed heavily as part of Operation Queen, the Allied crossing of the Rur. The City of Julich is an upper middle class suburb to the east of Aachen. At the time it had about 10k residents. The city is around 2,000 years old, but reached its peak in the middle ages. The city was ringed with Napoleon era fortifications and featured a large 16th century citadelle in the center. It was seen as a major obstacle to the Allied occupation of the Rur and was 97% destroyed by heavy bombing in the latter days of the war, the city had to that point been untouched.

I am pretty familiar with it as I spent several months there as an exchange student in high school. The city is currently alive and well and has been pretty much rebuilt with some sections being returned to their pre-WW2 architecture. The citadelle is still there and currently serves as one of the local high schools, the Gymnasium Zitadelle Julich. One section of the citadelle was preserved with bomb damage as a memorial. You can actually stand in the bomb crater where it carved a massive hole out of the citadelle's walls.

Eisenhower and a lot of other senior commanders, including Bradley and Montgomery visited the city soon after it was occupied. They had a sign posted on the main gate into the city apologizing to the people of Julich for the destruction and promising to help them rebuild.

This is the main gate then:


This is the same today:


This is a picture of Eisenhower touring the ruins of the citadelle. He is on the main bridge:


This is the same bridge today, looking from the city at the citadelle, with kids coming from school:


This forum has photos of the crossing and the ruins of the city, as well as a picture of Monty visiting the city:
From The Roer River To Julich With The US 9th Infantry, 1945 - Page 2 - World War 2 Talk

[AnnieA]

Originally Posted by cushla

The Germans didn't discriminate either when they bombed the UK.

absolutely right. What was contained in the city of London.....besides people......?

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by AnnieA

absolutely right. What was contained in the city of London.....besides people......?

When you refer to the City of London you are oly refering to an area less than 2 sq mi in the heart of the huge metropolitian area called Greater London which is divided into bourghs, towns and villages. Modern London is usually considered all the area in side the Circumferntial Motorway the M-25 also called the Orbital. Todays London sprawls beyond even that boundary. I have an Aunt who lives in Essex in a town just beyond the M-25. The urban and suburban sprawl goes all the way down the Thames to Southend and only stops at the Sea and in all the other directions as well.About a quarter of all Britains lives in the London region, If America had a city this big it would have a popuation of over 80 million. The closest we come is the Tristate region around New York which has about 25 million people.