Cologne's massive destruction after Operation Millenium (filmed 1945)

In 1942 the british Air-Marshal Arthur Harris attacked Cologne with all the aircrafts that were at his disposal. For the Royal Air Force (RAF) and its Bomber Command "Operation Millennium" became a turning point in the Second World War. As Goebbels had announced that Cologne would be defended to the last man, many more attacks followed: 268 in total. 90% of the city center was completely destroyed by the end of the war.
Please help us to document this footage showing the destroyed city of Cologne.
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3:27 Cologne Cathedral
10:05 Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring
Find more impressive videos in our playlist "Spirit of Liberation": goo.gl/Gzeto2
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Footage in original color and HD before restoring for the documentary “Spirit of Liberation" (Kronos Media, 2016)
Watch here the new restored pictures in our film trailer: goo.gl/CU0hUP

[@Ballinalower]

When I was about 3 years old in Britain I remember standing outside the house with my Grandmother and Aunt watching a large number of bombers get in formation and head off towards Germany. My grandmother said "Oh the poor Germans" to which my aunt responded "How can you say that after what they did to us?" Then my grandmother said something that caused the moment to live with me for ever. She said "Those planes are not going to drop bombs on the men who dropped bombs on us. They are going to drop bombs on women and children just like us."

[@Dive-Bar-Casanova]

It's an extension of politics and politicians don't care about people. They just care about themselves and being in office.

[@terrenceappleby9315]

It’s called war. Civilians can stand and watch bombers or tanks or soldiers attack the enemy’s civilian and in that moment feel generous with compassion. It’s easy to do in the moment when the bombs are not falling on you. Again, it’s war.

[@Ballinalower]

@@terrenceappleby9315 You are right of course. In the army they say "No soldier shoots to kill until one of his buddies has been shot by the enemy.

[@kentcyclist]

True

[@robertklara6375]

Wise old grandma. Nothing changed in 2021

[@hscollier]

Amazing restoration! You have done a great service to history in restoring these films and not ruining them with unnecessary commentary, and in making them available to the public. THANK YOU!

[@PatrickBaele]

Born there april ‘61. Still remember seeing the remnants of ruins and constant rebuilding

[@greenlime1997]

You're saying even during the 60's (15-20 years after '45) there were still remnants of ruins from the war??

[@penelopelopez8296]

Yes, in 1970 there was a construction project in Berlin and when workers dig up some rubble piles they found the remains of two German officers and they’re still finding things today. The remnants of this war will be around for a very long time.

[@veky5717]

@@penelopelopez8296 To be exact, they were no officers. They found the remains of Martin Bormann (head of the Nazi Party Chancellery) and Hitlers personal doctor Ludwig Stumpfegger. Until they found the body of Bormann, he was one of the most wanted men in Germany at that time. Nobody knew what happened to him, since the last persons who saw him were Arthur Axmann in the Führerbunker before they parted ways and tried to flee from Berlin.

[@f.drachenfels4503]

I remember when I was little in the beginning of the nineteenfifties, there was still a lot of damage in Cologne.

[@Wilhelm322]

@@greenlime1997 Unfortunately Yes. In my Home City Würzburg the rubble left by the 17 Minute Bombing of Würzburg on the 16 March 1945 was only fully cleared in the mid 60s and Reconstruction only really begun around the early 70s. Though this probably varied from City to City many Cities took years some even Decades to clear all of the Rubble from WW2.

[@SpurenDerGeschichteW]

Das macht mich so traurig und wütend!

[@krollpeter]

Es hilft nicht mit Wut zurück zu blicken. Lasst uns lieber mit Erinnerung an diese schrecklichen Bildern in die Zukunft blicken, und jeder seine noch so kleine Stimme erheben, dass sowas NIE wieder passiert. Denn der normale Bürger ist immer der bezahlt, mit seinen Knochen, mit seiner Heimat.

[@michaelengel3407]

Der Kölner sagt "Wat fott es, es fott." und "Et es wie et es." Man kann die schlimme Vergangenheit nicht ungeschehen machen.

[@PatrickBaele]

Glad you have this feeling for all WWII victims

[@GioTummy3463]

Amazing footage. It makes it look like it just happened yesterday

[@HeinzAnimation]

Glad that it didn't happended yesterday xD

[@penelopelopez8296]

Cologne doesn’t look like this anymore. Today it’s a beautiful city.

[@miauw8762]

It was a beautiful city before the war. Now it is ugly like all big german cities. The war destroyed so much cultural heritage.

[@hardcorehardo]

Makes my heart cry

[@aussie5755]

Hardocore . Its just walls think about jews .... its good .... it had happened becoz of jews who cry for life

[@Ballinalower]

@@aussie5755 It was revenge for the bombing of Britain. And there were many people killed and injured on both sides. In England there was strong antisemitism at the time and still after the war. Also racism against all people of color including from India. Germans were horrified by what they had done and I saw very little antisemitism after WW2 or any kind of racism.

[@chilling-boy]

@@Ballinalower Revenge is never a solution

[@nickbell4984]

@@Ballinalower Theres a huge difference between not liking jews because a lot of people believed the stereotypes about them being gypsies and exterminating the entire population of them.

[@AlexanderVoznesensky]

Amazing channel!

[@michaelengel3407]

Cologne in 1945. Operation millenium from may 1942 was only one of 262 air raids on Cologne and far from the heaviest.

[@KR-jt4ut]

Yep, May 1942. The war came home .. unexpected...

[@michaelengel3407]

​@@KR-jt4ut I don't think so. As Cologne was the biggest city in western germany not far from England and it was just a matter of time when the orders were given to attack. Yes, the war came home mostly to those who never declared it.

[@KR-jt4ut]

@@michaelengel3407 Indeed, Germans never declared the war. They just started it by invading Poland, Norway, Holland (you know the list). Like on August 4th 1914. Just invading another country. And then , afterwards "they declared the war, we didn't"... And nobody heard the Kölner protesting when other cities were bombed by "unsere Wehrmacht", they never protested against the prosecution of Jews, import of forced labourers (=slaves), the euthanasie-programm, the import of stolen products, ...

[@michaelengel3407]

@@KR-jt4ut You are justifying war crimes with other war crimes. Arthur Harris wasn't interested in people who were against the Nazis. He targeted all citizens of Cologne. Men. women, children, babys. And he succeed. You are right. Germany did all these acrocities. Well, this footage is about an allied one.

[@KR-jt4ut]

@@michaelengel3407 I do not justify anything. The allied forces wanted to stop the war as soon as possible, with the smallest possible lost of allied soldiers, .... and indeed, not only German soldiers, NSDAP Civil servants etc ( Roland Freisler, that was a hit, isn't it) paid the price. Also older people and children. Since "only" 600.000 Germans died in the bombing of their cities, it is only a small % of the total of civil deaths of the war Nazi Germany started. The entire war was a crime. Don't blame those who fought to stop it.

[@jduff59]

When I saw the Koln Cathedral I was awestruck - and glad it wasn't destroyed. Am ugly war that destroyed a lot of beautiful; people and places.

[@bobl78]

way beyond everything I can imagine… impossible for me to understand how People mentaly survived that,,,,we forget how good our life is today

[@zaineridling]

At least they didn't have to suffer under an idiot like Donald Trump. 😵

[@peterb5857]

Zaine Ridling - only people with TDS make everything about Trump. It must be annoying have him in your thoughts 24/7. I would hate to be your family or friends.

[@rightmarker1]

@@zaineridling - and now you’ve got a senile crook with dementia who couldn’t find his own ass in the dark.

[@penelopelopez8296]

Really? Life is good today? Maybe for some people.

[@TheDeCaesare]

This comment didn t age too well. Today is the same as yesterday.

[@CARLOBOYS]

After the British successfully bombed Cologne by air, the allied ground troops who entered this city is the 3rd Armored Division of the United States Army

[@henryreosora4316]

In that city a famous tank duel happened between a US Pershing and a German tiger near the cathedral. If I'm not mistaken 2 Americans were killed and the five germans were able to escape.

[@CARLOBOYS]

@@henryreosora4316 Yes but those German tankers that tried to escape were also captured that same day.

[@tusk70]

The first question of many Cologne-citiziens before they came back was: "Is the Dom still standing?" It´s so hart to imagine, that my grandparents lived in this ruins and my father (born 1942) had been raised there in this time.

[@Ballinalower]

Your father is almost the same age as I. When I was a little boy in England just the sight and sound of all the bombers taking off from a nearby airfield was frightening. Thanks to my Oma I knew there were going to be little German kids just like me under the terror of the falling bombs. A few years later I was the only English boy in a school of German boys. There was very little animosity except occasionally for the bombing by the RAF Terror Flyers. That was a war crime. Mostly though we put the war behind us and understood that we were children and had no guilt. It ended as I became fluent in German and started to dress completely in German style.

[@tusk70]

@@Ballinalower Thank you for your friendly words.

[@michaelengel3407]

Yes, this narratives are well known in Cologne. And it's really true. Well, the heavily damaged cathedral was one of a few buildings in Cologne which were still standing.

[@KR-jt4ut]

@@Ballinalower Did these German boys ever told you what their fathers did during the war started by them?

[@Ballinalower]

@@KR-jt4ut Fritz, roommate and close friend. His dad was design engineer on Panzer and Tiger Tanks. Mathias, roommate and close friend. His Dad was a Luftwaffe pilot - fighters. Ended war on 262s. Michael. Classmate and friend. His dad was leading opponent of Nazis. Fled to Shanghai where Michael was born. Interned by Japanese and pretended to be British to avoid repatriation and certain execution. Dad then high official in post war German government. Peter, nickname Pedro. Parents emigrated to Argentina after war. He dressed funny like an English boy, but that may have been how boys dressed in Argentina. No idea what daddy did. My dad who was in the British army of occupation probably did. He said Pedro's school fees were probably paid with gold fillings. I had no idea what he meant. Dr. Piseck, form master had been in Hitler Youth. One day he illustrated the evils of racism by telling us how his Hitler Youth troop had stoned a young Jewish boy to death. "Every day I wish I had been that Jewish boy for he is now with God in heaven whilst when I die I will burn in hell for eternity for what we did that day. Another saying of his "We don't want a school uniform. I wore a uniform when I was your age and no good came of it". But for the most part we did not talk about the war. We were just little kids and in no way responsible. So my dad reminded me sometime. He had fought right through the war as a British officer and I attach more importance to his tolerant attitude than to the views of any armchair anti Nazi who was born long after the war.

[@SoundJunkie_nl]

the piano piece is Antoine Marsaud - Chernobyl, but what is the organ piece? it is very haunting.

[@davidsolisbahamonde3517]

Gracias por mostrar lo que los seres humanos somos capaces de hacer a otro ser humano. Estos films impiden que perdamos la memoria

[@susannebuchholz785]

Das macht mich sehr traurig, aber auch sehr wütend zugleich!

[@ing.s.p.785]

It very sad to see how many destructions and suffering and deaths are causated by the war.

[@giulioespositi9052]

....è storicamente dimostrato che il 67% delle distruzioni delle città d'Arte, e non strategicamente importanti, e il 39-48% dei loro abitanti, furono "trattati" con i "carpet-bombings", a base di bombe al Fosforo, e

[@giulioespositi9052]

Napalm.

[@user-ui5yd1rl2j]

Good afternoon! I really need materials from your videos for Russian KZbin. Can I use your WW2 obliquely video?

[@masive1498]

Watch this while listening to the 3rd movement of Shostakovich's 5th symphony.

[@MrJimBeamm]

Einer der historischen und schönsten Städte einfach in ein paar Jahren den Erdboden gleich gemacht. Einfach unverständlich, dass man diese Stadt nicht verschont hat, da sie enorm geschichtsträchtig ist

[@michaelengel3407]

Ein Krieg der von Anfang an gegen Zivilisten geführt wurde verschont nicht deren Heimstätten. Die Offensive der "area bombing directive" der RAF, das britische Pedant zur deutschen Politik der verbrannten Erde. Verbrecherisch und verwerflich war beides.

[@michaelengel3407]

@trainbomb Genauer hat sein Mitverbrecher Joseph Goebbels Anfang 1943 den totalen Krieg vor einigen hundert fanatischen Anhängern propagiert. Die meisten jener die das dann ausbaden mussten wollten den totalen Krieg bestimmt nicht. Schon gar nicht die Kölner die bis dahin im Bombenkrieg schon einiges mitmachen mussten und den sukzessiver Untergang ihrer Stadt erlebten. Allerdings war der Auslöser der ganzen Katastrophe Hitlers Vernichtungskrieg gegen alles und jeden die mit dem Wahn vom Herrenmenschen nicht konform gingen.

[@Wilhelm322]

Köln war nicht die einzige Wichtige Geschichsträchtige Stadt die dem Erdboden gleichgemacht wurde Würzburg, Dresden, Hamburg, Augsburg, Leipzig, Berlin und viele andere Städte haben ein ähnliches Schicksal erlitten.

[@ROCKNROLL947]

USA doesn't difference between an innocent or a war criminal, between an historical building or a bunker. They only destroy.

[@sorenfogdenius6393]

The name of the music played ca 7;40 in to the film?

[@chronoshistory]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3ioXnx4rbqmi6c

[@haeleth7218]

This devastation is on a parr with Dresden and Berlin.

[@paulmueller4740]

"Because we were doubtful about the psychological effect of the truth that it was we who started the strategic bombing offensive, we have shrunk from giving our great decision of May 11 1940, the publicity which it deserved. That, surely, was a mistake. It was a splendid decision. It was as heroic, as self sacrificing , as Russia's decision to adopt her policy of " scorched earth". It gave Coventry and Birmingham Sheffield and Southampton, the right to look Kiev and Kharkov, Stalingrad and Sebastopol in the face. Our Soviet Allies would have been less critical of our inactivity in 1942 if they had understood what we had done". --- A quote from J. M. Spaight , Principal Secretary of Air Ministry R.A.F., in his book Bombing Vindicated-- London: 1944

[@rat.1]

songs?

[@windowsvistasuxalot]

I was there yesterday. Looks much better. Church is epic!!

[@golfmother3141]

Agreed there in july stunning cathedral , and a great city , would never believe it was so damaged , friendly people great dining .

[@golfmother3141]

Agreed was there in july , stunning cathedral ,and a great city , friendly people with magic dining

[@OsmosisHD]

2:21 That one building in the middle.. what are the odds? Literally the whole block is leveled. Yet one building seems to be 'ok'

[@michaelengel3407]

2:21 shows the street "Am Hof" south to the cathedral. The destruction was absolute entirely. About 90 % percent of buildings were destroyed in that area around the cathedral and main station. Fortunately all buildings are rebuilt. Again a touristic hot spot like it used to be. In our days the quarter is visited by numerous successors of those who dropped the bombs.

[@michaelengel3407]

@nanda erdhani Actually most historic buildings were destroyed in 2nd WW and replaced by a more simple architecture. Some old buildings were worth for reconstruction but tared down anyway because prussian architecture was not very popular at those times. Furthermore Cologne dreamt the dream of the "autogerechte Stadt". As the dream became reality the people of cologne realized that it was a night mare. Therefore cologne is regarded as one of the ugliest cities in Germany. The first decades after world war are known as the second destruction of Cologne.

[@DogFace69]

Can I suggest that you stop putting the sound of a movie projector over your videos? It adds nothing. I know I can mute the video, and that's what I do. But really, what's the point?

[@davidroosa4561]

they think it adds authenticity, like an old time movie projector

[@ttnyny]

It's a shame about the incessant "clickety-click" background noise in this video. You would think that with modern digital processing, it could be eliminated.

[@tone3817]

It's put on merely as a sound effect.. I agree it's needless.

[@kirkfeather1]

The clicking track is actually mesmerizing and good. A weird modern music accompanying the gripping film footage,

[@fbnx4219]

It was never there in the first place. They added it because they thought it would be be cool.

[@jamescunningham5641]

It was added

[@simplyguys]

damn

[@darrintaylor239]

I wonder how many years it took to restore.

[@michaelengel3407]

It was said that Cologne was so highly damaged that it wasn't worth to rebuild and restore. Cologne should be rebuild a few kilometers downstreams in the north. Fortunately that plans never came true.

[@manzanasrojas6984]

Up until the late 80s

[@styx4947]

I wonder if there is any footage like this from Stalingrad, or anywhere in Soviet Russia just after the war. You would think that even with all the Stalin paranoia and state security measures that would not miss an opportunity for propaganda of that caliber

[@larissasafronawa1790]

Это вас вритания и американцы бомбили, не советский союз

[@justhimo2728]

good lord 😳 what a mess 💔😔

[@adambomb8324]

Seriously - what was this war about other than wiping out old world infrastructure? I understand the his-story but i feel there are many more layers to what we are seeing and what they are saying. These photos look eerily similar to the destruction of cities at the beginning of the industrial revolution/post civil war which we all know by now was the previous "great reset" of civilization. The controllers of this realm sure do enjoy destroying beautiful architecture and replace it with boring cubes of wood, glass and metal. 😢

[@stojandraganov7176]

The Spirit Of Liberation. Schluck

[@michaelengel3407]

Some were liberated some were not. That is war.

[@hakarge]

Vah duli köln

[@kenprice1961]

All of the stained glass windows in the Cathedral were removed to prevent damage from bomb concussion and returned after the war and the Cathedral itself was not hit directly.

[@michaelengel3407]

Of course it was. The northern tower was hit by an english bomb in 1943. It must be repaired immediately with 20000 bricks otherwisethe tower could collapse. It was called "Domplombe" and was removed in 2004. Apart from that the cathedral was hit by a number of other bombs which caused high damage. Only the massive and ingenious construction (roof framework made of cast iron) saved the cathedral from worse.

[@patriciabrenner9216]

A pity.

[@henryreosora4316]

Eerie music. In front of the Cologne cathedral , a famous tank duel between a German Tiger and a US Pershing took place wherein, if I'm not mistaken, 2 Americans were killed and all the German tankers were able to escape .

[@dougg1075]

Nurses would put babies outside to die of hyperthermia if they were “ defective “ . Their cities were bound to be crushed . They screwed up when they had it all.

[@None-zc5vg]

Read about Karl Brandt and the 'T4' mob: Today, in the U.K., they leave food out of reach of infirm people : there's the "Liverpool Care Pathway" and across-the-board 'DNR' if your age and rule-of-thumb health-status gives the medics the green light to kill you on the Q.T.. There's little difference in the medical mindset.

[@bobwitkowski6410]

I wonder how did German POWs feel when they returned home to see this after their release from POW camps after the war was over. The sight of this had to effect them emotionally.

[@patrickleigh1523]

If they were captured by the Soviets, they mostly never returned home. If they were captured by by the Allies, then probably just grateful not to have been captured by the Soviets. But I get your point; those citizens look shell-shocked, as if reality is still setting in. I wonder if we'll ever have another World War, and if cities in the USA will look like this someday, or worse.

[@bobwitkowski6410]

@@patrickleigh1523 if we have another world war it would probably be nuclear. Our cities will be in unbelievablely horrible shape. Totally unrecognizable condition. Roughly 6 billion people will be dead. Survivors will realize that if war is the answer to the question, than it is a damned stupid question and live accordingly.

[@howl_with_the_wolves2861]

@@patrickleigh1523 100k times worse then this and this is unbelievable the level of destruction.

[@Jhihmoac]

I'm surprised the Allies left the Dom standing, even after a slight bombing of its own, but that's where most of the overhead filming at the beginning took place from... The rest of the city was a mess... Now the quick-as-a-flash ICE Trains stop at the station beside the Dom, and your enemies hit you where it hurts the most these days - in the Wallet!

[@manzanasrojas6984]

That wasn’t on purpose, they bombed the Dom - and not just slightly - but decades later it turned out that parts of it were basically a bomb shelter because the walls are 7x thicker than they’d statically needed to be for the building to stand

[@kalamar2437]

OMG.

[@user-dq4bo6vp2r]

RIP liebe Oma❤️

[@carlsherwin5557]

Must be thousands of bombs in the river or are thay cleared?

[@bravefighters9915]

I wouldn’t been out there in that time!🤦🏻‍♂️......criminals!

[@patriciabrenner9216]

From comments in the Koln museum: ''The Cologne NSDAP, founded in 1921, remained an insignificant splinter party for several years. However, Cologne was the centre of the National Socialists in the Rhineland from the very beginning. The political approach by the Cologne National Socialists was characterised by extreme anti-Semitism and a propensity for violence towards political opponents. Even though it was weaker than in other regions, the Cologne NSDAP also achieved a political breakthrough after 1930. As elsewhere, in Cologne in 1933 the seizure of power went without opposition....The political approach of the Cologne National Socialists was characterised by an extreme degree of anti-Semitism. National Socialist led anti-Semitic agitation, propaganda as well as violent attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions were an everyday occurrence and dominated political life in Cologne. In 1928, the anti- Semitic fervour reached its first climax when the ‘Westdeutscher Beobachter’ ran a hugely popular smear campaign against the Jewish family Katz- Rosenthal, who owned butcher shops and restaurants, and Leonhard Tietz, the owner of a department store...''

[@livingecosmart561]

They are so well dressed despite their homes bombed to smithereens. Truly Amazing.

[@createdeccentricities6620]

I wonder whether the wrecked Pz. Kpfw. V Panther was still outside the cathedral when this film was shot.

[@hardradaaza]

In memoriam, not in memorium.

[@doolindalton]

you stared a war you get a war

[@wymple09]

People can't believe the cruelty of the allied bombing, while completely disregarding the London blitz. You fight a war with the cards you are dealt, and this is what the Germans brought to the table. The Japanese like to play the victims, too, after what they did in places like Nanking and Manila. War is terrible stuff, so don't be cranking them up.

[@patriciabrenner9216]

@@wymple09 also remember the destruction of Warsaw, the sige of Leningrad, Babi Yar etc. etc.

[@Wilhelm322]

@@patriciabrenner9216So let me get this Straight! German War Crimes excuse Allied War Crimes?

[@Wilhelm322]

@@wymple09The Blitz killed 41.000 British People the Allied Bombing killed 600-950.000 German Civilians in 160 German Cities and 850 German Towns, Villages, Settlements and Communities. What is worse?

[@patriciabrenner9216]

@@Wilhelm322 What allied crimes. I know that for Germans fighting them was a crime. Personally as a European Jew I am sorry Nakam didn't succeed. Germans murdered 90 percent of European Jews. 90 percent of their populace should have paid.

[@shirleybalinski4535]

So the next time, the neutron bomb is used. That bomb kills all the people but, leaves buildings undamaged.

[@woobmeister]

🔴 what is deeply disturbing is that the same power structure that created WW2 are still in control and are working towards the final level. They think that the BOSS fight will protect them and wipe out all others.

[@DeepsongProductions]

Ya.. ww2 never ended... the International Gangsters are still trying to Genocide the German ppl via demographics.

[@sander6438]

@@DeepsongProductions war has no begin and no end

[@lawrencetomlinson761]

@@DeepsongProductions It's pretty well known that Germany didn't invent genocide they just perfected it.

[@vicenteluna6683]

0:20 mit dem*

[@emiliomoran6160]

Horror and death, total devastation, blood , suffering and misery. Pain and humillation. Who was the criminal mind? . Was it only one who provoqued all this? . It is impossible. It was necesarily thousand, millions of persons to produce such destruction. Was in fact a bunch of idiots who made all this. Maybe started by one and then millions of followers. Has the humanity learned de lesson ? .....I'm afraid not. It may happen again.

[@paulhunter123]

great work by the RAF give it to the hun

[@birsay123]

Looks like Detroit today.

[@Wawan-ur2lb]

GRAND DAMAGE

[@urankjj]

Did Adolf have access to this footage back then, or was he to busy making final arrangements ?

[@k.m.6107]

Всё закономерно.

[@frankmontez6853]

Hoow badly were the Germans after surendering ? Did they have enough to eat or they were very low supplies ? We know of the Berlin airlift because of roads and railways being blockaded but what was the condition of the rest of the german people ?

[@michaelengel3407]

In Cologne people have to steal the stuff what they need to keep on living. It was called "fringsen" because of new year's eve sermon of Kardinal Joseph Frings in 1946. In that sermon he allowed people to steal if they weren't able to gather food and coal in a legal way.

[@emiliomoran6160]

.....And it will be worse.

[@gregoriokafka]

Well, sad, yes, but seed shit, you will harvest shit.

[@howl_with_the_wolves2861]

Sorta like ALL the inner city ghettos of today's USA.

[@sjaakdewinter6258]

This can t be Rotterdam> that city was totaly flat.

[@larissasafronawa1790]

Diese Stadt in Köln oder Dresden amerikanische und britanische Lufthansa ge Bombenanschlag.

[@Blacknight1812]

the soundtrack is awful and the footage very interesting.

[@user-dw1zp4bo6d]

Really it was horrible

[@paulhunter123]

how did the church remain intact

[@manzanasrojas6984]

Cast iron roof frames and walls 7x thicker than needed be

[@michaelengel3407]

Yes, cathedral looks intact but it was not. Many bombs hit the "Dom". Especially the nothern tower was struck by a bomb near by the ground. Damaged position must filled up with 40000 bricks within a few days to avoid tower collapsing. It was called "Domplombe" (Dom Seal) . People of Cologne and tourists could visit it for decades. In the meantime it was replaced by original materials.

[@lordemed1]

German civilians usually looked relatively healthy and well-fed

[@michaelengel3407]

Yes, food supply worked to some extent during war. Only when british occupants took power in cologne the supply of food and fuel got more difficult. I think ist wasn't a good idea to bomb the entire city to ruins in the years before.

[@callsigndd9ls897]

The supply worked until the end of 1946. The raw material reserves saved from the war were sufficient for a modest production. However, the harsh winter of 1946/47 turned into a catastrophe: food, energy supply and traffic collapsed. The famine years came after the war from 1946 to 1948. What made it particularly bad was that 1946 also came the harshest winter of the century, in which almost as many people died in the destroyed cities as in the bombing raids. Historians estimate the number in the winter of 1946 alone at over 350,000 people who died of malnutrition and the cold.

[@powerhouse1981]

@@callsigndd9ls897 thanks for sharing

[@patriciabrenner9216]

@@callsigndd9ls897 I am sorry that they were given food. They should have starved as they starved the others.

[@thinkandmove479]

@@patriciabrenner9216 I'm sorry for your soul.

[@benszedin]

It must suck to start a war and loose it

[@michaelengel3407]

I think most of 20000 victims in Cologne never started a war but lost it anyway.

[@patriciabrenner9216]

@@michaelengel3407 actually false. They were behind their furher and loved what he did... Until they were punished for their crimes.

[@chris8878]

Yea it must suck to decouple from a banking system that goes against every principle your people stood for for a thousand years. Flood the nation with foreigners who metaphorically rape the resources available and the get kicked out once the public had enough. Central banks literally payed for Germany to be destroyed because they (Germany) were going to challenge and maybe destroy the banking global hegemony started by the British empire, who mine you subjugated indigenous tribes/ people and created the nations it did so it could tax them. Germany was going to end the evil it perceived as global banking hegemony in ww1 and again in ww2.

[@Pete4000uk]

...twice

[@dodibenabba1378]

As an Englishman, I regard the bombings of Dresden and Hamburg a war crime, indiscriminate bombing of a civilian population is unacceptable. Obviously Hiroshima and Nagasaki too, can I add Koln to the list too? Appalling.

[@michaelengel3407]

The entire bombing of civilians during 2nd world war you can add to your list. Military fought civilians and their homes. A crime in any respect. Up to our days.

[@KneesPHD]

They had it coming by electing a genocidal maniac to a powerful position.

[@davidroosa4561]

I'm so glad you're so morally superior. when someone attacks you, will you just sit there and take it or defend yourself?

[@KneesPHD]

@@davidroosa4561 1. It's quite easy to be morally superior to a Nazi, actually.

[@dodibenabba1378]

@@davidroosa4561 if it's a child or a woman I'm not going to incinerate them that's for sure......

[@deck614]

The benefits of bombing down a city? ... At least, it is not clear!! The evident result is alas death, traumatism, fear, hate, slavery, poverty ... By the way, some still do global city bombings through modern wars, with not a doubt (Putin's Russians on hospitals of Syria recently, etc.). On my opinion, in a few words,... "Bombers" tell us : "civilians are not innocent during wars and shall also pay, because they sustain ennemy regims and ideas"... Well sorry : it is true - but it is however useless to bomb, even counter-productive, most-most of the time... I don't say "Bomber Harris" was - so much - a hating man. The first thing to remember is that B.H. organised bombing (made it possible and efficient) "only". The decision to bomb population and buildings came from main rullers: Roosevelt, Churchill, De Gaulle was aware and did not react against it, etc.... And Stalin, demanding efforts from them.

[@patriciabrenner9216]

Thank you Bomber Harris. You meted retribution to the German monsters. Thank you Roosevelt, Churchill, de Gaulle and Stalin for authorizing the bombing of these monsters.

[@themanlove4542]

They missed the church

[@patriciabrenner9216]

A pity.

[@PatrickBaele]

Nope ,they consciously avoided it . It’s huge,a Cathedral and very impressive when you stand in front of it. Even for planes.

[@callsigndd9ls897]

No, it is nonsense that the cathedral was spared. Due to the inaccuracy of the aiming facilities, it was impossible not to hit the cathedral, especially since the cathedral was located next to the main train station, which was considered a major transportation hub. The cathedral was hit by a total of 14 explosive bombs and over 70 incendiary bombs. The incendiary bombs did no damage, as the roof structure was made of iron and the entire wooden inventory of the cathedral had been removed. Fortunately, the medieval windows and many important pieces of equipment in the cathedral were removed in good time and some of them were stored in their own art bunker under the north tower or in remote locations outside Cologne. Fixed works of art were protected on site by sandbags and cladding, so that there was no great loss of medieval art in the cathedral. Likewise, many stone figures in the cathedral were clad with protective walls during the war. However, the damage from high-explosive bombs was massive. Most of the vaults of the nave and transepts had collapsed, the organ and much of the 19th-century windows had been destroyed, and there was countless explosive damage, large and small, visible throughout the building. The cathedral was particularly threatened by a bombing raid on the base of the north tower, which was temporarily repaired with bricks during the war and only rebuilt in its original form in 2004. So it is not true that the cathedral was not hit, but she was very massive and stable constructed, compared to normal houses, which is why the damage was limited.

[@adlabbio]

some reasons to hate america at this time

[@davidwhitney1171]

To all those shedding (crocodile) tears over the mass destruction of German cities including Dresden which seems to be the focal point of the condemnation of the Allied bombing campaign againstGerman cities, and the deaths of some 600,000+ German civilians- let's go back to square one- who started the damn war, against a continent which desperately did not wish for another World War? Who committed genocide on an industrial scale in the name of the "master race'? Who followed a psychopathic madman almost to the very end? The mass destruction of German cities was nasty, but a totally necessary nastiness. The German people had to be shown, and shown well, that they had truly lost the war. The Allies in 1945 were in no mood for another "stab in the back" lie as in 1918, when Germany itself remained untouched. No mood to possibly, it was believed, have to fight a third world war with Germany 20 or 25 years later....

[@Belfreyite]

There were no rights or morals. Men of both sides behaved as men do. Hateful, vengeful, retributive and judgemental. In the heat of battle, anything goes. Sanity, finer feelings, a moral compass! All gone along with the twisted remains of each other's homelands. "The stark and inescapable fact is that today we cannot defend our society by war since total war is total destruction, and if war is used as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war" Lester B Pearson

[@davidroosa4561]

@@Belfreyite so the victims are the same as the aggressors? youre sort of dim arent you

[@toatatoa]

How does it fit in your self-righteous point of view that the huge industrial site of Ford Motor Company in Köln Niehl remained absolutely untouched by your "nasty, but totally necessary nastiness"? The British air raids were about killing women and children and therefor are a warcrime. Stop arguing Germany had started the war - World war 2 was the inevitable consequence of the treaty of Versaille of 1918, a treaty not about peace for Europe, but rather to gag Germany economically and keep them on their knees. The British as a part of the western allies had a possible European peace at their hands in that railway car in Compiegne in November 1918, and they decided to sow world war instead.

[@manzanasrojas6984]

@@toatatoa Don’t waste your energy and efforts on people blinded by hatred who never got taught to understand their countries history and live in some weird phantasy bubble of their own making.

[@kirkfeather1]

It has recently come to light that untold numbers of German civilians after the war had no regrets whatsoever that they had supported Hitler and the fascists. One of the most enduring of their characteristics was a deeply entrenched racism. This was of course covered up by the authorities who took over from the Nazis (though many were minor functionaries in the Reich). The "new Germany" bent over backwards to convince the world that the German population was remorseful about the oppression and destruction of Hitler's regime (a number may well have been) but it is being borne out that countless of them silently kept embittered interior thoughts about how "unjust" it was that Nazism was defeated. It had exhilarated them and covered them in dubious glory until it was ground down (literally).

[@simonacinghita7719]

General A. Harris, a name which will live in infamy.

[@michaelengel3407]

Why should he had been a better or more human commander than others in that carnage of 2nd world war?

[@None-zc5vg]

Churchill ordered 'area bombing' and Harris followed his orders: at wars end, Churchill professed his horror at the bombing and refused to recognise the massive sacrifice of the bomber crews who'd followed (his) orders. What a cynical hypocrite

[@haraldschmidt2930]

1:30 So hätte London aussehen sollen ...

[@mbr6198]

Wir haben es nicht gewusst 😂🤣

[@PatrickBaele]

Hat’s aber nicht.

[@Wilhelm322]

Naja teile London’s haben ähnlich ausgesehen, in Coventry haben wir es geschafft ihnen zu zeigen wie später jede Deutsch Stadt aussieht.

[@alexanderschneider9121]

Cologne, a city, that has always been turkish *COUGH COUGH*...

[@maxkorfendagus9336]

God bless the R.A.F.

[@michaelengel3407]

God wasn 't there during criminal RAF air raids

[@davidgrahambrown3793]

@@michaelengel3407 Nor was he at the extermination camps, it would appear.

[@michaelengel3407]

​@@davidgrahambrown3793 No, god wasn't there either. He was a rare guest on those places where people were killed by war crime. The reality of horrofic german concentration camps makes allied war crime not undone.

[@davidgrahambrown3793]

@@michaelengel3407 So you say, repeatedly. The worst of all the atrocities and crimes in WW2 were committed by the Nazis, and the German people were complicit, or looked the other way.

[@michaelengel3407]

@@davidgrahambrown3793 Many of those who died during RAF air raids weren't born or were just children as Hitler seized power. Who squatted in cellars during the bombardement ? Mostly women and children (complices?) because the men were in the battle fields.They were victims like in Coventry or during The Blitz.

[@bobbrowning8647]

One of the most horrific acts of modern times.will never be forgotten nor forgiven May the onés who committed this crime feel the heat of hell That they did to the GERMAN people

[@erikw.9905]

Start a war of aggression then complain about the consequences

[@canadious6933]

@@erikw.9905 That type of thinking is wrong. You can't look at war like 1 person hitting another and then getting hit back. Many people on all sides, around the planet are innocent and its a shame to every country and family which gets hit by a war they didnt start.

[@bcvanrijswijk]

Wer hoch steigt der wird tief fallen.

[@bubiruski8067]

@Erik W. The English bastards started this war simply by declaration !

[@zel3888]

Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind

[@tojamatokanava7778]

wild hordes of victorious allies of barbarians, vandals and war criminals