WW2: Destruction in Würzburg, Germany (April 10, 1945)

Signal Corps ADC 3981 SOURCE. AFCF (M-1601-1605)
FILM: ARCH & APC MP 689' Silent
WURZBURG, GERMANY 10 April 1945 (LIB 5412) VS, bombed out railroad yards, wrecked locomotives, torn up tracks.LS, wrecked street in town. MS, CU, roadside sign: "Wurzburg. "LS, wrecked waterworks building.Int, MS, pan, wreckage in, building.VS, damage done to gasworks and storage tanks.Ext, wrecked electrical generator plant on the Main River. AVs, Wurzburg and vicinity. AVs, low level shots, Marienburg Castle which overlooks the city. AVs, low level shots, completely wrecked section of town with only shells of buildings left standing.

[@ecuadorexpat8558]

As a native Wuerzburger I remember these ruins.. The ruin was my childhood playground

[@tyms13]

I'm sorry to here that. When we lived there in the mid 90's I loved it. it was like living in a big city but also like living in the country side. I don't know what it is about Germany but I could stair out the windows for hours! In fact at school the teachers made me turn my desk away from the windows. I also loved the way people treated us. As long as you tried to speak German they would always help you. I lived in Nuremburg in the 80's and 90's they did the same. It was nice there mainly Christmas time , but Wurzburg was so much better year round.

[@Schlomothebest]

Haha 😂

[@ecuadorexpat8558]

@@tyms13 Love Nuremberg .. Christmas market !!! Wuerzburg is once again a beautiful city but too much modern crap built since you left .. I remember it as it was before .. Much Love to you from Ecuador ..

[@ecuadorexpat8558]

@@Schlomothebest whats so funny?

[@jimstone209]

I was stationed in Wurzburg with 3rd ID 1970-72. I had a LOT of German friends who were University students. They showed me a book with pictures of Allied airmen who had been shot down near Wurzburg, and instead of sending them to POW camps, they had hung them from the lamp posts in town. My friends said they believed this is why Wurzburg was bombed. It did have an SS Headquarter there. In the River Building, on the second floor, there were still inlaid Swastikas in the doors and there was a set of two doors with 6 inches of airspace between them. I was told it led to interrogation rooms and was built that way so no one could hear.

[@BestoinkDooley]

I too remember the Swastikas in the door at the entrance to the Provost Marshells offive coverd up with plywood. Folks in Wuerzburg used to tell me that the SS headquarters was the only building that survied the bombing, but I think there were 3 buildings in the city center that survived. The old SS building served as the Military Police headquarters until the 1990's. I was a Military Policeman there in 1968-69 and one of our interperters was in the Hilter Youth. We had 4 German Interperters that would translate our reports and send them to the German Police.

[@norbertschneider8375]

@@BestoinkDooley Dear Larry, i am sorry , but this building near the river Main was not a SS- Building. In würzburg where no SS Kasernes. There was only Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe stationed in the area. It was the headquarter of the NSV (Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt) what means public welfare. This building was one of very few that survived the heavy bombing attack on the 16. march 1945. Therefore the US -army could use it soon after their arrival as an office -building. I still remember well the MP Ford Mutts, parking at the side. I was born in Würzburg in 1957 and my parents told me what happened at war- time. We had always good contacts with the young american soldiers until they finally left the area and i hope you also hat good experiences in Würzburg!

[@henrywade1521]

I was a teacher at the elementary school in Wurzburg! operated by the Americans from 76-82. The city of Wurzburg is indeed beautiful and I'm confused and sometimes angry that histories of WW2 often omit the destruction of this wonderful city! in comparison to Dresden, the much smaller Wurzburg was more damaged by the firebombing and lost a larger percentage of its population than the larger Dresden-yet we seldom hear about this fabulous Franconian city

[@erikvanern6178]

Sad. Wurzburg is a beautiful city with wonderful people!

[@itkapatanka]

I think this camera man forgot he had a movie camera!

[@BestoinkDooley]

At 7:12 mark you can see the white SS Headquarters building that survived the Fire Bombing in the lower right corner next to the river. I worked as a Military Policeman there in the late 1960's. As another poster already pointed out, the Swastikas were still on the doors of the Provost Marshalls office inside upstairs. They were covered with plywood, which I pried open in the middle of the night, to verify what I was told. I always wondered what happened to those doors after US Military turned the building back over to the germans. I think there is a possibility that someone from our Military shipped them back home for a souvenir.

[@dangibbs5390]

I think we can all agree this was absolutely unnecessary, even more so than Dresden. The last few major raids of the war I think should be recognised as war crimes. Wurzburg was an ancient city with no military value and the war was all but over in Europe. Such a great loss to humanity as a whole.

[@tyms13]

You do know that there was a German air Base there right? I know because after the war it was called Leighton Barracks

[@dangibbs5390]

@@tyms13 is that the barracks 3k east of the city? Like I said, the city was not a military target... It was bombed purely for terror and cultural genocide.

[@johnh383]

@@dangibbs5390 its called paybacks are a bitch. they used to repair military stuff there

[@johnh383]

@@dangibbs5390 Dont start a world war and this dont happen

[@piercehawke8021]

Bad things can happen do to wars; and the Allies wanted Nazi Germany to give up, by (almost) any means necessary. Note the atomic bomb was earmarked for Berlin but, the Reich surrendered first.

[@Schlomothebest]

Wurzburg? Sausage city?

[@butterfly5334]

Würzburg spices