Re: Bombing ...
Eberhard Weber (eweber@cati.csufresno.edu)
Tue, 4 Jun 1996 16:01:39 -0700
Since this is not a discussion list in the sense of lists usually
dedicated to discussions, I will present mu answer to the suggestion
about bombing the tracks from the perspective of my function on
this list to offer experiences from being on the ground at that time
as the Berlin Schoolboy.
In the many air raids that I went through, and the perhaps a dozen
times when I was either travelling on a train or living or visiting
near train stations, many "stratetig" targets were attacked and
destroyed, and rail lines were common targets, railyards frequent
targets. We were asked to dis-embarked the train and walk to the
other side of the bombed section or area where soon another train
would take us onward.
On a number of occasions I had to go through the same area again
on the way back and everything was repaired. Locomotives and railcars
were piled up like toy trains, sections of grotesquely formed
rails twisted skywrad, and there were many places I recall where
until well after the war these piles of rubble were still there.
Although I did not see this, I recall people being amazed that
sections of track that were bombed had been repaired and were
used in as little as two hours.
I also recall travelling on trains and looking out the window to
see sometimes multiple hundreds of people standing still along
the tracks to let our train pass, and these were working to
repair tracks, guarded by german uniformed guards, not the
back SS uniforms but the green army uniforms.
We were without power or water only for hours when infrastructure
targets were bombed. If there is ONE thing germany succeeded at
it was to increase production as the war went on by going
underground and by keeping infrastructure projects going.
First, which I recall seeing, trucks would arrive with prisoners
to defuse unexploded bombs. The idea was if a bomb exploded,
only prisoner would loose their lives. Then other prisoners
or forced labor was moved in to remove debris while, at the same time,
construction took place, even through air raids. The theory,
I presume, was that a target hit would not be on the target list
again right away, so why loose time to precaution.
I recall taking water to the work crews on a rail line one day.
But the guards instead were asking that I bring them water and
hopefully some food because they themselves had neither. And
I saw a big kettle with soup, the food for the prisoners.
This was the most watery soup I think I have ever seen in my
life, and the guards ate that soup too. The idea being that
nothing whatsoever must stop the repair and flow of people
and cargo, and indeed, very little stoppage resulted from
bombing tracks, power plants, factories.
Eberhard Weber
The Berlin Schoolboy