Devastation In Hamburg Comparable Only With That At Hiroshima

Chronicle (Levin), 7 May 1949, Page 4

Devastation In Hamburg Comparable Only With That At Hiroshima

In Western Germany bomb and war damage was tremendous. What Hatoiburg ha.d suffered was comparable only with the devastation which had been wrought by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Nearly every village and town bore its sca'rs, many worse than others. While in Holland the destruction had been repaired,/little had so far been achieved in Germany. This was probably due to the_ labour shortage consequent on the country's war casualties and. th.e direction of manpower by the occupying Powers, and, secondly, because it was not a priority work.

These' were some of the impressrpns given by Lieut.-Colonel W. S. McKinmon, O.B.E., R.N.Z.A., of Wellington, to the Levin Rotary Club in a talk this week on his visit to Western Germany last year. With a prewar- population of 1,500,000 and an extensive port, Hamburg had been a city of some importance and as a result had drawn considerable Allied bombing, said Colonel McKinnon. Large areas had been flattened and many of them still remained cordoned off to the population. The only comparable damage he had seen was in Hiroshima. "I spoke to a number of Gennans about it and they told me that as many bombs had fallen on this city in a single week as had been dropped over the whole ot England thr.oughout the war. They estimated that 20,000 bodies were still buried under the rubble of the buildings. "Conservative estimates were that it would take 10 years to clear the rubble alone and from 20. to 25 years to rebuild the shattered sections of the city." They Alone Escaped. The speaker went on to describe the almost total destruction of the port facilities. One exception was the u-boat pens, which resembtod motor garages with concrete sides and tops. They had received many hils but still survived, even British attempts to destroy them after the cessation of hosdlities causing only supqrficial damage. He had asked some Germans about the raids, said Colonel McKinnon. They had informed him that the R.A.F. had saturated' Hamburg's defences. In other words so many bimbers had taken part in the sorties that the defences, had be'en turned into utter confusion. The fire fighiing services had also Ibeen saturated, resulting in- fire storms. "I learnt that the people were dazed by the intensity of the atfacks, but ifc is a tribute to their

discipline that they did not panic," added the speaker. From Hamburg he had gone to Barnsdorf, the terminal for the British air lift to Berlin, said Colonel McKinnon. The ajrcraft were taking off every two minutes and what impressed him most was the morale of the people engaged in conducting the campaign against the Russian blockade. They were certain that they would win out and this was now being proved correct. Could, Learn From Germans. Winterberg, in the south-eastern corner of the British zone, was an alpine resort with several hotels, continued the speaker, and he thought that those who were responsible for similar places in New Zealand could learn something from. the Germans. At Winterberg, in addition to the attractive ski-ing grounds", there was a 100-yard artificially heated swimming pool and tennis courts, and the appointments and facilities were on a very high scale. Dusseldorf and nearby Cologne had been badiy damaged in the war, said Colonel McKinnon. The wonderful Cologne Cathedtol remained while all else within a radius of half a mile had been - destroyed. It had suffered somg small damage and its spire was pit holed, but the structure stiT stood. In this locality the work of rebridging the Rhine was going on, all' the bridges having been demolished, and it carried a very high priority. The British authorities had found that if the Germans were put to a job in which they were interested and of which they approv.ed, they worked very well. The rebridging of the Rhine was in this category. Mr. E. R. Winkler introduced the speaker and a vote of thanks, moved by Mr. C. S. Keedwell, was accorded Colonel McKinnon at the eonclusion of his inf ormative.talk.