German bombing of Rotterdam: Difference between revisions

==BombingNegotiations==

The bombing was initially scheduled for 13 May, but low clouds made targeting impossible and the raid was postponed foruntil the following day.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hooton |first=E. R. |title=Phoenix triumphant: the rise and rise of the Luftwaffe |date=1996 |publisher=Arms and Armour Press |isbn=1-85409-331-2 |edition=New |pages=249 |oclc=60274266}}</ref> At roughly 10:30 on 14 May, [[Rudolf Schmidt|General Rudolf Schmidt]] issued an ultimatum to the Dutch commander, [[P. W. Scharroo|Colonel Scharroo]]:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author=Allert M.A. Goossens |title=Rotterdam |url=http://www.waroverholland.nl/index.php?page=rotterdam-4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031101505/http://www.waroverholland.nl/index.php?page=rotterdam-4 |archive-date=2020-10-31 |url-status=live |website=War Over Holland}}</ref><blockquote>To the Commander of Rotterdam

The Mayor of Rotterdam, [[Pieter Oud]], consulted with his aldermen and concluded that there was not enough time to evacuate the city within the two-hour period the Germans had set.<ref name=":0" /> Mayor Oud pleaded with Scharroo to surrender.<ref name=":0" /> However, Scharroo was not happy with the integrity of the letter as it had not been signed by anyone on the German side; therefore, he refused to seriously consider the surrender.<ref name=":0" /> Heand instead replied asking for further details:<ref name=":0" /><blockquote>To the commander of the German troops.

On receipt of Scharroo's letter, Schmidt sent a telegram to the 2nd ''[[Luftflotte]]'' (responsible for the air raid) stating:<ref name=":0" />

As Schmidt was handing over his second signed ultimatum to the Dutch negotiators, the sound of aircraft engines was heard overhead.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Shirer |first=William L. |title=The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich |date=1960 |isbn=0-671-62420-2 |location=New York |page=867 |oclc=1286630}}</ref> Schmidt was shocked;<ref name=":1" /> however, itIt had been arranged that the Wehrmacht would shoot red flares into the sky if negotiations had begun,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Hooton |first=E. R. |title=Phoenix triumphant : the rise and rise of the Luftwaffe |date=1996 |publisher=Arms and Armour Press |isbn=1-85409-331-2 |edition=New |pages=249 |oclc=60274266}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Macksey |first=Kenneth |title=Kesselring |date=2004 |publisher=Bellona |author2=Zenon Miernicki |isbn=83-11-09743-7 |location=Warsaw |chapter=The Nemesis of Incomprehension |oclc=749589540}}</ref> signalling the bombers to turn back. However, two groups of [[Heinkel He 111]] bombers were approaching the city: 5436 [[Heinkelfrom Hethe 111]]ssouth flyingand in54 from the northeast, and 36 He-111swhich was flyingstill inheld fromby the southDutch.<ref name=":0" /> As the Germans had captured only the southern parts of the city, there were no flares fired in the north. The smaller bombing group in the south saw the flares and most of theirits planes turned back, but the larger group proceeded to destroy the city.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> General Schmidt exclaimed, "My God, this is a catastrophe!"<ref name=":0" />

Meanwhile, Witteveen's successor [[Cornelius van Traa]] drafted a completely new reconstruction plan, the ''[[Basisplan voor de Herbouw van de Binnenstad]]'', which was adopted in 1946.{{sfn|Christiaanse|2012|pp=7–17}}{{sfn|Meyer|1999|pp=309–328}} Van Traa's plan was a much more radical rebuild, doing away with the old layout and replacing them with a collection of principles rather than such a rigid structural design.{{sfn|Runyon|1969}} The ''Basisplan'' placed a high emphasis on broad open spaces and promoted the river's special integration with the city through two significant elements: the [[Maas Boulevard]], which reimagined the newly—movednewly-moved dike as a tree-lined street 80 wide, and the Window to the River, a visual corridor running from the harbour to the centre of the city.{{sfn|Meyer|1999|pp=309–328}} Both were meant to show the workings of the harbour to the city's people.

Because reconstruction work began so rapidly after the bombing, the city had again by 1950 retainedregained its reputation as the fastest loading and unloading harbour in the world.{{sfn|''Nambour Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser''|1950}}

Today, van Traa's ''Basisplan'' has been almost completely replaced with newer projects. For example, The [[Maritime Museum Rotterdam|Maritime Museum]] blocks the Window to the River, and [[Piet Blom]]'s [[Cube Houses]] create another barrier between the city and the river, where in the ''Basisplan'' there was tohad beenvisaged a connection between them.{{sfn|Christiaanse|2012|pp=7–17}} The [[Euromast]] Tower, which was built in 1960, is a related attempt to create a visual link between the city and the port, seemingly one of the last architectural structures that is related to van Traa's ''Basisplan''{{sfn|Meyer|1999|pp=309–328}} before later attempts like the Boompjes Boulevard in 1991.{{sfn|Christiaanse|2012|pp=46}}

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