RRE Tribe & You: TBT: Cologne, Germany & Me

Sunday, November 24, 2019

TBT: Cologne, Germany & Me

First, to properly pronounce the town of Cologne's name, click H E R E.
It is not how we Westerners would usually do it. My DIL, who is German, says it perfectly.

Second, the Fox News post below prompted a memory of Sis' father-in-law's warning during our visit to Germany approximately 1 year ago. Americans are generally disliked by the people of Cologne and for good reason. The town was devastatingly destroyed and flattened, and many thousands were killed or homeless during World War 2 because of the Allies.

The Allies dropped 44,923.2 tons of bombs on the city during World War II, destroying 61% of its built up area. During the Bombing of Cologne in World War II, Cologne endured 262 air raids by the Western Allies, which caused approximately 20,000 civilian casualties and almost completely wiped out the central part of the city. During the night of 31 May 1942, Cologne was the target of "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosives, approximately two-thirds of which were incendiary. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acres of built-up area (61%), killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless. - wikipedia

World War II veteran Clarence Smoyer, 95, received the Bronze Star Medal on Wednesday for his heroic actions that helped destroy a German tank and take the crucial city of Cologne.

Smoyer was a tank gunner with the famous "Eagle 7" M26 Pershing tank crew, which blew up a Nazi Panther tank that had killed several American soldiers on March 6, 1945.

His lieutenant told them, "'Gentlemen, I give you Cologne. Let's knock the hell out of it,' and we obliged," Smoyer told the Defense Department following the event at the National World War II Memorial in Washington.

I am thankful that historic Cologne Cathedral remains standing though it sustained 14 aerial bomb hits during WW2. No, I am not a Catholic; I admire it for its historical significance and as a great example of gothic architecture.