Flådestation Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven var en af de vigtigste baser for den tyske krigsmarine og blev derfor udsat for flere kraftige allieredes bombeangreb. En del af installationerne var en marineskole til uddannelse af nye rekrutter. Den tysk marine opførte i 1943 i alt 6 beskyttelsesbunkers til beskyttelse af deres mandskab i Bremerhaven, såkaldte Marinemandskabsbunkere.

Hen imod slutningen af krigen blev Bremerhaven forskånet for bombeangreb, fordi amerikanerne havde planer om at benytte havnen, til en kommende forsyningsbase.

“  I was an MP in Bremerhaven 1969-71. The tallest tower in the city was partly destroyed and burnt. The Flugplatz (German airfield where the base was located now closed and used commercially) was not hit. Nor were the bunkers along the water wall. Amazing. Looking at the buildings one can tell the age. From what I saw, damage was not as bad as for places like Frankfurt, Dresden, etc. But buildings, especially on the outskirts of the downtown area, are new. I don't know if the train station was hit. Also the buildings on the two main streets appear to be old and mainly intact. That's all I can say.

One more thing. Wesermunde is actually Bremen, not Bremerhaven. Don't confuse the two cities. Bremen is much larger and more strategic during WWII. Afterwords, Bremerhaven was used to ship troops home by vessels. Later, ships going back and forth from the US delivered arms, vehicles, military weaponry, POVs, belongings of rotating in and out military personnel. It was done by SS Callaghan. I helped unload it a couple of times. I think the main strategic item in Bremerhaven were the bunkers which I was told were missed by bombs falling either into the sea/river or land. The ones I looked at had zero damage. Why the airfield was not bombed is also unknown. Otherwise the train going from Bremento points north such as Hamburg or Kiel were of major importance, but not Bremerhaven.  ”

“  I have read the comments and discovered errors. The city of Wesermünde (now Bremerhaven) was bombed 52 times. 1142 people was killed and 2038 injured in that time. It fell in 2366 explosive bombs, 424535 incendiary bombs and 32 aerial mines. The bombings destroyed 56.5% of housing in the city, in the middle of the City was it 97% .

The Morgenstern Museum has a special exhibition in the press photos are shown from between 1947 and 1960th. Here the scars of war are very well documented  ”

Peter Raap

“  Yes you are very correct, 55,000 women and children where killed in just one of the bombings in May 44. The Morgenstern-Museum in Bremerhaven has an excellent room devoted to just that one event. My mother worked in Bremerhaven, the pictures I have are a horror. ”

Dr. Larry Dreher