Memorial Bombing Mainz February 27 1945

Memorial to the Victims of the Air Raid on Mainz on February 27 1945, an attack by 435 RAF bombers which dropped over1500 tonnes of bombs on the Neustadt area. Though not the only raid on the city (the Old Town had been destroyed in 1942) it was particularly heavy and destroyed much of the New City. The red sandstone memorial is inscribed with the date of the attack and is carved with a relief of a man standing on rubble holding a dead woman in his hands. In the background a representation of Mainz is shown in flames with the Church of St Peter identifiable by its onion-shaped towers. Two bomber planes.are also depicted but, bizarrely, the artist has copied a modern passenger airliner rather than an actual WW2 aircraft. Near the memorial are buried victims of the many air raids on Mainz, including some of the 1209 citizens killed on 27 February 1945 (a large number are also buried in the Waldfriedhof at Mombach).

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Source

• Text: Andy Pegler
• Photos: Andy Pegler