Text 27796, 47 rader
Skriven 2009-02-23 17:32:43 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Question
================
Hello Ward,

On Monday February 23 2009 11:05, you wrote to Lee Lofaso:

 WD> The German cities had been bombed to smithereens by the Allies. The
 WD> Nazis themselves behaved like butchers on their drive east, especially
 WD> on Russian soil. In the west there was major damage to Rotterdam (and
 WD> the Hague?) which was severely bombed by the Nazis.

Not The Hague. My mother and her parents lived in The Hague. There was of
course some damage due to small scale violence and an occasional plane falling
from the sky, just like everywhere else, but no large scale damage.

Near the end of the war the city of Nijmegen was bombed by the allies. at first
t was thought to be due a navigation error, it is close to the Ruhr area, but
it later turned out to have been a deliberate attack on the Nijmegen railway
station.

And of course there was a lot of damage from the battle of Arnhem.

 WD> There was damage along the path where the liberating armies chased the
 WD> Nazis back accross the Rhine. But where there was no fighting the
 WD> towns remained OK.

 WD> Look at Amsterdam, Brussels, Antwerp, Luxembourg, Paris, Reims, Metz,
 WD> Strassbourg... London ... There were scars but no major destruction.

Scars indeed. But to say that Europe was in rubble is definitely incorrect.

 WD> I have the stories how life was first hand ... from survivors ... my
 WD> parents.

Same here. Plus my aunts and uncles and grandparents.

 LL>> If it had not been for the Marshall Plan, Europe would
 LL>> still be living the Dark Ages.

 WD> While Marshall aid was welcomed and necessary, not everybody got it.

It was welcomed but if it had not been there, we would have rebuild without it.
It would just have taken longer.


Cheers, Michiel

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