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During World War II, Leipzig was repeatedly attacked by British as well as American air raids. The most severe attack was launched by the Royal Air Force in the early hours of 4 December 1943 and claimed more than 1,800 lives.
In April 1945, as World War II came to an end, the monument actually became one. How that happened is a story in itself. A key part of the battle for Leipzig centered around the huge Völkerschlachtdenkmal monument, dedicated to the defeat of Napoleon in 1813, shown here in a recent photo.
Leipzig saw several heavy air raids during the Second World War. When US troops entered the city in April 1945, they found Leipzig 40 to 60 percent destroyed. The city center and the suburbs near the center were particularly hardly damaged.
21 kwi 2020 · April 1945, um 2:00 Uhr morgens, der Kampf um Leipzig. Rund 200 deutsche Soldaten, Volkssturmmänner und Hitlerjungen sowie 20 US-Soldaten haben ihn mit ihrem Leben bezahlt. Der Zweite Weltkrieg...
The “bomber stream” of over 500 aircraft menaced the sky, dropping 90,000 staff incendiary bombs and over 1,000 liquid incendiary bombs. 5,000 fires erupted at once, mostly in the city center and the historical old part of town, making it impossible to control. The major roads were made impassable.
During the Second World War (from 1939 to 1945), at least, 75,000 people were deported to Leipzig to work as forced labourers. They came from all countries which the German Wehrmacht had occupied and, in particular, from Poland and the Soviet Union.
During the fierce battle for Leipzig, the 69th Infantry Division uncovered Leipzig-Thekla, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, on April 19, 1945. The camp had been established in September 1943 to supply labor for the German war effort.
