[steve-b]

BOMBING OF ROTTERDAM Hitler had envisioned needing only one day to beat the Dutch army. The operation was now stretching into five days. On May 14, 1940 General Schmidt (German Commander of the 39th Army Corps) issued an ultimatum to Colonel Scharroo, the Dutch Commander of Rotterdam. Rotterdam was to be destroyed if the troops did not surrender. General Winkelman, Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch armed forces, wanted to play for time. He asked Scharroo to request a second ultimatum. Schmidt ordered the bombardment postponed due to the further surrender negotiations. He had a new ultimatum drawn up at 1:20 p.m. and allowed Scharroo three hours to surrender. However, German bombers appeared within mere minutes. Panicking, Schmidt ordered red flares to be let off to indicate surrender. It was too late. One squadron could abort its attack in time, but the planes approaching from the east dropped their bombs on the City. The bombing lasted for fifteen minutes and the resulting disruption was beyond belief. Houses were on fire and the power failed. The whole city was in a state of chaos. Rotterdam mourned some 800 dead, while 78,000 people were homeless. Half an hour before the second ultimatum expired, Scharroo signed the surrender of Rotterdam.

Well, then, now that you've admitted that the Nazis targeted civilian populations as a matter of policy, I suppose you'll be bowing out of this thread.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Well, then, now that you've admitted that the Nazis targeted civilian populations as a matter of policy, I suppose you'll be bowing out of this thread.

Perhaps you would be so kind as to point out the policy memo making this a matter of policy in what I quoted, like the famous memos between Churchill and Bomber Harris.

No? Well, I didn't think you could.