It was a Sunday in April. It was a beautiful spring day, the sun was shining from almost clear skies giving off a nice spring temperature. The trees in the parks had already been given a splash of colour by spring and the lawns were green. It was about nine in the morning so there were not that many people out in the streets. Everything seemed to be peaceful and there were no signs of danger. It was three days until the Ascension Day of Christ.
The silence was suddenly interrupted by the air defense sirens. High up in the sky there was a white cloud of smoke in the shape of a semicircle and further out a few small, white smoky spots as a dotted line to the west. As the planes became visible a low humming sound was heard. Shortly afterwards, a strange hissing, unfamiliar sound of something being dropped from the planes followed by two loud roars.
The first bombs were dropped on the city.
The bombing lasted for four days, more or less continuously from Sunday 28 April to 1 May 1940. The German planes took off from an occupied airport further north with eleven Heinkel 111, four Junker 88 and three dive bombers Junker 87 “Stuka”. With normal German thoroughness, the small town was systematically wiped out. Over 800 buildings were destroyed, and 12,000 people forced to flee. Only six people were killed during the attack.
Yesterday Russia attacked and invaded Ukraine. It seems very little has changed in 82 years.
The picture above shows my hometown soon after the bombing.
Billy Bronco is telling you 