The Aschaffeburg, located on the Main River, is the largest town on the lower Main area of Bavaria.

Schloss Johannisburg

Postmarked 1902

Schloss Johannisburg, the main feature of the Aschaffenburg skyline, dates to the 17th century and until 1803 was the seat of the Archbishopric and Electorate State of Mainz and served as the second residence of the archbishops. It is one of the most important examples of Renaissance German palace architecture.

Posted 1900

Aschaffenburg Posted 1915

Aschaffenburg a M vom Bischberg [Aschaffenburg on the Main River vom Bisch mountain]

Posted but stamp was removed with date.

Not posted.

Aschaffenburg vom Bischberg

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[ The New Sandorborgen _ The Sandtor built in the later part of the 14th century (around 1380). My German is very bad, so I do not know if this date is for the whole church or just the tower.]

Posted 1912

[gasse=lane - on the left is the Kulrursatte (renamed?) Jesuit Church - on the right the former mansion of "Zur Starkeburg"]

[Justive Building]

Posted 1917

Posted 1900

Stiftkirche, St Peter and Alexander, fruheste Erwahnug in einer Urkunde Kaiser Ottos II im Jahre 974.

[was mentioned? in a document of Emperor Otto II in 974.]

Posted 1916

Interior Stiftkircke

Posted 1916

Aschaffenburg Stiftplaz

Posted 1943

This view is taken from a slight turn to the left of the image above. The end of the side of the church? is to the right. The very ornate building is the Lowen Apothecary, seen in other pictures below.

The Lowen Apothecary is on the right.

Aschaffenburg Dalbergstrasse

The following pictures were taken from Aschaffenburgh Einst Und Jetzt [Achaffenburgh, then and now] published in 1947. The book contains pictures of Aschaffenburg before and after the war.

These pictures were all taken before the war.

[Lowen Apothocary "a precious jewel" of medieval town architecture]

The very ornately faced building was the Lowen Apothecary. Both it and the building to the right of it either survived the war or were restored after the war. There are several images of these buildings in the postcards above. I took a picture of these buildings when we were in Aschaffenburg in 2007. See below.

The Romanesque Stiftskerche [Convent church] and the Lowen Apothecary

[brunner=well - the Dalbergs were a royal family in Germany.]

[Caritahsiem=Caritas home]

Modern pictures of Dalbergstrasse show that parts of it have been restored. I took some pictures of Dalbergstrasse when we were in Aschaffenburg in 207. See below.

[old half timbered houses near St Agnes chruch]

Johannisburg Palace on the Main River

See Aschaffenburg and Achaffenburg (official Site) for more history.

Aschaffenburg was heavily bombed in a 10 day battle in March 1945. In trying to determine why Aschaffenburg was bombed I discovered that the United States had a policy of strategic precision bombing that was intended to avoid civilian populations. However, the United States Army Air Force bombed several cities in Germany including: Aschaffenburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, Kassek, Pfozheim, Darmstadt, Swinemuende, Leipzig, Mainz, Hamburg, Dresden and Wurzburg resulting in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths and the destruction of multiple cultural landmarks. One of the most controversial bombing raids was the destruction of Dresden in February 1945 when an estimated 250,000 people died within a 14 hour period (by comparison estimated deaths at Hiroshima range from 90,000 to 140,000). Dresden was known as a cultural center and had no military value, it had been spared ealier during the war because it was designated an "open city" (Cities, such as Paris, Rome and Florence, had such designations because of their cultural value. They were more or less spared being bombed.)

I was not able to determine why Aschaffenburg was targeted. However it appears that the city was strongly defended by the Germans.

"The fighting around Aschaffenburg was a very small part of the mosaic that was World War II in March and April 1945.

The character of the fighting was such that it made an impression on even those with a broad view of the war. Secretary of War Stimson made this comment at his weekly news conference on 7 April 1945:

"There is a lesson with respect to fighting to the end in Aschaffenburg. There Nazi fanatics used the visible threat of two hangings to compel German solders and civilians to fight for a week. After a week of fighting, during which the city was reduced to rubble and many Germans lost their lives, the inevitable took place and the Nazi fanatics ran up the white flag and surrendered to our veteran 45th Infantry Division."

From: THE BATTLE OF ASCHAFFENBURG: AN EXAMPLE OF LATE WORLD WAR I1 URBAN COMBAT IN EUROPE A thesis presented to the Faculty of the U. S. Army Command and General Staff College In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE, QUENTIN W. SCHILLARE. MAJ, USA B.S.. University of Connecticut, 1967 B.A., University of Connecticut. 1974 M.B.A., University of Connecticut, 1977, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 1989

Note: I found his thesis on line but for some reason couldn't get back to it. In September Dave Kerr emailed me the link. The Battle of Aschaffnburg

Major Schillare made the following points about the strategic significance of Aschaffenberg:

• A transportation hub
• An industrial center: coal, stone, cellulose, paper, furniture, chemicals and breweries
• A market town

Major Schillare estimates that about 70% of the city was destroyed and about 60% of the population (including military) were killed).

"I was stationed in Aschaffenburg 1967-1969. Great city. It was my understanding that the city was destroyed during WWII by three US army tanks placed atop "Three Cross Hill" in or near Schweinheim. The reason for destruction, as I came to understand it, was uniforms were manufactured there. Ate and drank in Schalpessipple (sp?) near Schloss Johannisburg. Also spent much time at a guesthaus in Goldbach."

[Bavarian folk costumes, Unterfranken and Aschaffenburg]

Not posted

Tom and I took a trip to Aschaffenburg in July 2007.

The Schloss Johanessburg from the river, Main.

Stiftsplatz — Stiftskerche

Convent Church of Sts. Peter and Alexander.

The building at the extreme left of the photo is the former Lowenapotheke.

Jesuit Church

This map of Aschaffenbuerg 1821 is at the Naturwissenschaftliches Museum, where the guard gave me permission to take this photo.

While this image is not very clear (due in part to the difficulty of phographing through the glass) it does give some idea of the size of the town in 1821.

The red square in the top right is the Schloss Johannisburg. The other buildings indicated in red are in St Maria's parish. Those in yellow are in St Peters and those in blue in St Agatha parishes. The green areas represent gardens. The red rectangle near the bottom (above "Garten") was where Tom and I stayed in 2007. It is now the Hotle Wilder Mann.

For more information on Aschaffenburgh go to the official site at Stadt Aschaffenburg - English

My thanks to Pia for sending me the web address - September 2008