“Bombed-outers scatter through other areas of Germany, carrying their bad morale like an infectious disease… Bombing psychosis is a widespread plague in Germany. Its worst victims are called ‘panic idiots.’ A city that has not been bombed for a long time is even more nervous than a recently bombed city, mainly because its inhabitants expect it to come every minute. Fear of death eats away morale. Some people don’t want to work because there is no sense in creating something that will be smashed the next day.”
“Disease is rampant in bombed areas. One in every three bombed-outers has something wrong with them. The yellow flag was raised in Hamburg last summer, as cholera and typhus had their day. Brewers from all over Germany rushed their beer to the thirsty Hamburgers who could not drink the polluted water. The hospitals were over-filled. Out of ten cases of cholera, seven died. Practically all the doctors were at the front.”
“The bombed-outers are asking themselves what will be their fate when the turnover comes. Will they be down-and-outers again or will they be busy cleaning up the ruins of German cities? Or will they be carried off to Russia to clean up the Russian ruins?”
Click here to read more articles about life on the German home front.
Click here to read about the harried everyday life on a U.S. bomber base in England…
