GOETZ: K-605 Bombs on the Cathedral of Cologne

cacheman

K-605 BOMBS ON THE CATHEDRAL OF COLOGNE, 1943, Cast AE, 101.8mm, Wt. 240g., Incuse Edge punch, UNC. R.

On the occasion of the beginning of the ‘round-the-clock” bombing throughout Germany by ‘Anglo-American’ airforce units in March 1942. During this, and all other area bombing raids of the war, the cathedral escaped major damage. In May 1942 the R.A.F. bombed Cologne with 1000 bombers during Operation Millenium. The Thousand Bomber Raid

Obverse: Bomber dropping bombs near the cathedral and inscription along rim ‘British and American bombers.’

Reverse: A family flees the bombing.

WhiteLighnin

Wow...that medal sure makes a powerful statement (no pun intended)...beautiful!!!!!

Aethelred

Is the family on the reverse the Goetz family? I noticed the "K G" on the suitcase.

AuldFartte

Awesome!!! You posted another "bombing" medal a while back
that Goetz did, too. Was there a series of these?

MSD61

CoinAddict

Awesome detail on the cathedral.

cacheman

Not the Goetz family, they were living in Munich at the time. The suitcase appears to have been a convenient place to sign the piece.

Yes, Goetz did a series of six bombing medals of different cities. I currently have three of them.

Askari

All of them are pretty rare, too. Is this a new example or a reimage?

cacheman

Everything I've been showing this past week is new to my collection. I still have about fifteen more to image...

Aethelred

<< <i>Everything I've been showing this past week is new to my collection. I still have about fifteen more to image... >>



Get busy!

Aethelred

BTW - Why did you remove the link to your website?

cacheman

I had some a-hole from the OF digging through my image server which indicated to me that he was doing more than just prying there and elsewhere...

You can go to www.KarlGoetz.com to see the collection minus patterns.

1jester

Cacheman, sorry to hear about the OF hacker!!

I believe the Allies made a concerted effort to spare such architectural monuments as the Cologne cathedral.

PuddlePirate

Actually I'm surprised he was allowed to make them as they would not have been "PC" while Hitler was declaring the allies air campaign would be crushed. One of my uncles (now deceased) flew B17 daylight bombing missions with the Eigth out of England. When you got a few drinks into him he would try to describe what it was like if you pressed him hard enough. He flew something like forty plus missions into Europe, he survived the 25 mission "get to go home" marker but went back after his war bond tour in the US and when the war ended was close to his second "furlough".

theboz11

Askari

While there was a policy to avoid destroying significant cultural artifacts, it was hard to put into practice, especially from the air. For one thing, bombing accuracy from high-altitude bombers was atrocious in those days, even with Norden bomb sights and such. Often a quarter of the bombs dropped missed the city the key targets were located in.