The Heroes of Weiden

The evaluation of historical aerial photographs from the time of World War II is an important tool for explosive ordnance reconnaissance, as aerial photographs are considered objective evidence of events. The physical reality at a known location was documented at a known point in time and allows the evaluator, separated by time and space, to identify structures such as explosive bomb funnels or battle positions, to classify them objectively and from this to base suspicions regarding a possible explosive ordnance load.

For the individual processor, the activity of evaluating aerial photographs is usually primarily a technical act in which the stories and fates of those who lived in the place and time in question usually remain hidden from the aerial photographer. It is all the more impressive when the coarse-grained black-and-white images merge with the lore collected by historians and tell of human fates or heroic deeds.

Such a tragic heroic story crystallised in the course of the evaluation of aerial photographs showing the city of Weiden in the Upper Palatinate in April 1945. A few hundred metres outside the then city area, several enormous craters up to 35 metres in diameter stood out in the images. In addition, all buildings within a radius of 100 metres around the craters were completely destroyed and building damage was still visible more than 200 metres away. The size of the craters alone, but also their location directly on a railway line, ruled out the usual wartime events such as bombardments, artillery fire or blasting. Explosive bomb craters from air raids are much smaller and more widely scattered. Even the largest bombs dropped by the Allies, the so-called "tallboys", do not produce craters more than 30 metres in diameter. So what had happened here?

The answer to this question led to the story of two men who saved the city and lost their lives in the process. The well-known events begin with a tactical air raid on 16 April 1945 by American low-flying aircraft on Weiden railway station. During this attack, a goods train carrying large quantities of highly explosive fuel for the V2 rockets caught fire. The engine driver, Johann Grünwald, and his stoker, Georg Dietl, then put the engine under steam and led the burning train out of the city. The men knew what they were getting into. Grünewald had already led ammunition trains before and on that day took over the service of a colleague who had more and younger children than himself, probably in order not to expose him to danger. The aerial photographs bear witness to the unavoidable explosion of the train outside the city and the devastation it caused, which cost the lives of more than 60 people, including Grünewald and Dietl themselves. Had the two left the train in the station to save their own lives, the explosion would probably have destroyed the entire station and much of the city. The loss of life would have been many times greater. To commemorate the events of 16 April 1945 and in recognition of their deed, the city of Weiden placed a memorial stone to the two men on the forecourt of the station in 2005 and renamed the square "Johann Grünwald und Georg Dietl-Platz".