AMD 4

For this AMD, I decided to dig a little bit into German history. I remembered reading in Vorsprung that the city of Mannheim was heavily attacked during World War II, so I decided to read into why.

Mannheim is located at the meeting of two rivers - the Rhine River and the Neckar River. Cities on rivers are very strategic; Germany wouldn't want to lose it and the Allies wouldn't want Germany to have it. During World War II, Mannheim was an important industrial city for Nazi Germany, further increasing its importance.

We learned in Vorsprung that Mannheim was heavily bombed during WWII, but it didn't tell us the extent of the bombing. Throughout the entire war (1939-1945), Mannheim saw over 150 air raids. It was attacked by both the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force. They bombed civilian areas as well as factories. The first deliberate "terror bombing" by the Royal Air Force was on Mannheim.

Despite the amount of destruction Mannheim experienced in WWII, it has certainly rebounded, as has the rest of Europe.