Mystery of Bangor’s visionary ‘Protector’ of WWII University

A Bangor University professor and local City councillor are digging into history to unearth the identity of a Bangor student credited with having saved one of Germany’s leading universities from carpet bombing and obliteration during WWII to enable it to feed a starving Europe after the Nazi surrender in 1945.

Bangor Councillor Mark Roberts said: “What is known is that while the city of Stuttgart was almost totally blitzed by target and carpet bombing by RAF Lancaster, Wellington and Mosquito bombers from 1940 onwards and later US Air Force Flying Fortresses, the ancient university of Hohenheim survived intact.”

“And that was down to a single Bangor University student or perhaps a lecturer, who at outbreak of war joined the RAF and became one of the Bomber Command forward targeting officers – but in his case deciding which sites not to hit under any circumstance.

“He had previously been at Bangor’s then prestigious Department of Agriculture and knew of the equally important work in crops-production, livestock breeding, fertilizer and soils R+D of the Hohenheim university in Stuttgart.  He appealed directly to the then Ministry of Food, the War Office and Bomber Command that Hohenheim be saved at all costs from Allied bombing. 

“Without Hohenheim’s academic and research work in food production, Europe might well have starved after the war’s end.”

Protection

And while RAF and US bombers pounded Stuttgart day and night over four years to obliterate the city’s military war factories, railway lines and specifically critical ball-bearing and vehicle production sites, the University itself was ordered to be saved ‘at all costs’.

Hohenheim University was so well protected against even accidental hits that in later years of the war the more accurate Mosquito bombers rather than ‘hit-and-miss’ Wellington and Lancasters were used over Stuttgart.

Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Christian Dunn of Bangor’s School of Environmental and Natural Sciences is now working with Cllr. Roberts to delve into history

He added: “It would be terrific if we could put a name to this enterprising and visionary University student or staff member who recognised the importance of Honhenheim University and saved it from certain destruction.  But so many of our students and staff volunteered for military service at outbreak of war that our University records can’t pin-point them to particular Service rolls.  

“But we do know of course that Bangor and Hohenheim were then both world leaders in higher education understanding of agriculture production in all its forms and yes, without research, Europe would have starved.  

“Food rationing in Britain was only finally lifted in 1954 long after the war, but with mass relocation of refugees and transient populations Europe was in even worse state.”

Relentless

Allied bombing in and around Stuttgart was relentless from 1940-1945.   From early year average bomber runs of 300 aircraft per night, numbers increased to up to 598 bombers in one night in 1944 when Stuttgart was almost annihiliated. 

In total, 27,000 tons of high explosives and more than 1.3 million incendiary bombs were dropped.  4,562 Germans were killed and thousands more displaced.

Mr Roberts said: “It just seems incredible to me that the Hohenheim university just a few miles outside the city centre but close to rail marshalling yards and other critical targets like factories making magnetos for the German Luftwaffe and Panzer tanks and Bosch producing military equipment survived and especially as the University to the south of the city was on the narrow ‘fly-out’ corridor for bombers where crews would normally jettison bombs randomly to give them extra height to avoid German anti-aircraft guns and night fighters and escape the area to return home.

“Wonderfully, Hohenheim remains one of Europe’s finest agricultural and natural resources universities’, said Prof Dunn.  ‘Bangor has always been a leading teaching and research institute for environmental and agricultural issues, and lost its Agriculture department status some years ago, but it is marvellous to think we were part of Stuttgart’s survival in this area too.  

“What we’d love to do now is to track back for the name of the far-sighted young man who confidently argued his case before the War Office to have a strict ‘no-fly-zone’ radius around the Hohenheim University.  He’d deserve an Honorary Doctorate from us, if not a Nobel Peace Prize today!”

Hope

Cllr Roberts added: “I first heard of this story directly from an elderly former Wellington bomber Sergeant Navigator of 40 Squadron RAF but not knowing where Hohenheim was or really knowing the relationship between it and Bangor I didn’t pay much attention.  

“Then I later got to know more of Honhenheim from a dear friend Sophie Reimers who is part of the university president’s senior staff there … and now I wish I’d paid more attention to what the survivor of umpteen bombing raids told me over a couple of beers.   

“The lovely old chap I met, a decorated RAF bomber navigator, explained that there were umpteen levels of ‘don’t bomb’ sites mapped out for them.  Residential areas, cultural and historic building were listed ‘avoid if possible’, others were red-marked as ‘AVOID ABSOLUTE’ and these included areas where Allied PoWs or Resistance fighters were known to be imprisoned by the Germans.

“Hohenheim University fell into this latter category. He remembered it quite well as it was dangerously close to one of his primary targets … but it was a case of finger off the ‘bombs drop’ trigger!

“I really hope it’s not too late to find out who this savour was and thus complete the story in his tribute’ added Cllr. Roberts.

Professor Dunn added: “If we can put a name to this visionary, then it will be easier to research the wartime records which will be buried somewhere in official government archives.”