171-630: The Upper Ruhr Valley Railway ( German : Obere Ruhrtalbahn ) is a 138-kilometre-long, non-electrified line from Schwerte (Ruhr) station ) through the Hochsauerland (high Sauerland ) to Warburg in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia . It is the most southerly of the east-west lines that run from the Ruhr to eastern Germany and it connects the rural Hochsauerlandkreis with the Ruhr. The line
342-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
513-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
684-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
855-704: A Lancaster without bombs from 463 Squadron carried two cameramen from the RAF Film Unit accompanied 617 Squadron. A report from 129 Squadron , part of the escorting Mustang force, called the bomber formation tight but then the bombers flew into cloud at 14,000 ft (4,300 m). The squadron flew over the Möhne Dam with its barrage balloons, smoke screen and anti-aircraft fire. The cameramen in PD329 Y had been briefed to film PB966 C , flown by Flight-Lieutenant P. H. Martin and formated on its starboard side, with
1026-416: A SABS fault. Two spans of the bridge, about 100 ft (30 m) long and one pier had been destroyed, the track on the west bank had been cut, 115 ft (35 m) of one of the embankments had been shoved out of line and the entrance to a tunnel on the east bank had been blocked; no damage had been caused to a Red Cross camp nearby. After the war the casings of a Grand Slam and a Tallboy were found at
1197-529: A bucketful at a time. Once the tail section was connected, the Grand Slam was 25.5 ft (7.8 m) long, 3.10 ft (0.94 m) at its widest diameter and weighed 22,400 lb (10,200 kg). As with the Tallboy, the fins of the Grand Slam were angled and generated a stabilising spin and the Grand Slam had a charge-to-weight ratio of 43 per cent. Four fuzes were provided, one specially made for
1368-438: A cameraman in the nose turret to film the Grand Slam as it fell away and the other on the floor of the fuselage filming vertically. Closer to the target, PD329 Y dropped back and flew on the port quarter of PB966 C . The bomb was not to be dropped from under 14,000 ft (4,300 m) but Martin, the pilot, could not coax the bomber above 12,700 ft (3,900 m). On its five-minute bombing run, Martin had to fly within
1539-485: A connection was opened to the centre of Brilon, from which there were rail connections to Paderborn and Geseke (via Büren ) and to Soest and Lippstadt (via Belecke). During the Second World War the line was busy because it linked the Ruhr with the supply lines far to the east and because the line's cuttings and tunnels made it difficult for low-flying aircraft to find. Traffic was so thin that at times
1710-643: A considerable capacity to penetrate. On 18 July 1943, after the Dams raid , the Controller of Research and Development at the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) received a requirement for twelve Tallboy Small [4,000 lb (1,800 kg)] bombs, 60 unfilled Tallboy Medium (Tallboy) bombs and 100 Tallboy Large. Lack of capacity led to work on the Tallboy Large being stopped on 30 September. Interest in
1881-539: A conventional B.Mk 1 built in 1944, which was to be modified to a B.MK 1 (Special). Some equipment did not need to be fitted but other items were removed, which began a period of removals and reinstatements; a conference on 25 February was necessary to sort out the confusion. The front and mid-upper turrets were to go, along with the H2S, its fairing and the TR1196 R/T set, electric lights, flare chutes, flame dampers, some of
SECTION 10
#17327875699702052-550: A crater 124 ft (38 m) in diameter and 34 ft (10 m) deep; 617 Squadron was phoned from a nearby pub and told of the success; formal permission to use the bomb was given on 22 March and operations began the same day. By mid-March 1945, over 3,500 long tons (3,600 t) had been dropped on the Bielefeld viaduct in 54 attacks and damage from 17 hits in one raid was repaired in 24 hours. After an abortive attempt against viaducts at Arnsberg and Bielefeld on 9 March
2223-513: A day raid by 1 and 8 Groups on an oil refinery at Bremen; other Main Force aircraft attacked targets in Münster and Rheine . The first Grand Slam was dropped from 13,000 ft (4,000 m), landing 30 yd (27 m) short and the second fell 200 yd (180 m) off target to the north, due to flak (anti-aircraft fire) and aiming problems. The Tallboys hit the middle of the bridge and
2394-520: A figure he repeated in his 2013 publication. in 1947 Sir Arthur Harris wrote, When the success [of the Tallboy bomb] was proved, Wallis designed a yet more powerful weapon… This 22,000 lb bomb did not reach us before the spring of 1945, when we used it with great effect against viaducts or railways leading to the Ruhr and also against several U-boat shelters. If it had been necessary, it would have been used against underground factories, and preparations for attacking some of these were well advanced when
2565-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
2736-418: A minute and despite 1-hour delay fuzes, three bombs exploded immediately. Two of the fourteen hits on the pens were by Grand Slams and one by a Tallboy, the hits landing on the un-thickened part of the roof on the west side. The Grand Slams penetrated 8 ft (2.4 m) into the concrete causing about 1,000 long tons (1,000 t) of the roof to fall in bringing down two moveable cranes. The thickened part of
2907-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
3078-461: A near miss with a Grand Slam and another crew claimed a hit, The first large bomb hit the bridge on the AP, [aiming point] and blew the bridge up. It collapsed in the water at the eastern end. There was a further direct hit in the centre. It had been planned that the fourth and eight rows of Lancasters would not bomb on the first pass and Flight Lieutenant L. S. Goodman reported that on the second bomb run
3249-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
3420-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
3591-737: A section of RE 57 services that end every two hours in Bestwig continues to Willingen. The line also used by many special trips with steam trains and rail buses . The Sauerland-Express is a Regional-Express services that runs from Hagen to Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe and is funded by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (Rhine-Ruhr Transport Association, VRR), Verkehrsgemeinschaft Ruhr-Lippe (Ruhr-Lippe Transport Company, VRL), Nahverkehrsverbund Paderborn-Höxter (Paderborn-Höxter Local Transport Association, nph) and Nordhessischer Verkehrsverbund (North Hessian Transport Association, NVV). It
SECTION 20
#17327875699703762-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
3933-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
4104-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
4275-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
4446-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
4617-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
4788-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
4959-587: Is hauled by class 294 locomotives. In the early morning hours, two trains operate along the Ruhr valley. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It
5130-699: Is included in the German railway timetable as line 435, which continues on the line from Schwerte to Hagen, which is part of the Hagen–Hamm railway . The Upper Ruhr Valley Railway is named after the Ruhr valley , which it follows between Olsberg and Schwerte. Long-distance services ran on this route until the 1980s but it is now only served by Regional-Express services on the Hagen –Schwerte–Warburg– Kassel ) and Dortmund – Fröndenberg – Bestwig (– Winterberg / Willingen ) every hour and there are also some extra services in
5301-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
Upper Ruhr Valley Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
5472-661: Is not served) the fares of the VRR apply. VRL fares apply from Schwerte to Winterberg. The operation of freight on the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway long acted as an extension of the Mid-Germany Connection . This meant that the industry of the Ruhr was connected with supply points to the east. This east-west traffic increasingly fell away after the Second World War and it was used almost entirely for local freight traffic. Today, scheduled freight traffic
5643-619: Is now only a single track with crossing loops in Messinghausen, Marsberg and Scherfede. Speed limits on each section are as follows: Listed here are the only interlockings that are regularly staffed. The electronic interlocking in Hagen opened in 1995 was one of the first electronic interlocking systems of DB and used in the first stage Hp-Kompakt signals (the compact version of the colour light signal system developed in Germany in
5814-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
5985-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
6156-533: Is operated by DB Regio NRW with class 612 and 628.4 sets and is popular with tourists and users of the Schönen-Wochenende ("beautiful weekend") tickets. On the section from Hagen to Schwerte VRR fares apply. From Schwerte to Westheim VRL fares apply, from there to Warburg nph fares apply and finally the Warburg-Kassel section NPT fares apply. On the section from Dortmund to Schwerte (which
6327-479: Is operated with RegioSwinger (class 612) sets between Schwerte and Wickede at 140 km/h, continuing through Warburg to Kassel at a maximum speed of 140 km/h. Earlier the RE 17 was operated with Class 218 locomotives hauling three to six Silberling carriages together with class 624 diesel multiple units and later with class 628 DMUs . Today the services to and from Kassel are operated with class 612 sets and
6498-470: Is part of the Hagen–Hamm line and is used by trains on both lines 455 and 435 in the German railway timetable. The latter is operated by Deutsche Bahn as the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway. The line runs from Hagen to Olsberg along the Ruhr, which also gives the line its name. The line from Hagen via Schwerte to Hamm is electrified and double track, additional parallel tracks between Hagen and Schwerte belong to
6669-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
6840-496: Is restricted to gentle manoeuvres only. At weights in excess of 67,000lb there is a tendency for the aircraft to wallow, but use of the controls may aggravate this, and no move should be made to correct it. The Specials were to have day bomber camouflage, the black underside being painted in Sky a pale green shade with the upper surfaces keeping the usual dark green and dark earth. To discriminate between Tallboy and Grand Slam Lancasters,
7011-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
Upper Ruhr Valley Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
7182-646: Is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),
7353-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
7524-433: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
7695-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
7866-527: The Valentin pens and Heligoland; only two hits were achieved from thirteen bombings. The RAF and USAAF reports concluded that none of the bombs were effective against reinforced concrete and suggested more tests in 1947. The tests were resumed after 15 Squadron had finished dropping fifteen bombs on a battleship for the RN. The squadron was down to six Lancasters, four being B.Mk 1 (Special)s, not capable of carrying
8037-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
8208-568: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
8379-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
8550-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
8721-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
SECTION 50
#17327875699708892-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
9063-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
9234-629: The Ruhr–Sieg railway and to the freight line from Hagen to Hagen-Vorhalle . The Upper Ruhr Valley Railway branches from the Hagen–Hamm line in Schwerte station and in Schwerte Ost station it is joined by a connecting curve, which is used by the RE 57 service from Dortmund. The line is double track, winding and relatively steep to Bestwig. This was the location of Bestwig depot, which is still used for train parking, refuelling and cleaning. In Bestwig
9405-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
9576-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
9747-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
9918-459: The Weser near Nienburg . The bridge was 200 yd (180 m) long with three steel girder spans. The railway approached the river from the south-west along an embankment until 460 yd (420 m) from the river where it crossed a meadow on a low-lying steel viaduct resting on piers. The bombers were escorted by twenty Mustang Mk IIIs of 306 (Polish) Squadron and 309 (Polish) Squadron . Another five fighter squadrons were provided to escort
10089-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
10260-466: The 1,650 lb (750 kg) bomb and achieved seven hits, some of which broke on the roof. Tests with a 1,000 lb (450 kg) obtained three hits out of seven. Five Grand Slam bombs are preserved and displayed in Britain at the RAF Museum, London , Brooklands Museum , RAF Lossiemouth , Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Visitors' Centre at RAF Coningsby . Casings, without their tails, can be seen at
10431-399: The 1,650 lb (750 kg) bombs being tested. The other two could carry the bomb but 15 Squadron was re-equipping with Avro Lincolns and six of these were to be altered to carry SABS and radar altimeters. Three USAF B-29s participated again to drop the 1,650 lb (750 kg) bombs from 30,000 ft (9,100 m) which was above the ceiling of the SABS. The B-29s were also to drop
SECTION 60
#173278756997010602-453: The 1990s, trains ran from Duisburg and Cologne to Willingen and Korbach on autumn weekends. The last pair of express trains were D 2641 and D 2640, which ran once a week between Düsseldorf and Willingen until December 2003. Long-distance trains coming from the west had to change to diesel traction at Hagen station as the line is not electrified. The non-electrified line was for a long time served with diesel hauled regional trains. In 2002,
10773-436: The 20th century) instead of the usual system now used for electronic interlocking, the Ks-Signalsystem . On the line there are in normal operation, there is currently one permanent speed restriction at a level crossing between Brilon Wald and Hoppecke (20 km/h). The Schwerte–Warburg section is no longer served by long-distance trains. There used to be a D-Zug express train on the Amsterdam – Bad Wildungen route, using
10944-399: The 617 Squadron slipstream. The Mustangs jettisoned their drop tanks and 122 Squadron bounced the German jets which raced away. The Polish 306, 309 and 315 squadrons attacked the jets and claimed three Me 262s shot down and three damaged; two Lancasters were shot down. The coastal gun batteries on the islands of Heligoland and Düne in the Heligoland Bight , the south-eastern extremity of
11115-537: The 9 Squadron bombers were to act as wind finders, the results being broadcast to the rest of the squadron at H minus 5. As 9 Squadron flew towards the island, they were surprised to see 617 Squadron attacking, climbed 1,000 ft (300 m) to keep out of the way and circled while waiting for their fighter escort. The attack by 617 Squadron was made in two waves against hardly any anti-aircraft fire and all bar one aircraft bombed. Photographic evidence showed two hits on aiming point H and several near misses, which added to
11286-404: The Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) any complacency about an imminent end to the war was confounded; the Grand Slam production order was revised again for 25 from British sources and 200 from the US. An expanded version of the Tallboy design was not feasible and the English Steel Corporation of Sheffield began work on "large boilers" in late 1944. Experiments with the composition of
11457-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
11628-478: The Far East to join Tiger Force , Grand Slams were carried by Lancasters from 15 Squadron , into whose C Flight, the 617 Squadron crews not sent abroad were moved with their B.Mk 1 (Specials) and their SABS bomb sights. The Watten bunker, in the Pas de Calais , which has been used for Royal Navy Disney bomb tests, was bombed with Grand Slams. In May 1946, Operation Front Line began with the participation of US B-29 bombers. Tallboy and Grand Slams were dropped on
11799-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
11970-411: The German V-2 rocket bombardment of London began, which had been expected by the British since Operation Hydra (the attack on the Peenemünde research centre on the night of 17/18 August 1943), and Grand Slams were considered as a weapon to be used on V-2 launch sites. Doubts remained at the Air Ministry ; an officer in the planning department was sceptical, even with the discovery of the limits of
12141-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
12312-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
12483-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
12654-462: The Grand Slam with an 11-second delay, the No. 53 with a thirty-minute delay, a No. 53A with an hour's delay and a No. 37 which had a delay of 6 to 144 hours. The first bomb arrived at Woodhall Spa on 20 January and fifteen were expected by the beginning of February. The ten remaining Dambuster Lancasters were sent for storage at the end of 1944 and 617 Squadron was increased from two flights to three, at
12825-558: The H2S set. As Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters were operating in northern Germany, an Automatic Gun-Laying Turret (AGLT; also, Village Inn or Z Equipment) was considered. The AGLT rear turret had been under test by the Bomber Development Unit and two Main Force squadrons of 1 Group , which found that they restricted the view of the rear-gunner; the radar gun laying device was also unable to discriminate between German fighters and friendly bombers. Bombers equipped with
12996-655: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
13167-518: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
13338-517: The North Sea, were attacked on 19 April. The military installations on the main island comprised a radar installation covering the Elbe and Weser rivers, an airfield and a coastal battery each with 12 in (300 mm) and 6 in (150 mm) guns. To ensure that Allied ships could enter the Elbe and Weser estuaries, Bomber Command intended to attack the island with 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs but at least forty heavy anti-aircraft guns on
13509-495: The RAF Film Unit accompanied the raiders and a fighter escort was provided by 11 Group and 12 Group , consisting of 11 Mustang Mk IIIs, 42 Spitfire Mk IXs and 26 Spitfire XVIs. The gun emplacements were at the north and south ends of the island and three aiming points were chosen, two for 9 Squadron and one for 617 Squadron. Thin stratocumulus cloud was encountered from 3,000 to 4,000 ft (910 to 1,220 m) and six of
13680-638: The RE 17 ( Sauerland-Express ) service. Every two hours these trains continue to/from Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe . In Hesse , the Sauerland-Express is however numbered as the RE 3. The Fröndenberg–Bestwig section is also supplemented with an hourly service of the RE 57 (the Dortmund-Sauerland-Express ), continuing to Winterberg. As a result, the Fröndenberg–Bestwig section is served at 30-minute intervals on weekdays. The line
13851-475: The Special, fitted with paddle-bladed propellers. Particular attention was to be paid to the skin of the wings and rear fuselage when checking the airframe and the Special would take off only from smooth runways and always with experienced pilots. Fuel was to be used from inboard tanks to outboard ones to relieve the stresses on the wings, When the store is carried the aircraft is to be very carefully handled and
14022-429: The Tallboy Large, renamed Grand Slam on 22 November 1944, after the term Tallboy appeared in the press, increased after better understanding of the effect of the Tallboy was gained by the inspection of targets in Europe. The Tallboy was discovered to be too small to destroy concrete buildings with direct hits; only near misses which opened a camouflet under the foundations were found to be effective. In September 1944
14193-565: The Tallboy aircraft kept the code letters KC and the Specials were coded YZ. A Ransomes & Rapier crane at the A&;AEE could lift the Grand Slam when on a concrete base and the Type H trolley was acceptable when limited to 10 mph (16 km/h) with its tyres at 80 PSI . The bomb cradle on the trolley was tilted up at the front to protect the bomb bay roof from damage by the tailfins of
14364-482: The Tallboy and Grand Slam. When the first bomb was moved with an Allen crane, its front wheels rose from the ground as the bomb was lifted and the bomb could not be lowered smoothly, only by unlocking and locking the brake, which dropped the bomb 2 ft (0.61 m) each time. The armourers used a US Bay City crane afterwards with a power-lowering unit added early in 1945. The A&AEE at RAF Boscombe Down had only one bomb to test, with 617 Squadron standing by with
14535-696: The Tallboy bomb, about what the Grand Slam could be used on and whether when ready in February–March 1945, there would be anything left to bomb. Aircraft adapted to carry the Grand Slam could not carry any other load. Air Commodore Christopher Bilney replied that the Tallboy Large would be more useful than the Upkeep mine used in the Dams raid. At the Bomber Command headquarters in High Wycombe , there
14706-510: The Tallboys dropped by 617 Squadron were gross errors [defined as missing the aiming point by more than 400 yd (370 m)] against 10 per cent of the Tallboys dropped by 9 Squadron. Unlike the Tallboy, the Grand Slam was designed to penetrate concrete roofs and was more effective against fortifications than earlier bombs. By the end of the war, 41 Grand Slams had been dropped on operations although in 2004, Stephen Flower wrote of 42 bombs,
14877-476: The attack from 4:15 to 4:35 p.m., shouted "You've done it!". The effect of the Grand Slam could not be distinguished from that of the eleven Tallboys but photographic reconnaissance by a Spitfire from 542 Squadron, following the bombers, then a Mosquito from 540 squadron later on, showed that 200 ft (61 m) of the north viaduct and 260 ft (79 m) of the south viaduct had been demolished, depositing about 20,000 long tons (20,000 t) of rubble into
15048-593: The base of 617 Squadron in Lincolnshire , on 25 February. There were still arguments about what the Specials would carry, when it was found that Avro had failed to install GEE sets. It was agreed to remove the front turret and its accoutrements; heating was needed for the rear guns and the Stabilised Automatic Bomb Sight had Tallboy dropping equipment but no capacity to drop practice bombs, which needed to be incorporated. The TR1154 W/T
15219-423: The bay with a sprung dowel sticking out of the bomb bay roof and a Vickers release unit with metal links, which could be adjusted from within the aeroplane, wrapped around the bomb and released electrically or manually. Fuzing devices in the bomb bay roof worked for the Tallboy as well as the Grand Slam. The new bomb had a two-piece metal skirt between the bomb proper and the tail unit, whose front edge jutted out from
15390-403: The bomb bay had metal plates installed, the forward bulkhead was faired to the contour of the nose of the Grand Slam and another fairing was fitted to the rearward bulkhead to smooth the airflow as the bomb exited the bay. The usual bomb bay switches were replaced by a master switch; a release cable and lever were fitted to the left-hand side of the cockpit for emergencies. The bomb was connected to
15561-502: The bomb casing when it hit, with no guarantee of the detonation of its contents. The US casings were made by electric resistance welding but both types had to pass stress tests to weed out inadequate examples. The British-made casings were sent 100 mi (160 km) on specially built road trailers to be machined, the nose on one and the tail on another. The 12.1 ft (3.7 m) nose sections were filled by upending them to pour in 9,200 lb (4,200 kg) of Torpex explosive
15732-400: The bomb casing, a steel alloy of chromium – molybdenum , were undertaken to find one that could withstand the shock of impact. A concrete core, accurate to 1/10,000th of an inch was made, then a sand-covered outer mould was created, into which the molten metal was poured. The core was chipped out after the metal had cooled but hot places on the casing could result in structural flaws, breaking
15903-410: The bomb-aimers clear vision panel being smashed by flak . Three hits were claimed and one Tallboy hung up when the bomb aimer tried to drop it then fell off 15 seconds later, overshooting the bridge. Later analysis found that a Tallboy had landed on the bank at the south end of the bridge about 100 ft (30 m) from the abutment and the shock of the explosion shifted it, making the span fall into
16074-438: The bomb. The bomb was raised into the bomb bay by a crew of six men, who took 35 minutes. Templates were manufactured to help align the bomb in the bay, the front one proving unnecessary and being dispensed with; the rear template was hung from the bomb bay roof. The inside of the Special bomb bay was faired with quick-release panels from the bomb door hinges to the underneath of the fuselage floor to protect pipe-work. The top of
16245-409: The bomb; Avro built 32 Lancaster B.Mk 1 (Special)s with more powerful Merlin engine variants, a stronger undercarriage, without bomb bay doors and minus many items to save weight. When airborne with the Grand Slam, a Special could barely manoeuvre, and pilots were advised to refrain from minor adjustments of the flying controls, allowing the aircraft to wallow. A Lancaster which returned with its bomb
16416-417: The bombers returned on 13 March, when 9 Squadron and 617 Squadron sent 19 Lancasters each against the same targets, two of the 617 Squadron aircraft carrying Grand Slams, escorted by 75 Mustang Mk IIIs (P-51Cs) from 11 Group. The attack at Arnsberg by 9 Squadron was called off after two aircraft bombed and 617 Squadron turned back from Bielefeld after 129 Squadron (Mustang Mk IIIs) reported unbroken cloud all
16587-422: The bombing from 1 Group and 5 Group, most accompanying 617 Squadron on the attack on the bridge at Bremen. The Germans started to generate a smoke screen but were too late; two hits were observed before the smoke screen and wreckage blocked the view. The pitch control on one of Lancaster PB996's engines made the aircraft lose speed and its bomb was dropped on a jettison area; the pilot of PD112 decided to bomb despite
16758-430: The bridge was under water, the spans having been broken or blown off their piers. A third Lancaster crew found that their bomb would not drop, despite two attempts and the bridge collapsed before the third try, leaving the crew to take it home. A fourth Grand Slam was reported to have hit the east end of the structure. Reconnaissance photographs showed that the bridge had been destroyed. Another railway Bridge near Bremen
16929-445: The casing of the bomb. As the bomb fell, the slipstream could detach the tail unit of the bomb and the A&AEE advised that it be redesigned. The bomb dump at Woodhall Spa had been limited to forty Tallboys but room was made to accommodate ten Grand Slams by removing ordnance not in use. In February the A&AEE used PB592/G, a Lancaster B.Mk1, to test loading the Grand Slam using the Type H bomb trolley, which had been designed for
17100-446: The ceiling and depositing hundreds of tons of concrete into the pens. There had been 3,000 people inside the pens, fewer than usual, because it was Poets Day, when German workers left at 4:00 p.m. ; 27 people were killed, about sixty were seriously injured and a panic ensued; U-906 and U-1192 were damaged. About thirty Me 262s appeared and 467 Squadron RAAF, on the oil tanks raid, accelerated and turned, ending up bumping along behind
17271-639: The climb begins to Brilon Wald, the high point of the line. Over a length of 14 kilometres, the line climbs about 155 metres. In Elleringhausen tunnel at Olsberg it crosses the watershed between the Rhine and Weser . The line then runs through the Hoppecke valley and later through the Diemel valley. After Bredelar the line falls about 165 metres over a length of around 18 kilometres. The section to Warburg has no more significant grades. The Brilon Wald–Warburg section
17442-503: The damage. Another attack by the Main Force was planned but the war ended before it took place. In 1991, Alan Cooper wrote that during March 1945, 156 day-sorties were flown, 31 with Grand Slams and 40 with Tallboys. An analysis of the bombing accuracy of 617 Squadron and 9 Squadron on Tallboy sorties found that, using different bomb sights and bombing from heights between 9,000 and 17,000 ft (2,700 and 5,200 m), 1 per cent of
17613-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
17784-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
17955-481: The east....". The second Grand Slam was brought home after several bomb runs because of the haze and the Lancaster, PB996, landed at the emergency bomber landing ground at RAF Manston . Ten Tallboys were also dropped with no effect and no aircraft were lost. On the return journey the port inner propeller of NG384 over-speeded and could not be feathered and then oil leaking out from behind the propeller caught fire and
18126-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
18297-577: The ends were blown off their piers; the pier to the east collapsed onto the ground and the western pier was twisted and sagged to the ground at one place; part of the railway track, above the embankment and the first pier on the west side, was wrecked. One Lancaster was shot down near Okel and left a crater 33 ft (10 m) deep; five Lancasters were damaged by flak and an attack by a Me 262 jet fighter. Twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron, six carrying Grand Slams fuzed for 25–30 seconds' delay and 14 with Tallboys with 25–35 seconds' or one-hour delay, attacked
18468-563: The expense of 51 Squadron , a Halifax squadron of 4 Group , which lost a flight. To carry the Grand Slam, specially modified Lancasters were necessary but these would have to be subtracted from the production of ordinary Lancasters, when several 5 Group squadrons were also converting to Lancasters from the Halifax. The weight of the Grand Slam meant that only new aircraft would be able to carry it, rather than converting existing and worn aircraft; 32 B.Mk 1 (Special)s were ordered from Avro. There
18639-561: The flight to the target. Twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron, 13 carrying Grand Slams, the remainder carrying Tallboys, attacked the Valentin submarine pens in clear visibility escorted by 90 Mustang Mk IIIs of 11 Group. Since October 1944, building work had been seen at Farge , a village on the Weser river, 5 mi (8.0 km) north of Vegesack and 10 mi (16 km) north-west of Bremen. The building had 96 ft (29 m) of
18810-423: The formation and there was much flak, which damaged six Lancasters before they bombed. Buildings to the north and west were hit and a reconnaissance photograph showed seven hits, four penetrating the roof. A post-war report recorded six hits by Tallboys, the two Grand Slams and the other Tallboys landing in the water. The six Tallboys had penetrated the roof part way, hit girders and exploded, blowing holes through
18981-612: The fuel tanks, the rear turret armour, three fire axes, a toolkit and the crew ladder. The commander of 5 Group, Air Vice-Marshal Ralph Cochrane ordered that the Identification friend or foe (IFF) be got rid of in favour of the VHF Bomber Fixer. Despite bombing by day, navigation equipment was needed because of the north-west European climate; GEE and LORAN were to be carried along with high-altitude and low altitude radio altimeters. The recognition lights and some of
19152-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
19323-421: The immense cost of producing the necessary clearance profile for the overhead line in its many tunnels. In addition, it was proposed that the line be rebuilt by the end of 2006 for higher speeds using tilting technology , which would have reduced the travel time of the RE 17 service from Hagen to Kassel from three hours to around two and a half hours. This proposal was estimated to cost €31.1 million. The need for
19494-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
19665-428: The islands had to be silenced. The gun positions had a diameter of about 60 ft (18 m) and only hits or near misses would be effective. On 18 April, 969 bombers had attacked the anti-aircraft guns but some remained operational. On 19 April, 20 Lancasters of 617 Squadron attacked with six Grand Slams and fourteen Tallboys; 16 Lancasters from 9 Squadron carried Tallboys fuzed for 25 seconds' delay. A Mosquito from
19836-455: The largest and heaviest type of bomb used in war to date, and 12 Tallboy bombs , weighing 5.4 tons. In addition to the Arnsberg viaduct bridges and then larger stations such as Bestwig, Meschede and Schwerte were subject to massive attacks and destroyed along with the surrounding buildings. A proposal for rail electrification in the early 1990s omitted the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway because of
20007-493: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Grand Slam (bomb) The Bomb, Medium Capacity, 22,000 lb ( Grand Slam ) was a 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) earthquake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against German targets towards the end of the Second World War . The bomb
20178-430: The line in 1945, the Arnsberg viaduct, was attacked seven times between 9 February and 19 March 1945. On 10 October 1945 by the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey published a secret report entitled "Railway viaduct at Arnsberg, Germany", which listed 1,818 bombs dropped on the viaduct. On 19 March the viaduct was destroyed in an attack with only 18 bombs. Avro Lancaster bombers dropped six Grand Slam bombs , which at 10 tons were
20349-491: The line was driven on sight. As a result, the route to the east became known as the Mitte-Deutschland-Verbindung ( Mid-Germany connection ). As traffic to the east fell away after the Second World War, less trains ran on the line. From autumn 1944 to April 1945 the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway was repeatedly attacked at low altitude by bombers and later by fighter-bombers and fighters. The main target on
20520-666: The line, and express trains to Kassel , Leipzig and Berlin . In 1941 a holiday express train ran on the Brest-Litovsk – Bebra –Arnsberg– Aachen – Brussels – Ostend route. An express train ran until 1991 from Amsterdam to Korbach ; it reversed in Brilon Wald and ran on the Upland Railway ( Uplandbahn ) to Korbach, with through coaches continuing on the Edersee Railway ( Ederseebahn ) to Bad Wildungen. In
20691-492: The longer runway at RAF Carnaby near the coast at Bridlington in East Yorkshire . The centre of gravity when loaded with a Tallboy or Grand Slam was within the aircraft design limits, provided the rear turret was retained. Merlin 24 engines [1,610 hp (1,200 kW) at 3,000 rpm, 1,510 hp (1,130 kW) at 3,000 rpm, +18 psi (120 kPa) boost at 9,250 ft (2,820 m)] were to equip
20862-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
21033-769: The new US Amazon II and Samson bombs, both 25,000 lb (11,000 kg), in Operation Ruby II, later called the Harker Project. Photographs taken by 542 Squadron , a photographic reconnaissance unit, before the Grand Slam attack during the war were used to stake out the target with red flags and cameras were set up to film the drops. On 4 August the B-29s achieved six 1,650 lb (750 kg) bomb hits from 30,000–35,000 ft (9,100–10,700 m) and five Amazon II hits out of fifteen from 17,000 ft (5,200 m). From 20 September, 15 Squadron Lincolns dropped
21204-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
21375-591: The peak hours and special services. In 1856, a committee of representatives of the then districts of Meschede , Brilon , Arnsberg , Soest and Iserlohn and the independent cities of Dortmund and Hamm was established to lobby for the construction of a railway line through the Sauerland . Among others, the Mayor of Werl, Franz Wilhelm Clöer supported the Werl–Arnsberg–Meschede–Warburg route, but
21546-598: The pilot, Flight-Lieutenant F. A. Jones ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft 15 mi (24 km) south of the target. Four of the crew parachuted but then the fire went out and Jones force-landed at Gosselies near Charleroi. On 19 March, 19 Lancasters of 617 Squadron, six with Grand Slams and 13 with Tallboys, attacked the viaduct again as 9 Squadron attacked the Vlotho rail bridge, in fairly cloudy weather at high altitude, with thin patches lower down. The bombers were escorted by 88 Mustang IIIs from 11 Group. PD329 Y ,
21717-549: The planned works was reviewed in 2010 and the project was shown to have a benefit-cost ratio of less than one. Therefore, the inclusion in the project in the period up to 2015 was rejected in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan of 2010. Its realisation in the near future is unlikely. The Upper Ruhr Valley Railway begins in Schwerte and ends in Warburg. The line between Hagen and Schwerte
21888-686: The president of the Regierungsbezirk of Arnsberg , Friedrich Wilhelm von Spankeren preferred the Hagen–Warburg route. The General Assembly of the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company ( Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , BME) decided at its General Assembly of 30 June 1866 to construct this section, for which it already had a commitment for a licence. This explains how the licence was formally granted as early as 1 October 1866. The Schwerte–Arnsberg section
22059-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
22230-421: The railway bridge at Nienburg, between Bremen and Hanover , in atmospheric conditions ideal for bombing. A railway bridge at Bremen was attacked at the same time by 9 Squadron with Tallboys. The bombers were escorted by 114 Mustang Mk IIIs and 69 Spitfire Mk IXs from 11 Group squadrons. The Lancasters of 617 Squadron bombed within one minute, dropping five Grand Slams and twelve Tallboys. One Lancaster crew claimed
22401-500: The regular use of locomotives ended and the trains have since been operated with multiple units. These regional services connect the Higher Sauerland District with the urban centres of the Ruhr area. In addition, the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway gives access via branch lines to accommodate excursions to mountain resorts in the winter. The Upper Ruhr Valley Railway between Hagen and Warburg is now served every hour by
22572-602: The rest with Tallboys. The pens were inside a 500 sq ft (46 m )-building with a roof 11.5 ft (3.5 m) thick, reinforced by steel beams and trusses. Forty Lancasters from 5 Group were to bomb oil storage tanks nearby. The weather was clear with some haze, a thin layer of cirrus clouds above the city but the visibility was very good. A fighter escort from 11 Group consisted of 120 Mustang Mk III, 30 Mustang Mk IV, 59 Spitfire Mk IX and 24 Spitfire Mk XVI to counter any attempts by Me 262 jets to intervene. Luftwaffe fighters, including jets, attempted to intercept
22743-545: The rest, ready to commence operations. The bombing range at the Ashley Range in the New Forest had a concrete target about 20 ft × 20 ft (6.1 m × 6.1 m), to be bombed preferably from the optimum height of 22,000 ft (6,700 m). PB955 was loaded with the Grand Slam to be flown by Group Captain H. A. (Bruin) Purvis; bad weather led to two failed attempts to bomb due to mist obscuring
22914-598: The river. A Tallboy hit the north end of the bridge, the damage being swiftly repaired; another 250 yd (230 m) to the south which was filled in and new track laid. Eventually the Germans demolished the bridge to create an obstacle to the Allied ground advance. Lancaster NG489 was hit by flak and the crew jettisoned the Grand Slam to regain control. Several other Lancasters were hit by anti-aircraft fire and four others were attacked by Me 262s, fifteen of which were seen on
23085-569: The roof and a periscope-testing tower were also damaged. One bomb damaged power stations, concrete mixing facilities and shelters on the north side. Marines who had been inside the building reported later that there was a huge concussive effect, which severely depressed their morale; no aircraft were lost. Seventeen Lancasters from 617 Squadron were dispatched to bomb the Finkenwerder U-boat pens in Hamburg , two with Grand Slams and
23256-559: The service almost exclusively with class 648.1 ( Alstom Coradia LINT 41 ) sets since the summer of 2008; it is partly operated during the weekend with mixed sets including rebuilt 640 (LINT 27) sets. The so-called Säuferzüge ("boozer trains"), which are particularly popular with bowling clubs, are operated on the Hagen–Willingen route using triple class 648.1 sets and on the Dortmund–Willingen route with class 628.4 sets. On Fridays
23427-603: The services that turn back at Warburg with class 628.4 sets. The RE 57 in the first years of its service operated on the Meschede–Schwerte section. It was then extended from Schwerte to Dortmund and joined to the Bestwig–Winterberg Regionalbahn service. Originally it was operated with class 624 and 628 sets. After a European-wide tender as part of the Sauerland network, DB Regio NRW was chosen to operate
23598-521: The shortcomings of General Purpose (G.P.) bombs, which had a charge-to-weight ratio of about 27 per cent (contemporary German bombs had a ratio of 50 per cent). M.C. bombs were to have a charge-to-weight ratio of at least 40 per cent and use explosives of greater power, although shortages often led to inferior explosive types being used. High Capacity (H.C.) bombs had a charge-to-weight ratio of up to 75 per cent. M.C. bombs had greater blast effect than G.P. bombs but had casings which were robust enough to confer
23769-417: The site; the Grand Slam was thought to have landed flat on a road and only the explosive at the rear of the casing detonated; the Tallboy hit a wall, broke up and buried itself in the ground without going off. Twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron, two carrying Grand Slams and the rest Tallboys, flew in good weather with little cloud to Bremen to attack the double-tracked railway bridge at Arbergen which crossed
23940-409: The south-south-west of the target. At 4:28 p.m. and from 11,965 ft (3,647 m), a far from ideal height, the Grand Slam fell from PD112 S , which jumped 500 ft (150 m) higher at the loss of weight. After 35 seconds, the bomb hit the ground about 30 yd (27 m) short and exploded the site erupting as the Tallboys came down. The pilot of the photographic aircraft, which recorded
24111-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
24282-430: The structure above ground and 41 ft (12 m) below, was 1,375 ft (419 m) long and 315 ft (96 m) wide, enclosing 1,400,000 cu yd (1,100,000 m ) of space. The walls and roof were made of reinforced concrete with arched trusses on the walls, filled with concrete. The roof was about 15 ft (4.6 m) thick and was being reinforced to a thickness of 23 ft (7.0 m). Farge
24453-609: The structure above to subside. Grand Slams and Tallboys were capable of causing damage that smaller bombs could not, accelerating the collapse of German resistance and avoiding mass civilian casualties. Grand Slams were the most effective bombs used by the Allies until the advent of atomic weapons later that year. After the war, the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces used Grand Slams and other bombs for research. Medium Capacity (M.C.) bombs were designed to address
24624-418: The structure to subside into. The Grand Slam and Tallboy bombs did cause damage that conventional bombs were incapable of and had a great disruptive effect on the means of resistance available to the Germans, limiting the development of new weapons with which to continue the war. In 2013, Stephen Flower wrote that the earthquake bombs rarely caused mass civilian casualties and were the most effective bombs used in
24795-471: The target. On the third attempt, PB592/G, flown by Squadron Leader Headley (Hazel) Hazelden, managed to drop the bomb on 13 March. The aim of the crew was accurate for distance and observers saw the black and white painted bomb rotate as it fell, about 100 ft (30 m) off line to starboard. After release, the Grand Slam accelerated to 1,049 ft/s (320 m/s), near supersonic, penetrating deep underground before detonating. The bomb exploded and left
24966-517: The targets. A Mosquito of 627 Squadron was present to film the attack. The Lancasters of 617 Squadron flew around Bremen then found that there was cloud on the north side of Bielefeld forcing PD112 S with the Grand Slam to attack from the south after resetting the SABS, followed by the photographic Mosquito. One of the 105 Squadron Oboe Mosquitoes dropped four 250 lb (110 kg) Target Indicator bombs which landed about 300 yd (270 m) to
25137-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
25308-534: The tolerances of its SABS bombsight, within 0.5 mph (0.80 km/h) of airspeed and +/- 10 ft (3.0 m) of altitude. The cameramen started filming and when the bomb dropped, PB966 C jumped 600 ft (180 m) higher. The bomb began its spin and came down on the western span, which disintegrated, along with the roofs of buildings nearby. All but one Lancaster of the first wave, whose Tallboy hung up, bombed. A second wave bombed fairly accurately but one Grand Slam fell 50 yd (46 m) off line due to
25479-410: The turret only flew when not in the company of other Allied aircraft. The aircraft of several bomber groups had been fitted with AGLT transmitters which worked best as an early-warning device and the B.Mk.1 (Special)s were fitted with AGLT in the nose. With a fuel load of 5,120 lb (2,320 kg) the Special would weigh 39,750 lb (18,030 kg) and the first was delivered to RAF Woodhall Spa ,
25650-412: The usual VHF equipment were to stay along with the rear guns and 6,000 rounds of ammunition. The bomb doors had to go as even the widened Tallboy bomb doors would not fit a Grand Slam and as the mid-upper gunner and wireless operator were redundant, the crew was cut to five men. While carrying a Grand Slam, a Lancaster would be incapable of taking evasive action and Fishpond tail-warning radar went with
25821-413: The valley. On 15 March, in a haze with some cloud over the target, two aircraft of 617 Squadron with Grand Slams fuzed for 11 seconds' delay and 14 Lancasters of 9 Squadron , carrying Tallboys, attacked the railway viaduct at Arnsberg again. A close fighter escort of 34 Mustang Mk IIIs was provided by 11 Group. A photographic Mosquito, KB433, was laid on by 627 Squadron and another 141 fighters were in
25992-553: The vicinity covering raids by 4, 6 and 8 Groups. The 425 ft (130 m) long viaduct, built from brick and stone faced with concrete, crossed the Ruhr in five spans. In poor visibility the crew of the photographic Mosquito saw that "the whole force made one run into sun and one bomb seen to drop". This was the first Grand Slam, dropped from 13,000 ft (4,000 m) at 4:58 p.m. The photographic crew reported, "Second run into sun and one or two bombs fell. Individual runs then made. No direct hits seen. Majority of bombs fell to
26163-405: The war ended. In 2013, Stephen Flower wrote that when dropped on buildings fortified with reinforced concrete the Grand Slam tended to break up on impact or go off too soon. Flower wrote that it was not surprising that the Grand Slam was limited in effect when dropped on concrete, when it was designed to fall on earth and then explode under the foundations of buildings, creating a camouflet for
26334-513: The war, until the advent of atomic bombs later in 1945. Beginning in March 1946, Operation Front Line (British title) / Project Ruby (US title), was a plan to investigate the use of penetration bombs against reinforced concrete targets. The Valentin U-boat pens near Bremen were chosen, having been abandoned after the attack on 27 March 1945. Since 9 Squadron and 617 Squadron had been transferred to
26505-432: The war. Medium Capacity (M.C.) bombs were designed to remedy the shortcomings of General Purpose (G.P.) bombs, with a greater blast and casings which were robust enough to confer a considerable capacity to penetrate, especially the Tallboy and Grand Slam. The Grand Slam case was made of a chrome-molybdenum alloy steel and had a charge-to-weight ratio of over 43 per cent. Standard Avro Lancaster bombers could not carry
26676-511: The way to the target. On 14 March, fifteen Lancasters of 617 Squadron, carrying 14 Tallboys and a Grand Slam, all fuzed for 11 seconds' delay, tried again as fifteen 9 Squadron Lancasters made another attempt against the railway viaduct at Arnsberg. The weather was clear to the targets with some cloud around Bielefeld and a haze over both targets. Escorts from 11 Group consisted of 74 Mustang Mk IIIs and 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group provided four Oboe Mosquitos each from 105 and 109 squadrons to mark
26847-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
27018-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
27189-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
27360-470: Was a debate about how many Tallboy Larges to order, which ranged from 25 to 75 per month. The head of Bomber Command, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris , thought that the new bomb might be useful against U-boat pens and the bigger targets of Operation Crossbow (anti- V-weapons attacks) but put the burden on the Air Ministry to decide how many to manufacture. In September the decision to make the new bombs
27531-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
27702-468: Was attacked later in the day by twenty 617 Squadron Lancasters, six carrying Grand Slams and 14 with Tallboys. The bridge at Bad Oeynhausen was attacked by 9 Squadron. The weather was clear and ideal for bombing but was also good for the Bremen anti-aircraft defences. The bombers were escorted by 41 Mustang Mk IIIs from 11 Group with seven more squadrons in the vicinity. A total of 128 Lancasters took part in
27873-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
28044-490: Was expected to begin in March 1945, full production to be achieved in August; the schedule had slipped but production was to start within two months. One Lancaster had returned soon after take-off and another turned back over the target with engine-trouble, ditching the Grand Slam in the North Sea. Moderate to heavy flak was encountered by the gaggle of Lancasters but there was no fighter opposition. The bombs were dropped in about
28215-477: Was intended for the assembly of type XXI U-boats . The shipyard Bremer Schiff und Maschinenfabrik (Bremer Vulkan) at Vegesack and the site of the building, was code named Valentin , construction beginning early in 1943. The site was chosen because it was on the convex side of a curve in the river less prone to silting; the river bed was dredged to a depth of 23 ft (7.0 m) to allow submarine sections in on barges and assembled U-boats out. Production
28386-496: Was little agreement on what equipment the specials should carry and Avro backslid on production to keep the new Avro Lincoln , a Lancaster derivative, on schedule. Work began on the specials at the end of January 1945 and two had been built by 13 February, twelve were due within ten days, 24 by month's end and the remainder in March. PB995 was sent to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) with PB592/G,
28557-679: Was made and 600 were ordered in October; 200 from British sources and 400 from the US. The British order was cancelled on 4 October, leaving only US production, but RAF representatives in the US were able to persuade the Americans to build fifty bomb casings by the end of the year, to be filled in Britain. Four Lancaster bombers for trials were ordered then this was cut to one aircraft. During the Battle of
28728-419: Was not permitted to land at RAF Woodhall Spa, the 617 Squadron base; it had to use the longer runway at RAF Carnaby . From 14 March to 19 April 1945, 42 Grand Slams were dropped on Germany. When landing on reinforced concrete, the bombs tended to break up on impact or explode prematurely. The bombs had been designed to land in soft ground, penetrate deeply and then explode, creating a camouflet , causing
28899-582: Was opened on 1 June 1870, the Arnsberg–Meschede section was opened on 18 December 1871, the Meschede– Nuttlar section was opened on 1 July 1872. On 6 January 1873, the last section was opened from Nuttlar to Warburg, which had been connected since 1849 to Kassel . The town of Brilon was not connected to the line (topographical reasons made this impossible), but instead Brilon-Wald station was created about seven kilometres south of it. On 1 July 1900,
29070-416: Was originally called Tallboy Large until the term Tallboy got into the press and the code name was replaced by "Grand Slam". The bomb was similar to a large version of the Tallboy bomb but a new design and closer to the size that its inventor, Barnes Wallis , had envisaged when he developed the idea of an earthquake bomb. It was the largest and most powerful conventional aerial bomb used by either side during
29241-437: Was to be replaced by VHF R/T. In March, Lancaster wheels and tyres were replaced by those of the heavier Avro Lincoln and the maximum weight of the Special was set at 72,000 lb (33,000 kg) with a maximum landing weight of 60,000 lb (27,000 kg) excepting emergencies. The commander of 617 Squadron, John "Johnny" Fauquier , ordered that if returning with a bomb, the Special would divert from Woodhall Spa and use
#969030