Talk:Gerhard Boldt

WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Tag & Assess 2008

Article reassessed and graded as start class. --dashiellx (talk) 18:41, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

1. Sources cited; 2.Flooding the Berlin Subway Tunnels - Accuracy

1. Although Boldt is a minor player i still feel that relying on one (1) source for almost the entire article is weak. Even Trevor-Roper's seminal contemporary work is not referred to.

2. from the main body: "The inhuman order [edit] Of 25 April to 26 April, Boldt wrote the following about Hitler's order to flood the underground railway: "When we arrived for the talk, Hitler rose and we followed him into the conference room. Though no encouraging message from General Walther Wenck (Twelfth Army) had been received, Hitler continued to clutch at that straw. Regardless of the fate of the starving, thirsting, and dying population, he was determined to postpone the inevitable end even further. And then he gave one of the most inhuman of all his orders: because the Russians had repeatedly thrown back the German lines by advancing through the underground and other railway tunnels to attack the German forces from the rear, he now detailed special units to open the locks of the river Spree, thus flooding the railway tunnels south of the Reich Chancellery. These tunnels were crammed with civilians and thousands of wounded. They were no longer of interest to him. His insane order cost the lives of very many people." [2]"

It has been established that although some flooding did occur, the levels were not consistent and in fact rose very slowly in the subway & few people were killed by it. As the tunnels were being used for field hospitals, and as such temporary morgues, the presence of some bodies in the water is better explained by this. The story quoted is largely an (understandable) urban myth of the period. Attribution of the story to Boldt is correct but I am concerned the facts as stated are not.

I will not edit the main article yet because I hope that someone expert in this can please review. thanks. Princebuster5 (talk) 13:06, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

Problematic content

The article quotes extensively from Boldt, while the footnote states that these supposedly first-hand accounts may have been a fabrication. K.e.coffman (talk) 23:52, 7 March 2016 (UTC)