On the evening of February 13, 1945, a series of Allied firebombing raids begins against the German city of Dresden, reducing the “Florence of the Elbe” to rubble and flames, and killing roughly 25,000 people. Despite the horrendous scale of destruction, it arguably accomplished little strategically, since the Germans were already on the verge of surrender.
Among the conclusions reached at the February 1945 Yalta Conference of the Allied powers was the resolution that the Allies would engage in concerted strategic bombing raids against German cities known for war-production and manufacturing, in an effort to bring the Nazi war machine to a crashing halt. The tragic irony of the raid on Dresden, a medieval city renowned for its rich artistic and architectural treasures, is that during the war it had never been a site of war-production or major industry.
Both Allies and Germans alike have argued over the real purpose of the firebombing; the ostensible “official” rationale was that Dresden was a major communications center and bombing it would hamper the German ability to convey messages to its army, which was battling Soviet forces at the time. But the extent of the destruction was, for many, disproportionate to the stated strategic goal—many believe that the attack was simply an attempt to punish the Germans and weaken their morale.
More than 3,400 tons of explosives were dropped on the city by 800 American and British aircraft. The firestorm created by the two days of bombing set the city burning for many more days, littering the streets with charred corpses, including many children. Eight square miles of the city was ruined, and the total body count was between 35,000 and 135,000 (an approximation is all that was possible given that the city was filled with many refugees from farther east). The hospitals that were left standing could not handle the numbers of injured and burned, and mass burials became necessary.
Among the American POWs who were in Dresden during the raid was novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who conveyed his experience in his classic antiwar novel Slaughterhouse Five.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
Understanding from statements I heard in Germany were that Churchill went along to get even for flattening London.
Modern
Pictures speak thousands of words.
25,000? History.com is a bunch of fucking liars. The city under peace time had 650-700k residents, but had swollen to nearly double that size with war refugees packed into every crevice. 8 square miles vaporized. Do the math. For all intents and purposes, the war was over, so there was no military or strategic reason to turn the city to dust. The raids were intentionally timed to kill as many civilians as possible. This was an explicit war crime for which the perpetrators should have been tried and convicted.
So? Retribution in a genocidal war seems pretty standard operating procedure. Teutonic mice deserved every single bomb.
You fuck with the bull…
If as the writer notes, one of the reasons was to kill morale, I believe the message was received.
The Germans were on the verge of surrender, that is why the fighting went all the way to Berlin. War, is to be fought until your enemy begs and surrenders.
It is what it is and it is terrible.
I asked my husband if he thought Churchill would have authorized the A-bomb be dropped on Germany had it been available to retaliate for the Battle of Britain in lieu of a Normandy invasion?
My husband said he thinks he would have done so and justifiably, because he felt the German people “allowed” Hitler to blitzkrieg Europe when they should have stopped him, somehow What? In the same way “we” are allowing our country to murder untold people with drone strikes for unconstitutional expenditures to weapons manufacturers. These boys are told to take out x numbers of homes in x zone. Who cares who is in them, really?
However, I don’t agree. I think Churchill would have hesitated to drop it on people who were really just like him, for the most part, essentially European. Even though they didn’t have a grasp on fallout and radiation sickness, they did have a grasp on the devastation and even though willing to allow wholescale bombing of cities like Dresden, I don’t think they would have dropped a nuke then.
[Now? I don’t know what might happen as this terrible invading force gathers steam.]
So, OWG, Do you think he would have dropped a Hiroshima sized bomb on Berlin if he’d had the opportunity?
Is a rhetorical question.
However, if I were to “frame” it as a racist issue? I bet I could get people to agree that Churchill would not have been so eager to drop the bomb so close to home because he was racist. In fact, I don’t think he would of dropped it because of the close proximity and potential for damage to areas of interest financially. It is, of course, always mostly about the money.
Perhaps, if the Germans traded places with Spain. Because Spain is just populated with more Mexicans waiting to cross the “really big water”. (Winks at ec, hoping he doesn’t lambaste and have a hissy fit)
mg,
the day of the great chicago fire a fire that was far more lethal/devastating started in rural wisconsin–it got little publicity b/c it was rural but it was much worse–
during ww2,american & brit war planners traveled to wisconsin to study what made the fire so lethal & they then applied what they had learned to dresden & toyko–
hell yes,churchill would have used the a bomb–
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_fire
My father in law participated in the raid. The bombardiers were lied to. There were no weapons manufacturing facilities . No massing of German troops and no air defenses. He found out the truth about the mass murder later and never got over his part in it. Even though he was ‘just following orders”.
“Into the inferno: Families boiled alive as they hid in water tanks and fleeing survivors trapped in molten tarmac… 75 years on, the most horrifically vivid account you’ll ever read of the Allied bombing of Dresden – by a British PoW who saw it all”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7997465/Into-inferno-75-years-horrifically-vivid-account-Allied-bombing-Dresden.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
Just another in the lost list of allied war crimes from WW2.
My name if Yon Yonson
Quick.
Hiroshima.
a) Nuked into an uninhabitable radioactive wasteland for the next 1,000 years or
b) all the underbrush burned away with napalm clusterbombs
