Firebombing of Dresden

[eagle101]

I need some information on the fire bombing of dresden for my english paper. If you have any good links or any information please tell me, thanks

Thanks

Currahee

[daft]

Check out Frederick Taylor's book Dresden - Tuesday February 13 1945. It contains a large number of eye witness accounts as well as a brief history of the City of Dresden.

[17poundr]

I am under the impression that the bombing of Dresden was done for political reasons.
The Soviets (or Stalin to be more precise), was as demanding as usual, and was demanding that the allied bomber juggernaut be used to aid the Red Army's advance too, since the Anglo/Americans had just about ran out of targets.
The bombing of Dresden was seen as a way to help the red army, by clogging the roads with refugees, and sowing terror into the hearts of any would be defenders.

Yet there is a more sinister motive, the Western allies had already been 'burned' somewhat by Stalin's behaviour in not helping the free Poles uprising, far from it, and Churchill at least was highly suspicious of Stalins promises for free elections in eastern Europe at all.

So, it might of been also a coded warning to the soviets, by demonstrating a capability of destruction from above that the Red airforce did not have.
All this is speculation ofcourse, some I have read, and some put together from certain passages in books about the fall of the Third reich.
One thing cannot be refuted, the cold war was gestating at a good pace when Dresden happened.

[Terry Patterson]

no matter how you look at it,it was tragic.

[17poundr]

Originally Posted by Terry Patterson

no matter how you look at it,it was tragic.

Yep, militarily, no reason.
Kurt Vonnegut's classic book 'Slaughter house 5'. Gives the story of being in Dresden when the bombers struck!
And actually being and surviving under a late ww2 allied bombing raid, It was far from fun!

[Freightshaker]

IIRC there was a 40 MPH wind going into the city created by the burning fires. Dresden was also the cultural center of Germany so many artistic buildings and works were destroyed. What a shame.

[Lance Williams]

Originally Posted by 17poundr

I am under the impression that the bombing of Dresden was done for political reasons.
The Soviets (or Stalin to be more precise), was as demanding as usual, and was demanding that the allied bomber juggernaut be used to aid the Red Army's advance too, since the Anglo/Americans had just about ran out of targets.
The bombing of Dresden was seen as a way to help the red army, by clogging the roads with refugees, and sowing terror into the hearts of any would be defenders.

Yet there is a more sinister motive, the Western allies had already been 'burned' somewhat by Stalin's behaviour in not helping the free Poles uprising, far from it, and Churchill at least was highly suspicious of Stalins promises for free elections in eastern Europe at all.

So, it might of been also a coded warning to the soviets, by demonstrating a capability of destruction from above that the Red airforce did not have.
All this is speculation ofcourse, some I have read, and some put together from certain passages in books about the fall of the Third reich.
One thing cannot be refuted, the cold war was gestating at a good pace when Dresden happened.

Supposedly Stalin told the Allies that two panzer units were refitting in Dresden that were to be sent back east to defend Berlin. He specifically asked it be targeted from the west as it was out of the range of Soviet bombers. I don't believe that proved to be correct, but it's at least a small justification for the targeting.

[17poundr]

Originally Posted by Lance Williams

Supposedly Stalin told the Allies that two panzer units were refitting in Dresden that were to be sent back east to defend Berlin. He specifically asked it be targeted from the west as it was out of the range of Soviet bombers. I don't believe that proved to be correct, but it's at least a small justification for the targeting.

well 'Uncle Joe' was a very wily customer, and could hardly believe his luck after mid 1944, as he was constantly thinking of ways to fool the allies in various ways.
It could have been a plan of his, to get the future DDR, to be more 'anti' anglo/american, and think that 'at least the Russians didnt destroy our cities'...
I wouldnt be suprised you know...

[last_cav1971]

How about "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut?

Mark
Deo Vindice

[daft]

One has to remember that the planning for the Dresden raid was in no way extraordinary or or different from the other raids performed by Bomber Command earlier as well as later in the war. Only the results were. I've never heard about Stalin's request for the bombing of these supposed Panzer Divisions, but I do know that the city was targeted because of its importance as a rail junction and that it was done to help the Soviets out. Reinforcements and supplies flowed through Dresden on its way to the eastern front. Unfortunately the lines of communication are also the lines of retreat, and refugees were using the very same roads to head west, away from the advancing soviets. Indeed a very tragic event, but one that is often surronded with myths and half-truths.

[hogdriver]

Originally Posted by eagle101

I need some information on the fire bombing of dresden for my english paper. If you have any good links or any information please tell me, thanks

Thanks

Currahee

Here are some links:

An eyewitness account

Historical analysis

Bombing of Dresden in WWII

[Lance Williams]

Originally Posted by last_cav1971

How about "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut?

Mark
Deo Vindice

Did you happen to see Vonnegut on the History Channel's "D-Day to Berlin" talking about living through the Dresden bombing as a POW? I thought his recollections were better than anything he's written.

[last_cav1971]

Originally Posted by Lance Williams

Did you happen to see Vonnegut on the History Channel's "D-Day to Berlin" talking about living through the Dresden bombing as a POW? I thought his recollections were better than anything he's written.

I missed that........I would have liked to have seen it.

Mark
Deo Vindice

[JD Morelock]

Throughout much of the final year of the war in Europe, allied 'strategic' bombing planners came to realize that the most effective targets were what they referred to as the enemy's "transportation grid", ie the road and rail network over which Germany had to move troops and equipment. Although they didn't completely give up on targets like "ball-bearing factories" and the like, more and more bombing assets were directed toward either destroying the transportation grid or denying its use to the enemy (in fact, this principle was even applied in the Pacific, since, while LeMay was systematically burning Japan's cities to the ground with B29 raids, carrier air attacks tended to concentrate on 'transportation grid' targets, expanded in the case of Japan to include sinking most ship traffic in Japanese coastal waters--through direct attack and aerial mine-laying).
In this regard, Dresden--a major transportation center--more than qualified as a valid military target when it suffered the devastating attack on February 13, 1945. Even beyond its signficance as a 'transportation grid' target, recent research claims that Dresden's cultural elegance and 'peaceful' image was a facade that concealed a well-developed armaments and military communications center (see Frederick Taylor's well-researched and extensively documented book "Dresden", 2004). Clearly, the huge loss of civilian life was, as has been stated in this thread, tragic, nonetheless. Yet, the Allied air planners (whether or not they did so at Stalin's urging) who placed Dresden on the target list, did not do so for the sole purpose of killing as many German civilians as they could. And certainly it was not (as one East German woman claimed in an interview I saw in 1989) "the greatest war crime of WWII." The extensive loss of life resulting from the Dresden raid and subsequent firestorm might help assuage the guilty consciences of the people whose leaders brought us the Holocaust, but to claim this military attack was worse than the systematic murder of an entire people is worse than wrong-headed--it is just disgusting.

[Temujin]

Originally Posted by JD Morelock

Throughout much of the final year of the war in Europe, allied 'strategic' bombing planners came to realize that the most effective targets were what they referred to as the enemy's "transportation grid", ie the road and rail network over which Germany had to move troops and equipment. Although they didn't completely give up on targets like "ball-bearing factories" and the like, more and more bombing assets were directed toward either destroying the transportation grid or denying its use to the enemy (in fact, this principle was even applied in the Pacific, since, while LeMay was systematically burning Japan's cities to the ground with B29 raids, carrier air attacks tended to concentrate on 'transportation grid' targets, expanded in the case of Japan to include sinking most ship traffic in Japanese coastal waters--through direct attack and aerial mine-laying).
In this regard, Dresden--a major transportation center--more than qualified as a valid military target when it suffered the devastating attack on February 13, 1945. Even beyond its signficance as a 'transportation grid' target, recent research claims that Dresden's cultural elegance and 'peaceful' image was a facade that concealed a well-developed armaments and military communications center (see Frederick Taylor's well-researched and extensively documented book "Dresden", 2004). Clearly, the huge loss of civilian life was, as has been stated in this thread, tragic, nonetheless. Yet, the Allied air planners (whether or not they did so at Stalin's urging) who placed Dresden on the target list, did not do so for the sole purpose of killing as many German civilians as they could. And certainly it was not (as one East German woman claimed in an interview I saw in 1989) "the greatest war crime of WWII." The extensive loss of life resulting from the Dresden raid and subsequent firestorm might help assuage the guilty consciences of the people whose leaders brought us the Holocaust, but to claim this military attack was worse than the systematic murder of an entire people is worse than wrong-headed--it is just disgusting.

Was firebombing the norm when it came to eliminating transport grids?