The Bombing Of Dresden

Between the dates of February 13th and February 15th in 1945, the city of Dresden, Germany was bombed. The city was of no threat to anyone, really it held mostly innocent civilians, refugees, and wounded soldiers who were healing. The city had little military value whatsoever, and was often seen as simply a place of rich culture. Estimates are rough, but recent publications place the figure between 24,000 and 40,000. The reason there will never be an exact number is because the temperature were so hot that some people simply disintegrated.

The first planes that flew in were ordered to drop magnesium parachute flares to light up the city so bombers could see. The USAAF Eighth Air Force launched the first attack. Bad weather prevented the USAAF Eighth Air Force from carrying out their mission, so the RAF Bomber Command was left to finish the job. The attacks were merciless as can be told by this estimate of how much of the devastating explosives were being carried.

“The main bomber force, called "Plate Rack", took off shortly after the Pathfinders. This was a group of 254 Lancasters carrying 500 tons of high explosives and 375 tons of incendiaries, or fire bombs. There were 200,000 incendiaries in all, with the high-explosive bombs ranging in weight from 500 pounds to 4,000 pounds - the so-called two-ton "cookies," also known as "blockbusters," because they had the power to destroy a city block. The high explosives were intended to rupture water mains, and blow off roofs, doors, and windows, creating an air flow that would feed the fires caused by the incendiaries that followed.”

On the fourteenth, the second day of attacks, 431 bombers of the 1st Bombardment Division of the United States VIII Bomber Command were to bomb the city again at noon. The attacks continues into the 15th and finally subsided. One survivor describes the horrors of the bombing:

“It is not possible to describe! Explosion after explosion. It was beyond belief, worse than the blackest nightmare. So many people were horribly burnt and injured. It became more and more difficult to breathe. It was dark and all of us tried to leave this cellar with inconceivable panic. Dead and dying people were trampled upon, luggage was left or snatched up out of our hands by rescuers. The basket with our twins covered with wet cloths was snatched up out of my mother's hands and we were pushed upstairs by the people behind us. We saw the burning street, the falling ruins and the terrible firestorm. My mother covered us with wet blankets and coats she found in a water tub.

We saw terrible things: cremated adults shrunk to the size of small children, pieces of arms and legs, dead people, whole families burnt to death, burning people ran to and fro, burnt coaches filled with civilian refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many were calling and looking for their children and families, and fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm threw people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from.

I cannot forget these terrible details. I can never forget them.” - Lothar Metzger, survivor.

The aftermath of the bombings was catastrophic. Bodies were stacked so thickly that one could not move through the streets without having to clear a path.

There is a timeline of all the bombing that clearly lies out what happened, down to how much of the explosives were used, which can be found here.

Much controversy surrounds the bombings. Many believe that the tragedy of Dresden was serious enough to be a war crime. Tens of thousands of people were slaughtered for no reason I particular. There was nobody to benefit from the attack, no reason to make this course of action seem necessary. It was just senseless violence, senseless killing. So many lives were destroyed, for no reason. Of course, this is my opinion. Others have thought that Dresden was necessary. But, when faced with the facts, Dresden was just one of the many victims of war.