Thread: Dresden 75 years ago

Dresden: The World War Two bombing 75 years on
13 February 2020



he bombing of Dresden created a firestorm that destroyed the centre of the city
"The firestorm is incredible... Insane fear grips me and from then on I repeat one simple sentence to myself continuously: 'I don't want to burn to death'. I do not know how many people I fell over. I know only one thing: that I must not burn."

On 13 February 1945, British aircraft launched an attack on the eastern German city of Dresden. In the days that followed, they and their US allies would drop nearly 4,000 tons of bombs in the assault.

The ensuing firestorm killed 25,000 people, ravaging the city centre, sucking the oxygen from the air and suffocating people trying to escape the flames.

Dresden was not unique. Allied bombers killed tens of thousands and destroyed large areas with attacks on Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin, and the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hamburg firestorm: 'A different level of devastation'
The city saved from the atomic bomb
But the bombing has become one of the most controversial Allied acts of World War Two. Some have questioned the military value of Dresden. Even British Prime Minister Winston Churchill expressed doubts immediately after the attack.

"It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed," he wrote in a memo.

"The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing."

This story contains graphic images.

Read more
Dresden: The World War Two bombing 75 years on - BBC News

There was no military value in Dresden, it was terrorism to dishearten the German populace from continuing the war.

"Slaughterhouse Five". Kurt Vonnegut's true account of being a POW in Dresden is a harrowing story of the carnage inflicted.

Originally Posted by kmart

There was no military value in Dresden, it was terrorism to dishearten the German populace from continuing the war.

"Slaughterhouse Five". Kurt Vonnegut's true account of being a POW in Dresden is a harrowing story of the carnage inflicted.

3 months before end of the war. And the end was clear to everybody.

In one day over 700 ton of explosives brought with over 700 aircrafts. The resulting fires almost equivalent to Hiroshima, Nagasaki.

And the further days repeating up to the last weeks.

Similarly, other localities with important industries known that they will be belonging to the Eastern Block - not under such fire the months in 1944...

"Slaughterhouse Five". Kurt Vonnegut's true account of being a POW in Dresden is a harrowing story of the carnage inflicted.[/QUOTE]
There's a not so well known film of that book
Not too bad
https://www.magnetdl.com/file/348974...080p-yts-yify/

Originally Posted by kmart

There was no military value in Dresden, it was terrorism to dishearten the German populace from continuing the war.

I think the fire bombing of Tokyo, et al, then falls into the same category?

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

I think the fire bombing of Tokyo, et al, then falls into the same category?

The fire bombing of Tokyo killed a lot more people than the A-bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined. The Pacific campaign was won already when the nukes were dropped.

In the summer of 1945, Japan’s war leaders knew they were not going to win World War II.
Opposing camps of historians generally agree on that, but little else when it comes to debating Japan’s willingness to surrender.
In the United States, generations were taught that Japan would never have surrendered so quickly without use of the atomic bomb and that victory would have required a bloody invasion of the Japanese mainland, costing hundreds of thousands of lives.
Japanese students were generally taught a very different narrative: that Japan already had been defeated and dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki three days apart was a geopolitical calculation to keep the Soviet Union at bay.

Would Japan have surrendered without the atomic bombings? - WWII - Victory in Japan - Stripes

^ Live by the sword, die by the sword. I am sure the people of London were pretty OK with it.

^Yes, true enough. A bit of a history of the use of "strategic target" bombing, including deliberately targeting civilians here: Constitutional Rights Foundation

^ Interesting read. Thanks.

Definitely a war crime, but the victors are judge, jury and executioners.

Had Germany taken the same measures . . . a ghastly thought

Originally Posted by panama hat

Had Germany taken the same measures . . . a ghastly thought

The Germans used terror bombing all the time - go read the link for a brief history of it.

The only take on your comment is that the Germans deserve our sympathy because they were not very good at it, while the allies were?

Originally Posted by panama hat

Definitely a war crime, but the victors are judge, jury and executioners.

Had Germany taken the same measures . . . a ghastly thought

....and the historic perspectives would've been written in a highly manipulative manner, per usual.

Originally Posted by nidhogg

The Germans used terror bombing all the time - go read the link for a brief history of it.

No need to, I'm quite aware of the atrocities

Originally Posted by nidhogg

The only take on your comment is that the Germans deserve our sympathy because they were not very good at it, while the allies were?

Your take is incredibly off course. The kill Brits at all costs was exemplified at Dunkirk, and they were soldiers. The total destruction of places like Dresden, containing mostly civilians and of little military importance, was a war crime . . . nothing to do with who was 'better' at it . . . and as for 'the Germans deserved it' - again they were civilians, but then the Brits have form in that area

I'm guessing you think that the hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians deserved being nuked as well

Originally Posted by panama hat

but then the Brits have form in that area
I'm guessing you think that the hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians deserved being nuked as well

PH across a few threads now seem to have trouble controlling your hate for Brits, Frenchie DNA i suppose. Course France has never acted out atrocities.

Originally Posted by panama hat

No need to, I'm quite aware of the atrocities





Your take is incredibly off course. The kill Brits at all costs was exemplified at Dunkirk, and they were soldiers. The total destruction of places like Dresden, containing mostly civilians and of little military importance, was a war crime . . . nothing to do with who was 'better' at it . . . and as for 'the Germans deserved it' - again they were civilians, but then the Brits have form in that area

I'm guessing you think that the hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians deserved being nuked as well

Fit the London blitz into that scenario.

Fuck the nips and the squareheads, as nations they all fell for the fatherland gobshite, tried to take over the world and got whacked for it.

If you want sympathy, you'll find it between Shit and Syphilis in the dictionary.

These fucking twats whinging about war crimes when the Hun exterminated millions of civilians out of pure hatred, and the nips tortured and starved their way across Asia... honestly, just go and fuck yourselves.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Fuck the nips and the squareheads, as nations they all fell for the fatherland gobshite, tried to take over the world and got whacked for it.

If you want sympathy, you'll find it between Shit and Syphilis in the dictionary.

These fucking twats whinging about war crimes when the Hun exterminated millions of civilians out of pure hatred, and the nips tortured and starved their way across Asia... honestly, just go and fuck yourselves.

No, you go and fuck yourself.
Two wrongs make a right?
They killed millions so we can kill millions too.
Makes it all Even Stevens.
As others have mentioned, to the Victor the Spoils - no war crimes ever committed by the winners.
Get fucked.

Have to say all this pales into insignificance to what Stalin did and they are still arguing the numbers in millions.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

the Hun exterminated millions of civilians out of pure hatred

And there's me thinking you a clever man.

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

And there's me thinking you a clever man.

Oh are you one of these people that thinks six million jews and assorted gays and gypsies deserved to be gassed?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Oh are you one of these people that thinks six million jews and assorted gays and gypsies deserved to be gassed?

Might have nipped today's gay pandemic in the bud..
I'm not supporting ,just sayimg

While the Germans were bombing London using planes and missles what strategic military sites were they targeting?

Originally Posted by aging one

While the Germans were bombing London using planes and missles what strategic military sites were they targeting?

None. It was all about wearing down the support of the people.

Originally Posted by NamPikToot

PH across a few threads now seem to have trouble controlling your hate for Brits

Not sure what gives you that idea, I certainly don't hate the 'Brits' - or have you not read correctly . . . must be your POM dna

Originally Posted by NamPikToot

Course France has never acted out atrocities.

Ans just like that . . . whoosh . . . the discussion goes over your head

^ ....