Dresden air raid

The massive Allied air raid on the medieval German city of Dresden during February 13–14, 1945, was enormously destructive and highly controversial. Many historians and others have condemned it as an act of wanton and vengeful destruction, a mission with no true military purpose. Others have seen it as just another episode of the strategic bombing of Germany, a program intended to hasten the end of the war. Capital of Saxony, Dresden was a city of beautiful medieval architecture. Its major industry was the creation of fine china, and it had little heavy industry, even during the war. Because it was considered of negligible strategic importance, it had been largely bypassed by Allied bombers, except for a minor U.S. raid in October 1944. In January 1945, under the direction of British air marshal Arthur "Bomber" Harris, plans were drawn up for Operation Thunderclap to attack Berlin and other major population centers as the Soviet Red Army was closing in rapidly from the east. The idea was that the raids would make defense against the Soviet advance more difficult and that they would disrupt the flow of westwardbound refugees from that advance. It was particularly important, western Allied leaders felt, to make a demonstration of support for the Soviet effort. The first Thunderclap missions were flown over Berlin and Magdeburg on February 3, and over Magdeburg and Chemnitz on February 6. On February 9, Magdeburg was targeted a third time. Harris had wanted to put Dresden at the top of the list, but raids against that city were delayed by adverse weather. When February 13 looked good for a night raid, Royal Air Force Bomber Command sent 796 Avro Lancaster heavy bombers and nine Mosquito fighter bombers over Dresden. Together, they dropped 1,478 tons of high-explosive bombs and another 1,182 tons of incendiaries. The combination of rubble and the intensive incendiary bombing created not merely a series of fires, but a firestorm, which engulfed the city. As if this were not bad enough, the U.S. Eighth Air Force followed up with a daylight raid on February 14 using its B- 17 Flying Fortresses to multiply the already devastating destruction. As a result of the two raids, more than 50,000 civilians, including westwardbound refugees, died. Dresden lay in ruins. Immediately after the raids, war correspondents and others raised questions as to the purpose, utility, and morality of the attacks on Dresden. Even Winston Churchill, who had endorsed Operation Thunderclap, was appalled. "Bomber" Harris, however, voiced no doubts about the operation he had led and considered the destruction of cities perfectly legitimate in a total war.