the
bombing of Dresden
This historic German city was
the scene of what was perhaps the most controversial episode
in the strategic air offensive against Germany. Capital of
Saxony and situated on the River Elbe, Dresden was
particularly noted for its splendid architecture and its
manufacture of fine china. It had little heavy industry and
up until early 1945 had only been attacked once from the
air, a small raid by the Eighth US Army Air Force in October
1944.
In January 1945 the British air ministry drew up a plan
THUNDERCLAP for attacks on Berlin and population centres in
eastern Germany. This was to take advantage of the recently
launched Soviet offensive westwards from the Vistula and add
to the growing chaos in Germany by disrupting the flow of
refugees fleeing in the face of the Soviet attack. At the
same time, the western Allies wished to demonstrate to the
Soviets at the forthcoming Yalta conference that they were
giving them the support of their heavy bombers, and, indeed,
at Yalta the Soviets specifically requested help in this
form. In the meantime, Spaatz and Harris, commanding the
Anglo;US bombing forces, had received orders for THUNDERCLAP
to be put into action, and the first operations of it were
US daylight attacks on Berlin and Magdeburg on 3 February,
Chemnitz and Magdeburg akin on the 6th, and Magdeburg yet
again on 9 February.
Air Chief Marshal Harris's
intention had been to strike Dresden first, but weather
conditions were initially unfavourable. On 13 February they
showed improvement, although not good enough for the
original plan of an initial US attack during the day. That
night, however, RAF Bomber Command despatched 796 Lancaster
bombers and 9 Mosquitoes from the UK. These attacked Dresden
in two waves three hours apart, dropping 1,478 tons of high
explosive bombs and 1,182 tons of incendiaries which started
a firestorm. Such was the weakness of the air defences that
only six Lancasters were shot down, although a further three
crashed on friendly territory on the way home. The following
day, 311 US B17 bombers also struck the city, adding to the
extensive damage caused by the RAF. In all, some 50,000
people, including many refugees, are reckoned to have lost
their lives and much of the city was devastated.
At a SHAEF press briefing two
days later it was revealed in 'off the record' comments that
the aims of THUNDERCLAP were to bomb large population
centres and prevent relief supplies from getting through. An
Associated Press war correspondent immediately filed a story
that the Allies had resorted to terror bombing in order to
seal Hitler's doom and this set in train a number of
embarrassing questions on both sides of the Atlantic on the
morality of this form of attack.
what's left of Dresden after the raid
Harris, however, remained
unrepentant, commenting on Churchill's objection that he did
not regard 'the whole of the remaining cities of Germany as
worth the bones of one British Grenadier'. Even so, Dresden
remains the prime example cited by those who condemn the
morality of 'city busting' as practised by the Anglo/US
bombing forces and was still a matter of contention in 1992
when a statue of Harris was unveiled in London. |