The Atrocious Bombing of Dresden, Germany :: European Europe History

The Atrocious Bombing of Dresden, Germany On February 13-14, 1945 the British Royal Air Force gave the final clearance to commence what would later become known as one of the greatest atrocities that has ever been commited against a civilian population. That night the RAF launched 796 bombers and 9 Mosquitoes which carried 1,478 tons of explosives in addition to 1,182 tons of incendiary bombs (Dear 311) which turned the city of Dresden, Germany into a virtual inferno. This attack included another strike by the US Air Force the following morning. The attack on Dresden was never a legitimate act of war, and its result was the terroristic mass murder of over 135,000 people. Bombing civilian targets in enemy territory became an open issue on March 30, 1942 when the Prime Minister's science advisor, Professor F.A. Lindemann (who later was recognized as Lord Cherwell) delivered to Winston Churchill a report which contained a strong argument in favor of striking civilian targets. Cherwell's report contained the final rationalization for the program Bomber Command was undertaking, and it would henceforth be paper-clipped to the plans of the bomber offensive. (Hastings). In his report, Lindemann estimated that forty tons of explosives detonated in heavily populated areas would destroy the homes of 4,000-8,000 people. The report also stated that there was a population of 22 million people in fifty-eight of the major cities in Germany. Lindemann claimed that a nation of refugees could be the result of strategic air attacks. It is wildly believed among scholars that the information cont.ained in this report was the basis of the attack on Dresden. Lindemann's figures were correct, but his thinking was immoral and inhumane. The people to whom his statistics referred so objectively were innocent civilians, more than half of them women and children. The assault upon them was nothing more that out-right murder. Any benefit gained by destroying these civilians. lives, families, and homes was countered ten-fold by the moral reprehensibility of such a clearly criminal act. The city of Dresden was a historic center of Europe, and was known world wide for its splendid architecture. It was the capital of Saxony, and located along the banks of the Elbe river. Dresden had very little industrial activity, and it was a target only once before in a small raid by the US Air Force in October of 1944. It was a city that was also known for its production of fine China, and its glorious museums (Dear 311).