Firebombing of Dresden

[Capt. Web]

In my AP Lang and Comp class, we are now reading the book by Vonngut, "Slaughterhouse Five" at which point the teacher brought up the historics behind it, and at which point we all realized that we were all telling different opinions of it. If anyone could just provide some much needed conservative insight. Thanks.

[Torie]

My impression is that Churchill arranged for the firebombing of Dresden as payback for the London bombing. If so, that was the low-point of his illustrious career. The firebombing was unjustified and evil - period.

[Steel Wolf]

"There were 222,000 flats in total in the city. 75,000 of them were totally destroyed, 11,000 strongly hit, 7,000 hit, 81,000 slightly damaged. The precise number of dead is difficult to ascertain and is not known. Estimates vary from 25,000 to more than 150,000 dead although the official German report (TB47) at the time refers to 25,000 dead and most historians now view 30,000-50,000 as the likely range.[1] The number of dead bodies between February 1945 and April 1945 was 25,000, no matter if war related or not. War-related dead bodies found in later years october 1945 till September 1957 are said to be counted as 2,000. There was no registration of buried people between May 1945 and September 1945. The number of missed people was 35,000, around 10,000 of those 35,000 missed ones were found alive. The estimated number of killed people for February 1945 is therefore 35,000-45,000. In the recent past the numbers became a little higher in Germany and lower in Great Britain, earlier the opposite could be said.

Such estimates are made very difficult by the fact that the city was crowded at that time by many unregistered refugees and wounded soldiers"

This is from wikipedia , but it's all pretty much common knowledge. What in particular are you guys disagreeing over?

[martin_fierro]

[expatpat]

Not revenge for London, but for the levelling of the city of Coventry (of Lady Godiva fame).

[Casloy]

The germans were slaughtering millions of people in gas chambers. Under the circumstances the fact we bombed a German city that may or may not have had strategic value is of no consequence whatsoever. It's like Charlie Manson complaining his prison issue sneakers give him blisters.

[Ramius]

There used to be a concept in war that the objective was about killing the enemy and winning, whatever the cost. Now, in the antiseptic world of CNN and live analysis with the talking-head-du-jour, there is a new paradigm where not only must we suffer no casualties, must must also somehow neither *inflict* casualties.

But, we still have to win, and it must always go exactly according to plan, and nothing can ever change once the battle starts. This is the post-CNN reality of warfare.

[diamond6]

My dad read the book, I'll ask him.

[Casloy]

If so, that was the low-point of his illustrious career. The firebombing was unjustified and evil - period.

What about the fire bombing of Japanese cities? It was firebombing on a scale that exceeded Dresden by 30 fold at least.

[Steel Wolf]

"Slaughterhouse Five" is really overrated, by the way. I thought Deadeye Dick, Cat's Cradle, and Mother Night were much better.

[StayAt HomeMother]

Check "The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Bombing of Dresden (Feb.13-15,1945) - May 15th, 2003"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/911999/posts

[Nyboe]

Quote "It's like Charlie Manson complaining his prison issue sneakers give him blisters"

ROFL !

I also am tired of people feeling sorry for the way sub human killers are treated. If it were up to me Faluja (however you spell it) would be a night light.

[DTogo]

Due to the nation-wide support of the war efforts coming out of WWII Germany and Japan, the idea was not only to kill their soldiers on the battlefield (or in the skies or on the seas), but also to demoralize the populace into demanding a surrender of their governments. Hence the firebombings of many Japanese cities as well - Tokyo looked as bad as Hiroshima or Nagasaki by the end of WWII, with 100K lives lost in a single night of B-29 firebombings. War sucks. The Axis started it, the Allies finished it.

We would have lost WWII if we fought it like we're fighting in Iraq now.

[ClearCase_guy]

In wartime, it is permissible to drop bombs on the enemy.
War is hell. Make it hurt, and it will be over sooner. The sooner it is over, the fewer will die.
The Germans were the agressors.
The Germans bombed Rotterdam.
The Germans bombed London and Coventry (and on and on)
The Germans killed civilians in death camps.

I fail to see why there should be any controversy over Dresden. Totally fail to see it.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Hit the keyword DRESDEN. (Right below your post.)

[vmivol00]

We bombed them to destroy the will of the German people.

[Borges]

Did you see 'The Fog of War'? Robert Macnamara, who served under Curtis Lemay in the Japanese campaign, told his troops that were they to lose they would be tried as War Criminals.

[Nachum]

What about the fire bombing of Japanese cities?

That still did not get them to surrender. It took two atom bombs to do that.

[Ramius]

I would add that the people of Dresden got off easy, by modern standards. It would have been far worse if we'd made them wear panties on their heads. Now *that* would've been totally over the line.