Here is a picture of Gibson and his crew entering the Lancaster prior to the mission. Every...single...man died during the course of the war.
Posted on 05/17/2013 10:35:46 AM PDT by the scotsman
'Two of the surviving Dambuster airmen have attended a ceremony after a flypast to mark the 70th anniversary of the World War II raid on German dams.
Hundreds of onlookers gathered as a Lancaster bomber flew over Derwent reservoir - one of the practice sites used ahead of the top-secret mission.
More than a third of the men never returned from the raids, when they had to fly just 60ft above ground.
RAF Scampton later hosted a sunset service.
The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and 617 Squadron flew over the dam in Derbyshire's Hope Valley on Thursday lunchtime.
The ceremony, service and second flypast took place at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire where, 70 years ago, 19 Lancaster bombers took off for their daring mission.
Only three of the original 133-strong squadron are still alive. Two of them, 94-year-old John "Les" Munro and 91-year-old George "Johnny" Johnson attended the Lincoln service on Thursday evening.
Squadron leader Munro had travelled from New Zealand for the event.
He said he made the 12,000-mile trip "just to renew old acquaintances".
More than 1,300 people were killed in the Dambuster raids when bombs were dropped on German dams and flooded the Ruhr valley.
There were a number of events taking place around the country on Thursday to mark the raids of 16-17 May 1943.'
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I believe it was Albert Speer who wrote after the war (would have been nice for the advice during the war, Al...) that the Nazis were a little confused about our bombing different industries. Has we truly and strongly focused on just one or two sectors, a complete knock out of a process would have had a far more devestating effect on them instead of the spreading the damage to multiple areas plan we followed.
Just re-read what I wrote...you didn’t ask the original question.
Sorry
I’m just asking if you think Dresden was a war crime. I don’t think it was.
Just have to put this out there, too...
I consider the bombing of Dresden to be a historical event. As was Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The people living at the time made the decision, I won't second guess them.
However, If I was king of the world after 9/11... Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran would be smoldering glass parking lots from which American oil wells were operating 24/7. Muzzies worldwide would be underground, living in fear.
But that's just me.
No, I don’t
You should probably capitalize it since it’s a proper name.
Too late, no editing ability
Moderator will probably clean up anyway.
I will post a link on this thread to our WWII + 70 thread tomorrow. The headline reads, “R.A.F. Blasts 2 Big Dams in Reich; Ruhr Power Cut, Traffic Halted as Floods Cause Death and Ruin.” The N.Y. Times initial report cited 4,000+ dead and 120,000 homeless after the raid. There is a sidebar story that credits a German-Jewish “medical specialist” working in exile in London with the idea for the dam-busting raid.
I do.
I dont.
It was a legitimate military and strategic target, Germany was far from being beaten. The notion its a war crime because Germany was beaten or it was simply for gratification (it was a raid requested by Stalin to help the USSR’s advance) is nonsense. Or that there was nothing worth bombing in it (a huge lie).
Frankly, it wasnt any worse than other allied raids. A lot of postwar hot air has been talked about it.
Here is a picture of Gibson and his crew entering the Lancaster prior to the mission. Every...single...man died during the course of the war.
Dresden was different in nature from Hamburg, or Tokyo, or the other fire bomb attacks. It was a war crime then, and would certainly be under the current rules of war. Harris did more to earn a place in prison after the war than did Doenitz; Harris had the good fortune to be on the winning side, and escaped justice for his terrorism while Doenitz was a victim of ‘victor’s justice’.
If Germany had won the war there would be no talk whats so ever about ‘’war crimes’’. What would be is you, me and just about the whole world getting our teeth smashed in with a rifle butt ten times a day for the honor being slaves of Der Fuhrer.
Yeah it’s blip alright and one the bastards deserved. Lord knows what the Wehrmacht, the SS and the Luftwaffe did while they were running amok. And if Nazi Germany had won the war they sure as hell wouldn’t be navel gazing saying “Gee that was rotten thing we did to the Jews and rest of the world. We shouldn’t have done that’’.
Who stands trial from the US Air Force? You as a nation participated in that campaign so your equally guilty. In the 1950’s the U.S. military justified its position and stated it was a legitimate target.
Review your history. The RAF (and with Polish support) targeted the residential and cultural center of the city in the night raid. The US targeted the rail yards; when bad weather obscured the targets, the remaining planes bombed by radar, and did hit civilian areas, although those areas were not targeted.
In short, the US treated Dresden raids as they normally would, the British as a different kind of warfare. Even Churchill was not willing to give whole-hearted endorsement of this RAF terror bombing.
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