Churchill knew FDR was ill and Stalin was going to steamroll him at Yalta for territory in Europe.
I'm convinced the Dresden raid was a statement to Stalin, who Churchill despised and held in total contempt. Come westward, you violent peasant, you'll get all of this. Churchill had no faith in FDR at the point, and he was right in his suspicion.
After the Luftwaffe killed women and children in Coventry and London, after the reports of the genocides in Warsaw and the Ukraine, I don't think Churchill was too concerned about a bombing at the German solar plexis. The firestorm fashioned a horrific vision, we fear burns in a primal way, but Churchill saw toddlers being removed from Coventry rubble and they were just as dead from blunt force trauma as a Saxony artiste who immolated. People buried in rubble die of asphixiation, and most of the victims at Dresden died of asphixiation.
There were reports of 36,000 to 130,000 dead there. 5.6 million Jews were murdered in systematic assembly line death by the German people. War is hell.
Stalin got the message, and while he was rolling FDR he taunted the brilliant old sod with glares. Yalta was a disgrace. Truman, Ike or some Senior Senator should have stepped in to protect American interests. Churchill saw a guy worse than Hitler walk away with the blue ribbon.
Alger Hiss was there to lend aid to Roosevelt at Yalta!About the "firebombing".I thought they bombed,fires erupted and created a firestorm.Firestorms are awesome.Thank God for Churchill.He had more power than Eleanor who had communist leaders in America over to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom.
Dresden was partially about impressing Stalin. By the time of Yalta Churchill was disgusted with Roosevelt and his unfathomable ignorance and hubris concerning Stalin and Russian post war motives and intentions. Yalta indeed was an absolute comical low point in US diplomatic history. But Dresden was also just a continuation of "morale" bombing that had been fully grasped by both the US and Great Britain the year before. No pretense was made to avoid civilian casualties and it became the objective itself. This was of course hidden from the American public. The rationale behind this was that the civilains would become "demoralized" and press for an end to war. Studies done after the war proved it entirely false. Civilian terror bombing in Germany created a fatalistic siege mentality among German civilians and intense hatred of the allies. Dozens of allied airmen were ripped to shreds by frenzied German civilians upon being shot down. The terror bombing probably prolonged the war in the west and stiffened German resistance. The release of the "Morganthou occupation plan" didn't help any either which called for the basic enslavement of Germany males in giant construction projects and the reducing of Germany to pasture land. Roosevelt actually favored this to the horror of experienced state department men and Churchill who recognized the need for a strong germany after the war. Lastly- in the summer of 44'- when the "Front of Decent people" tried their last assassination attempt and coup against Hitler and failed- the US actually dropped millions of leaflets over Germnay taunting the particpants as even worse than Hitler. The presiding judge of the Nazi trials against the conspirators actually read from these leaflets approvingly. Roosevelt consistently refused any aide or even contact with the "FODP" in Germany despite it's many attempts to open communication with him. Many Americans died needless deaths because FDR wanted unconditional surrender of Germany.
PS- after the fire bombing of Dresden- many basements and bunkers were found with the bones of victims suspened in their own melted congealed fat. They had been boiled to death in their own flesh from the heat.