[SAMWolf]

Hey. Hi AC!

I don't know for sure how much Vonnegut had to do with bringing out the facts on the Dresden bombing but I do remember reading about us trying to blame the Brits for it.

[Alberta's Child]

The interesting thing is that most of the world views the U.S. and the British as one and the same anyway. If you ever see a news conference about the war in Iraq, you'll notice that a lot of foreign representatives refer to "the Anglos" when they are talking about the U.S.

[WhiskeyPapa]

I don't know for sure how much Vonnegut had to do with bringing out the facts on the Dresden bombing but I do remember reading about us trying to blame the Brits for it.

It's a low point of American arms and politics both, but it's true that the USAAF joined with the Brits in terror bombing at the end of the war.

Early on, USAAF bombers only bombed under visual conditions. On at least one occasion in 1943, they brought their bombs away from GERMAN targets due to poor conditions.

Because of the bad weather so often prevelant over the continent and the pressing need to engage the Luftwaffe regularly, the USAAF was equipped with the same blind bombing radar equipment the Brits used.

Late in the war, it's quite plain that compunctions about targeting civilians fell away. Railway stations were often designated as secondary targets. The crews knew this was a euphemistic way of targeting civilians since railway stations were uniformly in the center of town.

I do think that the USAAF -never- adopted the idea that any bomb that hit Germany was a "good" bomb. That was the RAF's rationale all along. The USAAF ALWAYS sought precision and effective targeting.

Part of the reason the US air generals went more to the terror bombing mindset, I feel, is that they had promised some pretty big things for strategic bombing and were given a large portion of both industrial production and the cream of the man power. They didn't accomplish nearly what they promised.

Walt

[snippy_about_it]

On a personal note:

In my phone call to my mother after 9/11 she referenced the bombing of Dresden in our conversation.

I only knew of the Dresden bombing as a terrible bombing event and honestly hadn't given the personal detail much thought.

I thought her remarks odd, but let it go. We had just been attacked by terrorists, what had that to do with Dresden? Who's side was she on?

Coming from her (an ol' Navy gal and staunchly proud of our country) I was perplexed at the reference between what had just happened to us and what had happened to Germany during WWII. Shamefully I'll admit, I passed it off to her age and the events of the day.

September 11th, being the day it was I didn't ask her for an explanation and forgot about her reference until today's story.

Now I understand better what she was trying to say.

Thinking back to our conversation, and her tone I think folks aware of events, at least military folk, must have known the reality of what happened although maybe they didn't discuss it. If they didn't know it then they must have known it soon after.

She accompanied my father to Germany in 1947 while he was in the Army and when I was younger I remember her talking about all the destruction but nothing more.

It's embarrassing sometimes to admit how little I know.

She wasn't talking about the politics of it as I thinking that day, but about the personal individual aspects of the tragedies...and I missed it. Sheesh!

Now I have a clue. I'll also have to ring her up and see what else I can find out.

Thanks for the work Sam.