And you seem to think basically over means if we would have let up and coasted that everything would have had the same outcome. The fact is, if we would have let up an inch the industrious Germans would have taken advantage of that as they always did, and collapsed into a very hard to attack pocket. The only answer was to pound them until they collapsed.
And if it was basically over, where were the German negotiations to surrender in February of 45?
You broached on several valid points. I agree that pressing the war at that time was the right thing to do. I question the necessity of Dresden. Some on Ike's staff argued against the bombing, at least on the scale that it eventually took . Ike gave the approval, as a nod to Churchill and retribution.
Retribution goes beyond pressing the war and that was my real point.
Prior to '45 Germans (not Nazi's), through diplomatic channels, did seek to negotiate with Churchill, an end to the war (an end that included taking Hitler out). These attempts were rejected by Churchill. It was too late to negotiate, Germany would need to be destroyed first, was the response.