Warsaw 1945
Goebbels wanted "Totaler Krieg", and he got it!
If you don’t sew the wind, you won’t reap the whirlwind. The bombing of Dresden was not a military necessity. But once the war starts one never knows where it is going to go.
Hamburg was fire-bombed too earlier in the war.
Similarly, despite the near total collapse of the Wehrmacht in June - August 1944 which brought Allied armies close to the German border in both East and West, Germany refused to collapse. Instead, after the assassination attempt in July, the Nazi Party and SS were given complete control of the German state and free rein to use terror against both German civilians and soldiers who were considered 'defeatist.' In addition, Speer redoubled his efforts to organize what remained of German industry to support the war effort. For example, in the fall of '44 allied aircraft were destroying or disabling 1,200 German locomotives per month. Speer ramped up the repair/replace capacity to 6,000 per month.
As a consequence, the war in Europe would drag on for another 9 months. During each of those months the German murder machine continued to work-- prisoners moved out of France, Poland and Hungary continued to be murdered. For example, the slave laborers killed in the V-1 and V-2 programs alone more or less match the number of Germans killed in Dresden.
The US and Britain considered that all available means were needed to bring the war to a conclusion as swiftly as possible, and had promised the Soviets to provide as much military action as possible in the East. So Dresden was fire bombed.
The standard Leftist accusation for the Dresden bombing was that there were no military targets, except the rail network. Of course, that was the target and the transportation system was the major target for air forces at this point in the war. Much of manufacturing had either been destroyed or moved underground. However, transportation could not be hidden and the Germans were moving troops and supplies to defend against the Soviets and the Western allies who were closing in on the Reich. The Russians had specifically asked for an attack on Dresden because troop movements and supplies were pouring through Dresden to reinforce the Eastern Front. The Brits and the Americans accomodated their request. Legitimate target. Perhaps Hitler should have surrendered as the eventual outcome was well known even to this lunatic.
War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.
William Tecumseh Sherman
If we’d had the nukes then, we’d have used them. Sympathy only extends to innocent children of the enemies; the adults were culpable for allowing such a regime to remain.
“The Battle of Hamburg,” published in the 1980s, provides similar descriptions of the destruction there.
Horrific.
If they didn’t like war then they shouldn’t have started one. War isn’t a law enforcement operation. It is obliterating the enemy until they cease to exist. If we can’t trust you, we’ll destroy you.
This was far more controversial.
It really did not shorten the war by much. The nukes saved millions of American and Japanese lives. It save an entire culture.
Dresden had been spared. But damn, it was quite the firestorm.
Before the huge air raid, it had not suffered a major Allied attack.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/atomic-bomb-on-germany.html
The article discusses the logistics of putting the b29’s in Europe. Remember there were 3 atomic bomb “kits” (kits were complete atomic bomb airbases) completed. One was assembled in the US for testing, one was assembled in the pacific, and one was held in reserve.
Well living in a city in wartime is not a good idea even today.
What are the most likely US Cities to be bombed in wartime?
Would losing a dozen cities change the political landscape?
Warsaw 1945
Goebbels wanted "Totaler Krieg", and he got it!
Dunno where I read it, but aircrews that had to bail out near the city were thrown into the fires by vengeful Germans. I doubt that as the heat was too intense, but who knows?
There’s a paperback titled “Defeat in the East” by a German officer who was there. Lots of horrific stories of what the German civilians went through trying to get West. Many got to Dresden and thanked God they were finally safe - and then the bombers came.
If you are interested in long march in the use of strategic bombers and the upping of the ante, I highly recommend Dan Carlin’s long podcast on Hardcore History. He rightly called it “Logical Insanity”.
It was war. Germany had decided to stand, to a man, so it was what they got!
Oh nein, nicht schon wieder diese Scheiße.