In February 1945, the incendiary bombing of Dresden, one of the deadliest bombs in human history, second only to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, estimated the death toll to be 35,000 to 135,000. However, the real difference between the Dresden bombing and other deadly conflicts in World War II is its brutality.
Some believe that the nature of the attack was a war crime, since it was primarily aimed at innocent civilians in an almost defeated country. And few military targets were hit during the operation, and Dresden had no strategic importance. So the exact reason why the Allies chose to attack Dresden was a complex one, and there was no shortage of other optional military targets at the time. To this day, this remains a contentious issue. While there may not yet be a definitive answer to the morality of bombing, learning more about the event can help us understand the complexity of the war itself, as well as the casualties it caused.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > exploded so loudly that the trees on the ground were blown away</h1>
The weapons thrown at Dresden have a great explosive power. Fire of this magnitude in such a concentrated area would have unintended consequences, as the British prisoner of war Victor Greg discovered:
We were only 500 yards away from the center of the first attack. But we could still feel the terrible heat wave, and our bodies trembled with the shaking of the ground. As if that wasn't enough, another fear arose: unlike the real natural wind, on the contrary, the air that sucked us into hell became unusually hard. A second air raid followed for about 15 minutes, after which huge smoke and flames erupted on the ground...
Everything was wrapped in flames, even the roads were burning, and the tar was bubbling and hissing like a river. Huge fragments flew in the air and were swept into the whirlpool. We can see people being dragged away from the fixture in their hands and dragged into a deepening red glow less than 200 yards away.
When the bomb explodes, it pushes the air away with great force and forms a vacuum. Because vacuums can't last long in Earth's atmosphere, all the air rushes back to where it was still burning at the time of the explosion. This phenomenon is also the cause of the unusual shape of mushroom clouds.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > many victims were instantly cremated</h1>
On the outskirts of the bombing, people suffocated to death or were burned alive. Many people near the city center were instantly cremated, and their bodies were later found to be fragile and fragmented. According to survivor Lothar Metzger:
We saw horrific scenes: "cremated" adults shrunk to the size of small children, limbs of arms and legs everywhere, dead people, whole families burned to death, burning people running around, burned buses filled with refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many calling and looking for their children and families, fire everywhere, rolling heat waves everywhere.
I can't forget these terrible details, and I'll never forget them.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > bombs keep falling even though they are burning in most parts of the city</h1>
Götz Bergander was a German anti-aircraft artilleryman stationed in Dresden during the bombing. He recalls that at the time, citizens thought Dresden would survive because it was a hospital city and it was full of refugees. Ultimately, this is not the case. When the bombing began, everyone tried their best to hide. And when they first came out, they thought the worst was over:
Everyone was communicating until someone shouted, "They're back, they're back!" "It was then that I was overwhelmed by panic because we thought it was impossible, that they weren't going to throw more bombs at a city that was already hell. Then we rushed into the basement, and the second attack, like the first, began.
This went on for two days until allied planes finally flew away, leaving a ruin in the city.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="16" > frightened citizens flee to any house with a basement</h1>
At the time of the explosion, Dresden was an ancient city and cultural center that prided itself on preserving German culture. As a result, many of its buildings are old, and many of the houses are wooden. When bombs began to fall, panicked civilians ran to the strongest basement they could find, creating an existential crisis. Survivor Lothar Metzger recalls:
We fled into another cellar, which was crowded with wounded, nervous men, women and children, shouting, crying, and praying. No lights except for some flashlights... Many, desperate people poured in from the streets. The horrors of the environment are simply unbelievable, more terrifying than the darkest nightmares. Many people were severely burned and injured, and breathing became increasingly difficult. It was dark, and we all had an unimaginable panic and wanted to leave this basement.
Lothar Metzger was 9 years old at the time and was preparing to celebrate his birthday three days later.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="20" > bombs make the night as bright as day</h1>
As bombs fell more and more densely, the ancient city burned to the brim. Bombers no longer needed incendiary bombs to illuminate targets, and many survivors said the nights were "as bright as daytime." Later, the novelist Bruno E. Werner gave a slight fictional description of his experience in Dresden:
Above the coal bunker on the embankment, there is a cobalt blue light cone, a lemon yellow shimmer on the edge, and a vermilion sky. The opera house was like a blast furnace, and a yellow plume of smoke crackled like an umbrella through the roof into the sky. Only the black silhouettes of the Hof Church and the Bellevue Hotel are stiff and motionless, while on the wide dome of the Church of Our Lady, small flames are beating like elves... It's a spectacular scene like King Augustus of Saxony, with fireworks and thousands of torches.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > the city center was destroyed and inaccessible</h1>
Rescue efforts in Dresden had to stay away from the city center, which had been destroyed by bombs and could not be accessed. As British prisoner of war Victor Gregg wrote:
As if the devil himself had decided that their torment was not enough, above the roar of the wind and hell came the endless screams of pain of the victims who were roasted alive. What saved us was to breathe oxygen on the open ground, and as the fires became more and more serious, we temporarily gave up the idea of entering the city center. It was now a sea of fire, rising into the smoky sky. The air was too hot to breathe, and we quickly retreated to a safe area.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" > many believe that the bombing of Dresden was a war crime</h1>
British veteran Victor Greg spent years in the war before being captured by the Nazis. As a prisoner of war, he was held in Dresden and witnessed the explosion with his own eyes. In 2013, he said in an interview that the bombing of Dresden, unlike other attacks on the Western Front, should be considered a war crime.
Dresden had no fortifications, no anti-aircraft guns, no searchlights, nothing ... I (insist) consider this to be a war crime of the highest order, a stain on the honour of the British, and can only be erased if an apology is made in public.
Many people share Greg's views, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, who apologized to Germany for the bombing in 2015. However, this is not without controversy, as many Britons believe that the apology is a slander against the soldiers who fought in the war.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" > some factories were still working during the bombing</h1>
The bombardment took place over much of the city, creating an apocalyptic scene. Society stops producing, and most survivors focus on running away or helping others. However, Götz Bergander, who was at his family's factory at the time, recalled a different decision his father made:
Later, people from the inner city asked if we still had water. We said yes and opened the fire hydrant.... Some were so frightened that they could not speak. They just said, "My home and everything in it is gone." ”
Since the plant has its own supply of water and electricity, it can continue to operate. My father was a manager and he had to decide if he needed to continue working. We produce yeast for baked goods, and my father said food is important, so we have to keep working. Workers then returned, some even commuting on bicycles between the two night raids. I remember a guy coming over on a bicycle and my father asked him, "What are you doing here?" He replied: "I just want to see if this factory is still intact." ”
<H1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="34" > British Bomber Command, lobbying for support of the attack</h1>
After the incident, Winston Churchill was reportedly shocked by the bombing of Dresden. But who is responsible for this attack? We may never be sure, but Marshal Harris, commander of bomber command, appears to be a staunch supporter of this bombing strategy, and may have been the decisive voice of the events in Dresden.
Harris believed that such extreme tactics could demoralize the Germans. Early in the war, Churchill tended to agree with this view, especially after seeing the devastating Nazi airstrikes on civilian targets such as Warsaw and Rotterdam. However, as the war progressed, Harris continued to study his list of civilian targets, while Churchill lost faith in the regional bombing strategy. Attacks on East Germany, and attacks on cities such as Dresden, were intended to help Russia march into the German capital. Churchill later blamed Harris for dresden, but only a few months later, the war was over.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" > Dresden is an undefended city</h1>
Even decades later, there was much controversy surrounding Britain's bombing operations in the final years of the war. Churchill himself called it a "terrorist bombing" or a "regional bombing," and some senior military officials acknowledged that civilians were targeted in the bombing operations with the aim of creating a humanitarian crisis. However, it has also been argued that this tactic could make the war end faster and save more lives in the long run.
Dresden itself was a civilian town with a small number of Allied prisoners of war and some scattered troops. Churchill wrote: "The destruction of Dresden remains a serious question of the Allied bombing practices. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="40" > Before the war, Dresden was a cultural treasure</h1>
Germany has always been the home of art, culture and ideas that dazzle the rest of Europe, and Dresden is one of the most important jewels in the country's cultural crown. Known as "Florence on the Elbe", it is home to architectural marvels and some of Europe's richest collections. Although the Wehrmacht industrialized much of Germany, Dresden was largely unaffected, with relatively few troops and production facilities in Dresden during the war.
In February 1945, Germany was in danger, and Hitler concentrated most of his remaining military forces around Berlin. Many believe that Dresden will never be attacked, not only because it is not a military powerhouse, but also because it has rich cultural value.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" > Dresden is recovering from the attack</h1>
Decades later, the bombing still haunts Dresden's mind. After the war, it became part of East Germany and existed under Soviet rule. This led to three different architectural styles that dominated the city. There are those that survived the bombing, and there are also those that have been rebuilt and look like they survived the bombing. There are also practical, Brutalist, Soviet-era architecture. Finally, there is the multicultural modern architecture of New Dresden.
Rebuilding is a long process. As of 2019, the city still has unfinished restoration work. The ornate Church of Our Lady was not fully restored until 2005, exactly 60 years after it was destroyed in the bombing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="46" > it inspired one of the greatest science fiction novels of the 20th century</h1>
In 1969, Kurt Vonnegut published his most famous novel, The Fifth Slaughterhouse. Although ostensibly science fiction, it revolves around a very real event: the incendiary bombs of the German city of Dresden. Why did Vonnegut choose to write about Dresden? Because he's there. In fact, some literary scholars believe that Vonnegut's novels shatter the identity of time, space, and protagonist, and that this is a way for Vonnegut to overcome the trauma caused by the bombardment of Dresden.
Although Vonnegut was tight-lipped about his experiences, throughout his career he was fiercely critical of war, especially the senseless loss of life. In a later interview, he said:
The destruction of Dresden was the first time I experienced a real cultural destruction... Burned a livable city, a beautiful city... This senseless bombing left a deep impression on me.