what britsch say today about the bombing of dresden?

I am British and I say it was a war crime.

PS: Though young I was also alive at the time.

Dresden was bombed by the British, Polish AND Americans ( in case you didn't know).

"The Dresden attack was to have begun with a USAAF Eighth Air Force bombing raid on 13 February 1945. "

You say it was fir nothing, well that's rubbish. It was a central hub for communications to the western front; it had over 400 factory's helping German war machine.

You're just talking rubbish.

Edit

@MAMan, you seem a little short of facts.

" In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 722 heavy bombers of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city." This is according to the Americans 1953 document!!

Now if you are saying 527 American bombers don't do anything in a bombing raid, then you are certainly not doing them justice!

As for killing 25,000 people, have you heard of Nagasaki or Hiroshima? 25,000 looks pretty small in comparison!

So, please don't try any moral high ground , when we in Britain where actually being bombed and in the USA you had nothing attacking you.

Also atleast we bombed our enemy target!!

"316 B-17 Flying Fortresses bombed Dresden, dropping 771 tons of bombs.[60][61] The rest misidentified their targets. Sixty bombed Prague, dropping 153 tons of bombs on the Czech city while others bombed Brux and Pilsen."!!!!

In war bad thing happen. The British thought that bombing Dresden and other German cities was the best way to defeat the Germans. Germany produced the V weapons and used them against Britain killing many people. The 2nd world war was a total war, with no holds being barred by very strong leaders. Churchill / Hitler / Stalin / and Roosevelt / Truman. all wanted to win. The atomic Bomb was used to end the war with Japan. but if Hitler and Churchill and Stalin had being able to use atom bombs they would have.

Sadly the second world war saw many such terrible acts, however I would remind you that Germany were entirely responsible for the war, they were given a condition from the UK to leave Poland alone, they had already invaded Czechoslovakia and a host of other Country's. They even assassinated their own troops, "Night of the long Knives" to try and justify it.

I would also point you at the blitz on London, the decimation of Coventry, which was not a strategic target in any way shape or form, from their we could look at the extermination of Jews, and many other non Arian peoples.

That any civilian has to die due to war is a tragedy, Germany today is a model of diplomatic excellence, but, and under the fearsome reign of the Austrian Mr Hitler, Germany was guilty of dreadful atrocities and needless genocide.

My Grand parents were bombed regularly, My Father and Mother served in the war, we all have stories and rather than look to lay blame for one thing or another, we need to learn from them.

The war was not over until late April and Early May of 1945, until and in a few instances just after then, the Third Reich was waging war. The Final battle in Berlin ended on 2nd May 1945.

I am not happy so many died in February 1945, but war is war, and we were at war.

We did not start it, we were not guilty of millions of murders, but we did end it.

It was near the end of 6 years of brutal warfare. Sure, it was a crass action but it was part of the end game. Grieve for your dead but remember the dead of the opposition forces and those who perished in the labour camps and gas chambers while you do so. War is a brutal business but this one was the one we did not start. Stirring old enmities up will achieve nothing.

What is the point in writing in German on a UK site

Please get your facts correct. The war during WW2 in Europe was not over until MAY. It carried on in the Far East for a bit longer. The bombing was done to make the Nazis, and NO I do not mean all Germans were Nazis, but the Nazi party, stop and surrender. The British fought for peace and to halt the sheer horror the Nazis did, and sadly it took a huge bombing for that. The Nazis gave no thought to bombing Liverpool, London, Coventary to near destruction and killing children and women and the vulnerable and the ordinary person. War is horrific and sadly that time it took one massive raid to stop the Nazis.

The biggest problem with dealing with the matter of the bombing of Germany is that it is judged against modern morals and standards of behaviour.

I am not in any way denying the fact that what happened in Dresden was horrific and appalling. I do deny that the men who undertook the mission have any crime to answer for.

The latest survey on how many died, done by a commission sponsored by the German Government found between 18 and 25,000 people died.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/death-...

The bombing of an industrialised town from the air in an attempt to destroy its industry or cause such loss of morale amongst its inhabitants that they ceased to work was NOT a crime by the Rules of War in 1945. The bombing of Coventry, London and other British Cities in 1940 and 1941 was also NOT a War Crime.

In early 1945 the war was far from over. The Allies were still camped outside the borders of Germany, V2 rockets were still falling. The Allies had just fought the battle of the Bulge where the supposedly defeated Germans suddenly punched a huge hole in the Allied lines, German Rocket and Jet aircraft were coming off the production lines and proceeding to rip the hell out of the allied air fleets. This made the Allies think there was still a long way to go. One group of Leaders knew how close Germany was to collapse. The GERMAN leaders. If they had sent one radio message, "Dear Allies, we are B******d. We give up" Then the destruction of Germany and German people would have stopped.

It was an operation undertaken due to many reasons.

1. A request from the Russians at the Yalta conference in February

1945. General Antonov "We want the Dresden railway junction bombed"

Meeting between the Chiefs of staff as reported by an interpreter. Records kept at the Public Records office in Kew

2. It was a German base of operations against Marshall Koniev`s left flank as he advanced into Germany. (See above)

Captured German High Command documents from Berlin in 1945 state that "Dresden is to be fortified as a military strong point, to be held at all costs." These statements are also backed up by decrypts from Ultra at Bletchley Park.

3. Munitions storage in the old Dresden Arsenal.

4. Troop reinforcement and transport centre shifting an average 28

troop trains through the marshaling yards every day. Intelligence from Russian and other sources stored in the Public Records office in Kew

5. Communications centre. Most of the telephone lines connecting

High Command to the Eastern front went through Dresden.

6. Quote from The Dresden Chamber of Commerce 1944. "The work rhythm of Dresden is determined by the needs of our army."

There were 127 factories in the Dresden Municipal area. The most

famous of these was Zeiss the celebrated camera and optics maker. In 1945 it was turning out Bomb aiming apparatus and Time fuses. (If you think the Dresden China Works making those lovely shepherdesses are more famous, they are actually made in Meisen 12Km down the River and always have been.)

A factory that previously made Typewriters and sewing machines was making Guns and ammunition

The Waffle and Marzipan machine manufacturer was producing torpedoes for the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe.

The arts and crafts workshops in the old town were using their woodworking skills to make the tail assemblies for V-1s.

Other factories were turning out such non warlike goods as Searchlights, Aircraft components, Field Telephones and 2 way radios.

"Anyone who knows Dresden only as a cultural city would be very surprised to be made aware of the extensive and versatile activity that make Dresden ONE OF THE FOREMOST INDUSTRIAL LOCATIONS OF THE REICH. (My Capitals)

Sir Arthur Harris? A Post war exponent of the bombing campaign?

Nope both wrong.

It comes from the Dresden City Council Yearbook of 1942.

The men who carried out these acts did so in the desire to make a world in which their descendants and countrymen, of whom I am one, could live in freedom from persecution and with a freedom to ask questions and form their own opinions. To those of you who feel it necessary to label them war criminals may I ask if you think that you could have asked a similar question under Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan?

Ray

Britch say, "They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind" ( Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris) Marshal of the Royal Air Force.

@by Cephalop...

Except the fact we didn't kill over 25,000 refugees in a single night like the RAF. Furthermore, our daylight attack on Dresden failed the night after the firebombing failed so we go out and bomb targets in other nations. The bombing of Dresden was mainly a RAF operation, nothing else.