Bombing Of Dresdon Essay, Research Paper

Fire Storm

On February 13-14, 1945 the British Royal Air Force gave the

final

clearance to commence what would later become known as one of the

greatest atrocities that has ever been commited against a civilian

population. That night the RAF launched 796 bombers and 9 Mosquitoes

which carried 1,478 tons of explosives in addition to 1,182 tons of

incendiary bombs (Dear 311) which turned the city of Dresden, Germany

into a virtual inferno. This attack included another strike by the US

Air Force the following morning. The attack on Dresden was never a

legitimate act of war, and its result was the terroristic mass murder

of over 135,000 people.

Bombing civilian targets in enemy territory became an open

issue on

March 30, 1942 when the Prime Minister.s science advisor, Professor

F.A.

Lindemann (who later was recognized as Lord Cherwell) delivered to

Winston Churchill a report which contained a strong argument in favor

of striking civilian targets. .Cherwell.s report contained the final

rationalization for the program Bomber Command was undertaking., and

it would henceforth be paper-clipped to the plans of the bomber

offensive. (Hastings). In his report,

Lindemann estimated that forty tons of explosives detonated in

heavily populated areas would destroy the homes of 4,000-8,000 people.

The report also stated that there was a population of 22 million

people in fifty-eight of the major cities in Germany. Lindemann

claimed that a nation of refugees could be the result of strategic air

attacks. It is wildly believed among scholars that the information

cont.ained in this report was the basis of the attack on Dresden.

Lindemann?s figures were correct, but his thinking was immoral

and

inhumane. The people to whom his statistics referred so objectively

were

innocent civilians, more than half of them women and children. The

assault upon them was nothing more that out-right murder. Any benefit

gained by destroying these civilians. lives, families, and homes was

countered ten-fold by the moral reprehensibility of such a clearly

criminal act.

The city of Dresden was a historic center of Europe, and was

known world wide for its splendid architecture. It was the capital of

Saxony, and located along the banks of the Elbe river. Dresden had

very little industrial activity, and it was a target only once before

in a small raid by the US Air Force in October of 1944. It was a city

that was also known for its production of fine China, and its glorious

museums (Dear 311). The city was not at all suspected to be a target

for attack because of the population influx that had occurred in

result of refugees running from allied forces. Due to this situation,

the Germans moved most of their air defense stations to other cities

that were more likly targets. The city had become a hub for not only

refugees, but also for POW camps, and hospitals. Of the 19 hospitals

in the city, three were totally demolished, and the rest were

partially damaged. Many of these hospitals housed wounded allied

soldiers. (Barnes Review 10) The attack resulted in the incineration

of over 135,000 civilians. The motive behind the attack was to destroy

the city, and in effect weaken enemy morale both militarily, and on

the home front. The Allied forces did not take into account the

political harm that this tremendous loss of of civilian lives would

bring upon them.

In January, 1943, at the Roosevelt-Churchill Casablanca Conference

this directive read

?Your primary aim will be the progressive destruction and dislocation

of the German Military, industrial and economic system, and the

undermining of the morale of the German people to the point where

their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened..(Barnes

Review)?

The method comprised to strip the Germans of their morale was the

destruction of their cities. Several weeks after the fact, rescue

teams found bunkers where

?the heat had been so intense that nothing remained of their

occupants: only a soft undulating layer of grey ash was left in one

bunker, from which the number of victims could only be estimated as

between ??250 and 300? (Irving ???)?

This layer of ash the was the remains of hundreds of people was the

result of the firestorm that the incendiary bombs created. The

explosions required oxygen, and as a result it created gust moving

toward the center. These gusts became intense fireballs, and scorched

everything in the city. One eye witness said

?Howling gusts of hurricane force whipped flames in all directions.

Nothing seemed to be spared. I watched little trains of flame race

alone garden paths and ignite a tree of even stone ornament.

(tunley???)?

Very little survived the path of this burning storm. Most of the city

was destroyed, and the death toll was enormous. Even Churchill himself

went on record to admit that this had not been a positive military

procedure. He was quoted in saying ?we…see to it that our attacks do

not do more harm to ourselves in the long run than…to the enemy?s

war effort.(Parrish 164)?)

Even though it was later admitted a mistake by the allies, it is

possible that they had valid military intentions, but did not

carefully weigh all of the cause and effects the would result. The

idea that lowering the morale of an enemy nation was a key strategy,

and was taken very seriously by the commanders of the allied forces.

There was a major train station in the city of Dresden, and and even

though it was one of few sites not greatly damaged, the use of the

city as a transportation hub was terminated by the Germans. It is very

true that destroying homes results in refugees which cause problems

inside the country, but blowing the homes up and killing the people

was the only to acomplish this goal. The idea of lowering morale

probably should have been investigated a little more thoroughly, but

the allies did what they felt they had to do in order to terminate

Hitler?s Reign.

The bombing of Dresden was not a legitimite act of war, it was a

horrible mass murder of a civilian community, but it may have have

aided the allied cause in some ways. Even though the allies lots

respect on their home front, and subjected themselves to the criticism

of the media, in some ways the result helped the cause. It is only

logical that this Holocaust in Dresden lowered morale throughout

Germany?s civilians. Germany had to have realized at this point how

terrible the war had become, and what its results could be. This is a

terrible way to get that point across, but the point was made quite

successfully, at the expence of 135,000 lives, mostly of

women,children, and elders.

The bombing of Dresden was a terrible mistake on the part of the

allied forces. They failed to properly predict the consequences of

their actions, and as a result destroyed a beautiful city, and a large

percentage of its inhabitants. Even if the death numbers were not

intended to be so high, negligence is no excuse. The results of any

aggression are responsibility of the aggressor, and in this case the

aggressors actions resulted in mass murder.