Dresden, a city lost
Dresden, a city lostDresden: A City Lost
Dresden was once called, "Florence on the Elbe," before the widespread destruction sustained during the war and was numbered among the most beautiful cities in the world, noted for its architecture and great art treasures. On the eve of February 13, 1945, phosphorus and high explosive bombs devastated the city. "Everyone was convinced, that there would be no attack here." (Owings, 191) Dresden was of no means a principal military point, furthermore, the majority of its inhabitants actually believed that they would endure the war unharmed.
Initially, the alleged reasoning for Dresden being bombed seemed to be related with the operation known as "Thunderclap." Dresden was only one of the casualties affiliated with this the operation. This operation was instigated to reduce German civilian morale. According to a secret report dated, August 02, 1944, the rudimentary principles of the maneuver, "Thunderclap was that an "�attack must be delivered in such density that it imposes as nearly as possible a hundred percent risk of death to the individual in the area to which it is applied." ("Was the Bombing of Dresden Justifiable," 7) Collectively, between 35,000 to 135,000 human beings are estimated to have lost their lives. The report stated further, "�the total weight of the attack must be such as to produce an effect amounting to a national disaster�the target chosen should be one involving the maximum associations, both traditional and personal, for the whole population." ("Was the Bombing of Dresden Justifiable," 7) Furthermore, "The area selected should embrace the highest density of population." ("Was the Bombing of Dresden Justifiable," 7) Dresden was Germany's seventh largest city, in addition, by February 1945 refugees fleeing westward before the advancing Soviet military forces had doubled Dresden's population.
An additional supposed purpose of the utter devastation of this capital of Saxony on the Elbe River was that apparently German troops were going through Dresden to fight the Red army. Therefore, the USSR requested the British and Americans to commence a bombing assault on Dresden to hinder the German troops besides there is hardly any evidence to show this migration of troops to the Eastern Front. It was stated in 1953 by a German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung that, "The explanation of the Americans that Dresden was bombed, on Soviet instructions, to hinder the movement of troop reinforcements through Dresden, is a clear contradiction of the facts. It would have been simple for the RAF to have destroyed the railway between Dresden and the Czech frontier." ("Was the Bombing of Dresden Justifiable," 5) Although, according to David Irving, the writer of The Destruction of...
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