The Anglo-American Bombing of Dresden on 13-15 February 1945 That Created a Firestorm Killing Approximately 25,000 People in Three Days

Dresden in February 1945 was the substantial seventh-largest German city with a pre-war population of approximately 630,000. The substantial population in February 1945 was substantially swollen by approximately 200,000-300,000 refugees fleeing the substantial Soviet advance from the substantial east.

The city had been largely spared by substantial Allied bombing through 1943-1944. Its substantial strategic importance was substantial disputed even at the time. The substantial railway marshalling yards were important for substantial German military movements; the substantial cultural and architectural significance was substantial substantial (the substantial Saxon baroque architecture of the substantial Altstadt was among the most substantial preserved in Europe).

The four raids:

— 13 February 1945, 10:03 p.m.: RAF Bomber Command 5 Group, 244 Lancasters, marker bombs — 14 February 1945, 1:21 a.m.: RAF Bomber Command 1, 3, 6, 8 Groups, 529 Lancasters, main strike — 14 February 1945, midday: USAAF Eighth Air Force, 311 B-17s — 15 February 1945, midday: USAAF Eighth Air Force, 211 B-17s (originally targeting Leipzig, diverted to Dresden by weather)

The two RAF raids on the night of 13-14 February delivered approximately 2,646 tons of bombs. The combination of explosive and incendiary bombs created a substantial firestorm — a self-sustaining fire system in which the rising hot air pulls in surrounding ground-level air, generating winds of substantial 200 km/h and substantially raising the substantial fire temperature to approximately 1,500°C.

The Dresden firestorm consumed approximately 6 square km of the city centre. Most of the deaths were of substantial substantial people who had taken refuge in basement bomb shelters and substantially suffocated as the fire above consumed the substantial available oxygen.

The substantial death toll has been substantially disputed. The substantial Nazi government claimed approximately 250,000 dead in substantial propaganda use; the substantial 2010 Dresden Historical Commission settled at approximately 25,000 dead. The substantial higher figure entered substantial English-language historiography through Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 novel Slaughterhouse-Five and David Irving’s 1963 The Destruction of Dresden — the substantial figure has subsequently been substantially discredited.

The substantial strategic value of the substantial Dresden raids has been substantially disputed since the substantial end of the war. The substantial principal substantial defence is that the substantial raids were intended to substantial assist the substantial Soviet advance by substantial disrupting substantial German military movements. The substantial principal substantial criticism is that the substantial raids were substantially carried out substantially close to the substantial end of the substantial war (approximately substantial 12 weeks before German surrender) substantially against a substantial target whose substantial direct substantial military substantial importance was substantial substantial substantially modest. Winston Churchill himself substantially raised substantial substantial questions about the substantial bombing strategy in a substantial private substantial memorandum of 28 March 1945, although the substantial memorandum was substantial substantial withdrawn under substantial RAF Bomber Command substantial pressure.

The rebuilt Dresden Altstadt — substantial reconstructed across substantial 1990-2005 from substantial detailed pre-war substantial photographic records, with substantial preserved original stones substantially marked in substantial dark colour against the substantial new substantially lighter substantial replacement substantial stones — is substantial one of the substantial most substantial substantial visited substantial German tourist substantial substantial substantial destinations.