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Dresden Massacre

Dresden Massacre

Is it true that Churchill ordered so many lives to die in Dresden Germany during World War 2?

Massacre Dresden

The firebombing of Dresden is one of the most controversial acts of World War II, right there with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dresden was an industrial, communications, and rail center.

While some hysterical people have made the claim included in the previous post that 500,000 people were killed in the bombing, the city of Dresden commissioned a study to try to set the record straight, and was only able to identify about 18,000 people who died in the bombing. Keeping in mind that many were unidentified, official estimates now place the death toll at right around 25,000.

There were good, solid military reasons to bomb Dresden. Since then, we have learned a lot about how to conduct warfare in the modern technological world. However, we must also remember that WWII was a "total" war. It was necessary, and vital, that we do ANYTHING necessary to defeat the Nazi and Japanese forces, as neither one of them had the slightest hesitation in true wholesale genocide.

One thing that is certain is that Dresden was not a genocide event. We have seen true genocide events in the last 60+ years, including the war in Rwanda, Iraq's attempts to destroy the Kurds, and many other conflicts, especially in southwest Asia and Africa. Dresden was a military attack against a military target, with the goal of ensuring that the area would not be able to resume its previous military-oriented activities.

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Yes, the Allies did agree that this was a acceptable course of action to help bring a speedy end to the war. They had already seen the benefits of having the populous of a country turn on the leaders that got them into the war (Mussolini was swinging upside down by this time). Was it a massacre? Yes, without a doubt. The bombing of Dresden and the bombing of Tokyo were massacres. Was it genocide? No. The Allies had no desire to exterminate the inhabitants of Dresden or Tokyo. They desired to kill many and hopefully have the remaining people very unexcited about their own government continuing the war. If this was genocide, the Allies would have to do this to all cities of the enemies (Germany and Japan).

Massacre Dresden

Sometimes I don't get the point of this. What about the millions the Nazis killed? The Jews, the millions who left their families to fight in Europe, doesn't that count? It wasn't like Churchill did this as a preemptive attack, they were already well into war with the Germans and the Germans weren't giving up! The Germans should have surrendered from the time they lost France, but Hitler rather see the whole of Germany fall before he would say he lost.

Massacre Dresden

We can should have, could have and would have all we want. If Hitler knew how this was going to end, he should have signed up for peace in '42 after Germany and Italy sliced up most of Europe. But he didnt and so goes war. The reason people reflect on it is because of how much emphasis is put on the atrosities of the Axis side (Germany and Japan). Putting them under the microscope only invites the Allied actions to all be reviewed.

Were there targets in Dresden. Yes, there were factories and an important transit hub for supplies. Did it require carpet bombing? No, not to get these targets. Were the Allies hoping to destroy some of the remaining morale of the Germans for war? Sure. Firebombing is pretty good at that for some cultures.

So the Allies probably didnt need to do this, but in a effort to end the war as soon as possible and for multiple reasons, Dresden was firebombed.

Dresden Massacre

Dresden was just a matter of war events. War happens, people die. Dresden was not bombed up to that point and a lot of soldiers and Germans were using it as a safe haven to recoup and keep fighting. Churchill merely wanted to obliterate all hope from the people so the war could end faster. Hitler wanted to fight til the end and the military did so, wasn't the allies fault for just giving the consequences of that decision.

Dresden Massacre

Dresden bombing, Britain's forgotten war crime of WWII:

More than 500,000 German civilians and refugees, mostly women and children, were slaughtered by Britain's saturation bombing in 1945, one of the worst massacres of all time. Ref. Source 1

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Germany marks 70th anniversary of Dresden firebombing:

An estimated 25,000 civilians killed by the British and American attack, which created a firestorm that left 33 sq km (12 sq miles) of the city in ruins. Ref. Source 1