Albert,
how is that? Dresden was a key city for supply and communication flow toward Eastern front so it was a military target.
Dresden was not much of a military target. It was a city to which great number of civilian refugees fled, swelling the number of civilians in the city far above normal. I think it was a mistake, since the outcome of the war at that time was pretty much decided.
Laying waste to it saved a lot of Russian lives.
True, it saved some, but it's not like Stalin was too concerned about Russian lives. I think at the time bombing happened, the war in Europe was decided, and Stalin could have cruised to victory. Instead, he rushed forward to get to Berlin before the allies, and instead of a careful siege, and waiting for surrender, he instead sent 300,000 of thousands of Russian soldiers to their death, for no reason, when the war was pretty much over.
Before we put any judgement on those raids let us talk about civilian targets that Luftwaffe was practicing on.
No excuse for luftwaffe targeting civilian targets. They were aimed as much as inflicting terror and demoralizing the opponent as actual physical damage inflicted. The US and British have done a lot of bombing raids earlier in the war, some against civilian targets, for the same reason.
But the magnitude, the timing and the intentions made Dresden stand out as something out of proportion, and probably unnecessary.
Joe |
