Why Was Dresden So Heavily Bombed?

[Zincwarrior]

Fucking ridiculous...The B-17 couldn't carry it, and no B-29s were even conditionally deployed to Britain.

There were two deployed to scare the Germans. The Special Composite Group could have been shipped there as easily as it was shipped to Tinian.

Again they surrendered before it could be deployed. Once the Wallies entered Germany it wasn't needed and focus shifted to Japan instead.

 

[Oddball]

Not to forget:

Albert Speer, Nazi Germany’s Minister of Armaments, recalled a meeting in 1940 when Adolf Hitler endorsed Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring’s proposal to hit London with a massive number of incendiary bombs: “Göring wants to use innumerable incendiary bombs of an altogether new type to create fires in all parts of London. Fires everywhere. Thousands of them. Then they’ll unite in one giant area conflagration.”
“Göring has the right idea,” said Hitler. “Explosive bombs don’t work, but it can be done with incendiary bombs—total destruction of London. Of what use will their fire department be once that really starts?”

More whataboutism....A mythical "proposal" isn't the act itself.

There's also evidence that the German Bombing of Coventry and other civilian areas was accidental, brought about by misidentification of targets because of the London blackouts....That said, the further bombing of them was in fact uncalled for and criminal.

There's a vast gulf between fog-of-war and deliberate actions....Sometimes "the good guys" do atrocious things too.

 

[Oddball]

There were two deployed to scare the Germans. The Special Composite Group could have been shipped there as easily as it was shipped to Tinian.

Who needs to "scare Germans" with B-29s, when the USAAF has air supremacy, including thousands of bombers that can blot out the sun?

You haven't the first clue what you're blabbering about.

 

[ShahdagMountains]

More whataboutism....A mythical "proposal" isn't the act itself.

There's also evidence that the German Bombing of Coventry and other civilian areas was accidental, brought about by misidentification of targets because of the London blackouts....That said, the further bombing of them was in fact uncalled for and criminal.

There's a vast gulf between fog-of-war and deliberate actions....Sometimes "the good guys" do atrocious things too.

I can see where you’re coming from.

Leave it at that.

 

[Zincwarrior]

Who needs to "scare Germans" with B-29s, when the USAAF has air supremacy, including thousands of bombers that can blot out the sun?

You haven't the first clue what you're blabbering about.

Because the payload on a B-29 is multiples that of a B-17. There's this thing called the internet. Its really cool!

B-29 Superfortress

The B-29 Superfortress was a technologically advanced bomber of World War II.

www.militaryaircrafthistorian.com

"World War II Service​

The intended use of Superfortresses in WWII was to bomb Japan, but the first B-29 was deployed to England in March 1944. It was sent to the European theater to trick the Germans into thinking that B-29s were to be based in England, and to disguise the concentrated use of Superfortresses against Japan."

 

[Zincwarrior]

The Bombing of Dresden has been controversial, well ever since it was bombed. General bombing of cities was controversial during the war itself, on both the civilian and military side. The US preferred more specific military targets.

 

[JGalt]

To this day, Dresden had no military value....So much so that it was a central gathering point for civilian refugees, from the areas that did have value and were the scenes of fighting.

Firebombing it was an atrocity.

Unfortunately the easiest winning strategy in war is to hurt the enemy so bad, they don't want to fight any more. That strategy has been adopted by modern-day terrorists too, who tend to attack primarily civilian targets. It took them 20 years, but they finally demoralized civilized nations to the point that we just gave in and accepted Islam as a legitimate "religion of peace"

 

[MarathonMike]

If anyone is honest, there was no good reason for it.

One of the great unpunished war crimes of the 20th century.

Strategically it made no sense. Emotionally it made perfect sense. Hitler and the Nazis were the most feared and hated Regime in modern history so when they had the chance, there was a certain cathartic delight between the US and England to bomb the living shit out of Germany. An Atom bomb would be too quick, a 3 day saturation bombing campaign was what happened.

 

[Oddball]

Strategically it made no sense. Emotionally it made perfect sense. Hitler and the Nazis were the most feared and hated Regime in modern history so when they had the chance, there was a certain cathartic delight between the US and England to bomb the living shit out of Germany.

Great...So let's kill a population of war refugees!...Sooooo cathartic!

An Atom bomb would be too quick, a 3 day saturation bombing campaign was what happened.

As already noted, the A-bomb wasn't ready, there was no bomber in theater to carry it, and no infrastructure to support it...After that, there were only two bombs in reality when they were finally produced...The Japs could have refused to surrender after Nagasaki, and the mainland might well have had to be invaded.

 

[Zincwarrior]

Great...So let's kill a population of war refugees!...Sooooo cathartic!

Bomber Harris did not have love for the Hun.

 

[Oddball]

Unfortunately the easiest winning strategy in war is to hurt the enemy so bad, they don't want to fight any more. That strategy has been adopted by modern-day terrorists too, who tend to attack primarily civilian targets. It took them 20 years, but they finally demoralized civilized nations to the point that we just gave in and accepted Islam as a legitimate "religion of peace"

So you're admitting that the firebombing was in fact an act of terrorism.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

The bombing attack on Dresden, Germany, stands among the most controversial Allied actions of World War II. From February 13 to 15, 1945, 800 bombers dropped some 2,700 tons of explosives and incendiaries, decimating the German city. Tens of thousands died.

American prisoners of war had heard the “whump a whump” of distant aerial bombings many times before. But on February 13, 1945, they heard Dresden’s fire sirens howl right above their heads. German guards moved them two stories down into a meat locker. When they came back to the surface, “the city was gone,” remembered writer and social critic Kurt Vonnegut—one of the American POWs who witnessed the Dresden bombing.

Observers noted early on that the bombing of Dresden not only meant the death of civilians but the destruction of a center of European culture and Baroque splendor. Since the rule of August the Strong (1670-1733), the “German Florence” on the Elbe, was home to famous collections of art, porcelain, prints, scientific instruments and jewelry.

Many Germans perceived a particular injustice in the late bombing of Dresden in February 1945—a sentiment that gained some international traction in the postwar years. Dresden was a densely crowded city in the winter of 1945, filled with refugees fleeing the advancing Red Army. For most of them, the end of the war looked near and inevitable and a full-scale attack was unnecessary.

Why Was Dresden So Heavily Bombed? | HISTORY

By the end of the three-day Allied bombing attack of World War II, the German city had been leveled and tens of thousands were dead.

www.history.com

Love the Smell of Fried Nazis in the Morning!

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

It's easy to say that when the city in question has no military value.

Electing a Genocidal Maniac Has Its Consequences

 

[Picaro]

Electing a Genocidal Maniac Has Its Consequences

Of course payback for their own terror bombings and unrestricted sub warfare is to be deplored, never mind it works very well at preventing future attacks, a lesson lost on modern burb brats living in a country that hasn't been bombed by Nazis or commies yet. We're having to re-learn basic stuff like never cutting deals with terrorists or countries that use kidnapping and hostage diplomacy.

 

[whitehall]

FDR was dying and would be dead in a month and the Generals were in charge. It's always bad news when generals run the government.

 

[Picaro]

FDR was dying and would be dead in a month and the Generals were in charge. It's always bad news when generals run the government.

I think it was the Brits who wanted revenge bombings. Don't blame them one bit.

 

[whitehall]

I think it was the Brits who wanted revenge bombings. Don't blame them one bit

You gotta be kidding.

 

[Picaro]

You gotta be kidding.

Why do you feel a need to run pity parties for terrorists? They reap what they sow.

 

[whitehall]

Why do you feel a need to run pity parties for terrorists? They reap what they sow.

The 21st century redefined the concept of terrorism but it was actually the agenda of the bombing campaign in Germany and Japan late in WW2. Keep killing civilians until the maniacs surrender. American planes (God bless 'em) gladly targeted defenseless civilians as long as they could get back to England without being shot down.

 

[Picaro]

The 21st redefined the concept of terrorism but it was the agenda of the bombing campaign in Germany and Japan in WW2. Keep killing civilians until the maniacs surrender. American planes (God bless 'em) gladly targeted defenseless civilians as long as they could get back to England without being shot down.

And so what? Civilians always get targeted in wars. Do you think we can make magic bombs and bullet that sort out the innocent from the guilty and stuff? Germany made civilians their primary targets when they started the wars, so did Japan.

Sorry, no pity party for them. Your obsession with FDR hating is making you nuts.