Germans mark bombing of Dresden http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4261263.stm Germany has marked the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden. The commemorations culminated with 50,000 people lighting candles in an evening rally in memory of victims. Ten thousand candles Sunday began with a wreath-laying ceremony, attended by the ambassadors of Allied nations the US, UK, France and Russia and accompanied by solemn music from a brass quintet Evening events centred on the Church of Our Lady, which was almost completely destroyed in the raid but has now been rebuilt. A cross made out of medieval nails that was rescued from the roof of Coventry cathedral in England - after it was bombed by the Germans in 1940 - is being presented to the Bishop of Dresden in a gesture of reconciliation. Later up to 50,000 people, wearing white roses as a symbol of reconciliation, gathered in the city's historic centre and lit thousands of candles in memory of the dead. Dresden's churches were to ring their bells to coincide with the moment the first bombs fell. The BBC's Ray Furlong, in Dresden, says the message of the day was supposed to be one of remembrance for the dead - and hope that past wounds can be healed.
Well, war crime or not is a matter for another discussion, I think. Suffice to say...rest in peace to those poor souls who perished in the terrible firestorm, and the same goes for the airmen killed.
Amen to that. May they rest in peace, all the victims of that fateful but legitimate attack, including some relatives of mine.
relatives ? ! very sorry to hear that Fried. True war is hell and war in itself is a crime..... I still question why the city was bombed but will not get into that
My grandparents were from Dresden, Erich. And most of his their respective families ended there. But my grandfather is still alive and his descendants are scattered over the world. By the way, I've found a very good and brief article about the bombings, which explains why legally it can't be considered as a war crime and that it was Günther Grass one of the people who called it such: here
that was actually a pretty good article. One thing I do not agree is that yes indeed there was strafing by P-51's all over Germany on the dates given. It has been admitted by a number of Germans as well as P-51 pilots such as the members of the 357th fg. opening a line for the Soviets was looked at I know but again Dresden could have been bypassed and why was the center of Dresden hosed by US bombers... ? We have debated in the past threads on all of this. Was just chatting with a former US bomber crewmenber yesterday who was part of the daylight attacking force. He still has no pity for what he was part of and so be it but he did make reference to 3 other English cities that were struck by the Luftwaffe in early war years and then presumed to say that Dresden was a military target. Well I wasn't part of that terrible conflict so I refused comment. An interesting note from him though as he mentioned tons of flak came up during the raid but from what I have read previously there was hardly anything as to the way of ground or air defences....
In my opinion it was definitely a war crime. Why did the British bombers bomb the city and not e.g. the airport. Arthur "Bomber" Harris' targets where the people of Dresden and no military objects. Espescially the use of phosphor-bombs is a crime.
We have debated the 'Dresden' question before on this forum. Perhaps those who wish to continue in this vein should redirect to ; - http://www.ww2forums.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000032;p=1 - and allow this section to proceed with 'WWII Today'.....
It depends on which Dresden raid he took part in. While there was little AA fire on the last raid on Dresden, the infamous Feb 45 one, on the first two raids on Dresden by the USAAF in Dec 44 and Jan 45 there was a considerable amount. In fact of the 30 B-17's involved in the raid on the railway sidings in Dec 44, 12 suffered flak damage (though none were lost). In january the German authorities started to strip Dresden (as well as a number of other cities) of its defences in order to provide extra protection to the fuel production sites. So by February Dresden had little AA defence.
