Under Ruins, by Willi Sitte

Willi Sitte

The cover painting was done in 1955 by Willi Sitte to commemorate the Allied bombing of Dresden which took place from February 13 to 15, 1945 and during which approximately 3900 tons of bombs were dropped on the city. At the time, Dresden's population consisted of about 700 thousand regular residents plus about 200 thousand refugees fleeing the fighting on the eastern front.

[The following factual information relies heavily on Wikipedia. Its interpretation and emphasis is my own.]

The military rationales for destroying the city were

1. "…a severe blitz will not only cause confusion in the evacuation from the East, but will also hamper the movement of troops from the West"
2. "…with the particular object of exploiting the confused conditions which are likely to exist in the above mentioned cities during the successful Russian advance"
3. "…severe bombing would not only destroy communications vital to the evacuation from the east, but would also hamper the movement of troops from the west."
4. "…the assistance which might be given to the Russians during the next few weeks by the British and American strategic bomber forces justifies an urgent review of their employment to this end."
5. "…the strategic bomber could support the Soviet attack as Germany began to shuffle forces between the fronts."
6. "…prevent the enemy from switching forces back and forth at will from one front to the other."
7. "…the Germans could route rail traffic through Dresden to compensate for any damage caused to Berlin and Leipzig."
8. "RAF Air Staff documents state that it was their intention to use RAF bomber command to 'destroy communications' to hinder the eastward deployment of German troops, and to hamper evacuation, not to kill the evacuees."
9. "RAF briefing notes mentioned a desire to show 'the Russians, when they arrive, what Bomber Command can do.'"

Every reference in this list of rationalizations to preventing troop movements through Dresden is a self-serving lie. First, railroads do not route all their tracks through population centers and second, it has been known by military planners at least since World War I that the repair of railroad trackage, as distinct from large railroad terminals, is easily and quickly done.

The real question is, why were they lying?

Well, What Actually Happened?

Dresden in 1945.

The firebombing consisted of by-then standard methods; dropping large amounts of high-explosive to blow off the roofs to expose the timbers within buildings, followed by incendiary devices (fire-sticks) to ignite them and then more high-explosives to hamper the efforts of the fire services. This eventually created a self-sustaining firestorm with temperatures peaking at over 1500°C (2700°F). After the area caught fire, the air above the bombed area became extremely hot and rose rapidly. Cold air then rushed in at ground level from the outside and people were sucked into the fire. US fighter aircraft strafed the evacuation routes to add to the chaos.

But it was not the intent of Bomber Command to kill civilians.

Out of 28,410 houses in the inner city of Dresden, 24,866 were destroyed. An area of 15 square kilometers was totally destroyed, among that: 14,000 homes, 72 schools, 22 hospitals, 18 churches, 5 theatres, 50 bank and insurance companies, 31 department stores, 31 large hotels, 62 administration buildings as well as factories such as the Ihagee camera works. In total there were 222,000 apartments in the city. 75,000 of them were totally destroyed, 11,000 severely damaged, 7,000 damaged, 81,000 slightly damaged. The city was around 300 square kilometers in area in those days.

But it was not the intent of Bomber Command to kill civilians.

The number of civilians killed is not known. Official estimates range from 25 to 35 thousand to as high as 300 thousand.

Trains caught in the railway station in the raid were found to contain refugees from the eastern front.

Although the main railway station was destroyed completely, the railway was working again within a few days.

The cavalier defenders of Western Values and advocates of the preciousness of human life undoubtedly would argue that those few days made it all worthwhile.