[22] These were now reexamined, and the decision was made to plan a more limited operation. [52], The main bomber force, called Plate Rack, took off shortly after the Pathfinders. I can never forget them. [7], The second of the five points addresses the prohibition in the Hague Conventions, of "attack or bombardment" of "undefended" towns. According to the OKW, this was to be done in retaliation for their opponents "employing in their conduct of the war, methods which contravene the International Convention of Geneva". Proponents of this position argue that the devastation from firebombing was greater than anything that could be justified by military necessity alone, and this establishes a prima facie case. It became more and more difficult to breathe. The shock to military planners and to the Allied civilian populations of the German counterattack known as the Battle of the Bulge had ended speculation that the war was almost over, and may have contributed to the decision to continue with the aerial bombardment of German cities.[136]. One way or another, I got two or three dollars for every person killed. [61] The German sirens sounded again at 01:05, but as there was practically no electricity, these were small hand-held sirens that were heard within only a block. It is connected with German bands and Dresden shepherdesses. The orders were for the Canadian forces participating in the raid, and not the commandos. On the morning of 14 February 431 United States Army Air Force bombers of the Eighth Air Force's 1st Bombardment Division were scheduled to bomb Dresden near midday, and the 3rd Bombardment Division were to follow to bomb Chemnitz, while the 2nd Bombardment Division would bomb a synthetic oil plant in Magdeburg. He survived the camp only because a friendly Czech "trustee" of the Nazi guards, Milos Stransky, had seen his execution order and burned it. [113] }}. In the special introduction to the 1976 Franklin Library edition of the novel, he wrote: The Dresden atrocity, tremendously expensive and meticulously planned, was so meaningless, finally, that only one person on the entire planet got any benefit from it. [2], Some commanders like Rommel had refused to relay the order to their troops since they considered it to be contrary to honourable conduct.[39]. He was in Dresden at the time and saw what happened. This was a common mix when the USAAF anticipated cloudy conditions over the target. [99][100], Taylor writes that this propaganda was effective, as it not only influenced attitudes in neutral countries at the time, but also reached the British House of Commons when Richard Stokes, a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), a long term opponent of area-bombing,[101] quoted information from the German Press Agency (controlled by the Propaganda Ministry). 51190 Jeux Gratuits pour Mobile, Tablette et Smart TV The fan-shaped area that was bombed was 1.25 mi (2.01 km) long, and at its extreme about 1.75 mi (2.82 km) wide. Marshall's tribunal declared that no extraordinary decision was made to single out Dresden (for instancer, to take advantage of a large number of refugees, or purposely terrorise the German populace). [36][44], In the raid, major industrial areas in the suburbs, which stretched for miles, were not targeted. [63] The mix of bombs for the Dresden raid was about 40% incendiaries—much closer to the RAF city-busting mix than the USAAF usually used in precision bombardment. The USAFHD report states that Dresden was protected by anti-aircraft defences, antiaircraft guns, and searchlights, under the Combined Dresden (Corps Area IV) and Berlin (Corps Area III) Air Service Commands. I will hold all Commanders and Officers responsible under Military Law for any omission to carry out this order, whether by failure in their duty to instruct their units accordingly, or if they themselves act contrary to it. There were follow-up newspaper editorials on the issue and a longtime opponent of strategic bombing, Richard Stokes MP, asked questions in the House of Commons on 6 March.[105][106]. Apart from that, everything he says is true. His book is not only good literature. [97], On 25 February, a new leaflet with photographs of two burned children was released under the title "Dresden—Massacre of Refugees," stating that 200,000 had died. The Hague regulations were found to be customary law by the judges sitting at the. [159][160] In 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing, Anti-Germans praised the bombing on the grounds that so many of the city's civilians had supported Nazism. They fainted and then burnt to cinders. Around 78,000 dwellings had been completely destroyed; 27,700 were uninhabitable, and 64,500 damaged but readily repairable. [9]:73 One was shot and another stabbed, while the third managed to escape. The bombing of Dresden was a British-American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. [9][10][11] Some have claimed that the raid constituted a war crime. Allied arguments centre around the existence of a local air defence system and additional ground defences the Germans were constructing in anticipation of Soviet advances. Taylor was forced to work on a crew that built a crematorium. There were 200,000 incendiaries in all, with the high-explosive bombs ranging in weight from 500 to 4,000 lb (230 to 1,810 kg) —the two-ton cookies,[52] also known as "blockbusters", because they could destroy an entire large building or street. Grierson answered that the primary aim was to attack communications to prevent the Germans from moving military supplies, and to stop movement in all directions if possible. The Foreign Secretary has spoken to me on this subject, and I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives such as oil and communications behind the immediate battle-zone, rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive. I can see her to this day and shall never forget it. Camps, etc., – even if only as a temporary measure, is strictly forbidden. [41], The USAF report also states that two of Dresden's traffic routes were of military importance: north-south from Germany to Czechoslovakia, and east–west along the central European uplands. The other groups all bombed Dresden between 12:00 and 12:10. The second attack, three hours later, was by Lancaster aircraft of 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups, 8 Group being the Pathfinders. The 303rd group arrived over Dresden two minutes after the 379th and found their view obscured by clouds, so they bombed Dresden using H2X radar. [113][114][115] This was completed on 1 April 1945: ...the moment has come when the question of the so called 'area-bombing' of German cities should be reviewed from the point of view of our own interests. [28], In response to Churchill's inquiry, Sinclair approached Bottomley, who asked Harris to undertake attacks on Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, and Chemnitz as soon as moonlight and weather permitted, "with the particular object of exploiting the confused conditions which are likely to exist in the above mentioned cities during the successful Russian advance". Soldiers in proper uniforms cannot be punished for being lawful combatants and must be treated as prisoners of war upon capture except those disguised in civilian clothes or uniforms of the enemy for military operations behind enemy lines. The order included measures designed to force military staff to obey its provisions. Even if these individuals on discovery make obvious their intention of giving themselves up as prisoners, no pardon is on any account to be given. Bomb the glow of red TIs as planned". The Polish Government ordered the pilots to follow their orders and fly their missions over Dresden, which they did. After liberation, he returned to the camp to document and gather evidence, including the "death books" that recorded made-up and true versions of each prisoner's death. Development of a German political response to the raid took several turns. There was a huge uproar, since the Yalta agreement handed parts of Poland over to the Soviet Union. 117–9. 1942 Nazi German order instructing that all Allied commandos are to be killed immediately. In that sense it is an absolutely exemplary tragedy for the horrors of 20th century warfare and a symbol of destruction".[130]. [b], The execution of Allied commandos without trial was also a violation of Article 30 of the 1907 Hague Convention IV – The Laws and Customs of War on Land: "A spy taken in the act shall not be punished without previous trial. The Allies were aware of the effects of firebombing, as British cities had been subject to them during the Blitz. In the end, the only political action the German government took was to exploit it for propaganda purposes. Dresden was also obscured by clouds, so the groups targeted the city using H2X. [6][7], On the night of 3–4 October 1942, ten men of the Small Scale Raiding Force and No. The inquiry concluded that by the presence of active German military units nearby, and the presence of fighters and anti-aircraft within an effective range, Dresden qualified as "defended". [e] Proponents disagree that Dresden had a military garrison and claim that most of the industry was in the outskirts and not in the targeted city centre,[154] and that the cultural significance of the city should have precluded the Allies from bombing it. I'm a historian. The death toll of 135,000 given by Vonnegut was taken from The Destruction of Dresden, a 1963 book by David Irving. By this time, ten of the Lancasters were out of service, leaving 244 to continue to Dresden. "The Strategic Air Offensive against Germany" (SOA), HMSO (1961) vol 3 pp. [51] The attack was to centre on the Ostragehege sports stadium, next to the city's medieval Altstadt (old town), with its congested and highly combustible timbered buildings. [page needed] The order was subsequently discovered on the beach by the Germans and found its way to Hitler.Among the dozens of pages of orders was an instruction to "bind prisoners". The Hague Conventions, addressing the codes of wartime conduct on land and at sea, were adopted before the rise of air power. However, before the Canadians ended the policy, an uprising of German POWs occurred at Bowmanville POW camp. It first tried to do so in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, but the UK and the US would not agree, since to do so would have been an admission of guilt for their systematic "area bombing" of German and Japanese civilians. In March 1945, the German government ordered its press to publish a falsified casualty figure of 200,000 for the Dresden raids, and death tolls as high as 500,000 have been claimed.
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