| "Dresden Bombed to Atoms" Why? |
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The bombing of Dresden in February 1945 has
remained one of the more controversial
aspects of World War Two. Dresden, a city
unaffected by bombing up to that point in the
war, lost many thousands of civilians in the
firestorm that was created by the Allies. As
the Russians advanced to Berlin from the east
and the Allies from the west, why was Dresden
bombed when it did appear that the war would
be ended in the near future? No-one knows how
many people were in Dresden when the city was
bombed. Officially, the city's population was
350,000, but with the number of refugees
there, it would have been a lot higher than
this.
Between February 13th and February 14th 1945,
between 35,000 and 135,000 people were killed
by Allied bombing in Dresden. Historians
still argue over the number of deaths.
However, there were so many refugees in the
city at the time that the real figure will
almost certainly never be known.
So why was Dresden chosen as a target? Arthur
Harris, head of Bomber Command, had always
held the view that any city that had anything
to do with the Nazi war effort was a target.
A number of theories do exist as to why
Dresden was chosen so late in the war.
1) The city was in Nazi Germany and for this
reason was a legitimate target for attack as
the Allies were at war with Nazi Germany.
2) The city was not simply a cultural centre
-- there were factories there producing
weapons and equipment for the Nazi war
effort. Therefore, the city was a legitimate
target. It was also a rail base to send
troops to the war front with the Russians.
3) Though the Russians were allies, Churchill
and Roosevelt had already decided that Stalin
would be a major problem after the end of the
war. Therefore, as the Red Army advanced
against an army that was effectively
defeated, it had no idea as to what an equal
and possibly superior military force could
do. Therefore, Dresden was bombed to show the
Russians the awesome power of the Allies and
to act as a warning to them not to stray from
the agreements they had made at the war
conferences.
An internal RAF memo spreads some light on
the reason for the bombing:
"Dresden, the seventh largest city in Germany
and not much smaller than Manchester, is also
far the largest unbombed built-up the enemy
has got. In the midst of winter with refugees
pouring westwards and troops to be rested,
roofs are at a premium. The intentions of the
attack are to hit the enemy where he will
feel it most, behind an already partially
collapsed front, to prevent the use of the
city in the way of further advance, and
incidentally to show the Russians when they
arrive what Bomber Command can do."
RAF January 1945
The Allied air superiority meant that many of
the 1,300 bombers got through to their
target. The RAF spearheaded their attack with
Lancaster bombers while the USAAF used their
B-17 Flying Fortresses.
In all, over three waves of attacks, 3,300
tons of bombs were dropped on the city. Many
of the bombs that were dropped were
incendiary bombs. These created so much fire
that a firestorm developed. The more the city
burned, the more oxygen was sucked in -- and
the greater the firestorm became. It is
thought that the temperature peaked at 1,800
degrees Fahrenheit. The surface of roads
melted and fleeing people found that their
feet were burned as they ran. Some jumped
into reservoirs built in the city centre to
assist firefighters. However, these were ten
feet deep, smooth-sided and had no ladders -
many drowned. Very few of those in the city
centre survived -- those that did provided a
vivid picture of what it was like to be in a
firestorm.
"There were no warning sirens. We were
completely surprised and rushed back down to
the cellars of the hospital. But these
quickly became hopelessly overcrowded with
people who could no longer find shelter in
their own burning buildings. The crush was
unbearable, we were so tight you could not
fall over."
"Apart from the fire risk, it was becoming
increasingly impossible to breath in the
cellar because the air was being pulled out
by the increasing strength of the blaze."
"We could not stand up, we were on all fours,
crawling. the wind was full of sparks and
carrying bits of blazing furniture, debris
and burning bits of bodies."
"There were charred bodies everywhere."
"The experience of the bombing was far worse
than being on the Russian front, where I was
a front-line machine gunner."
Rudolph Eichner
After the raid had finished, SS guards
brought in from a nearby camp, burnt the
bodies in the city's Old Square (the
Altmarkt). There were so many bodies that
this took two weeks to complete.
A vast amount of the city was destroyed and
when the Red Army took it over, the city had
all but ceased to exist. Much of the city
centre remained rubble into the 1950's, when
the Russians who remained in the city during
the Cold War, put their effort into
rebuilding destroyed cities in Russia itself,
rather than rebuild eastern Germany.
Tags : ww2 bombing dresden |
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Affichage : 29477
Durée : 91 s |
| The Dresden Dolls 'Shores of California' music video |
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The new music video for "Shores of
California" from the record "Yes,
Virginia..."
Starring: Amanda Palmer, Liam Kyle Sullivan
(of "Kelly Likes Shoes"), David J. (Bauhaus),
Margaret Cho, Jason Webley, Erin Maxick, the
incredible Dresden Dolls Brigade, and more.
Director: Andrew Bennett
Producer: Frank Caridi
Edited with the help of: Alicia Martinez
Just to dispel any rumors, Brian Viglione was
unavailable on the whirlwind day of shooting
for this video, but The Dresden Dolls are NOT
breaking up. You can catch them all summer
long on Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour. More
info at http://www.truecolorstour.com
This was inspired by David Lee Roth's
"California Girls" music video which can be
seen at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmbhfI8f_Ek
Tags : Dresden Dolls Shores California Amanda Palmer Brian Viglione David Roth Van Halen Erin Maxick Kelly shoes Cho |
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Affichage : 1148473
Durée : 227 s |
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