On this day in military history....in 1945

On this day in military history…in 1945. The Allies fire-bomb Dresden. In 1945, the Allies were looking for ways to use strategic bombing to support the Russian’s advance on Germany but distrupting train traffic to the Eastern Front. Berlin and Leipzig had large train yards and were obvious choices, but since the Germans could route traffic to other cities (like Dresden) if the rail years were bombed in Berlin and Leipzig, Dresden was also targeted. Although Dresden had no major military industries, its train yards had already been bombed before, so it would not be the first time that Dresden was bombed.

The city was bombed during the night of 13 February and 14 February. The Allies dropped high-explosive bombed to knock the roofs off the building, exposing the wooden timbers inside and then dropped incendiary bombs to ignite the timbers, which resulted in a firestorm that amplified the destruction.

Many have said that there was no military reason to fire-bomb Dresden and that it was a war crime. Although the British denied it, many have thought that the bombing was in retaliation for the German Luftwaffe fire-bombing Coventry earlier in the war. After his capture during the Battle of the Bulge, Author Kurt Vonnegut was prisoner of war near Dresden during the bombing. He wrote about his experiences in the book “Slaughterhouse Five”.