Dresden for centuries a world renowned center of art and culture destroyed in a single line it was on february the 13th 1945 just 3 months before the end of world war 2 and while every year groups continue to commemorate the event facts surrounding those dark days a still being debated just how many lives were lost that night was it several thousands or hundreds of thousands to the Anglo American allies consider the city as strategically significant target if not what was the purpose of carrying out such a devastating attack. The citys old town dressed in council this spring a palace the found. The church of our lady of potential treasures that were reduced to rubble in a matter of balance. This American News reel described one of the 2 british raids on tristen. It wanted to ask why 6550300 bombs on transportation lands in germany stop modestly. But the german side reported things differently saying that the attack targeted a Cultural Center that had no military value. The plotters ability to speak with diabolical intent our enemies annihilated us flourishing city christian is dead its beautiful rock landmarks and a lot of by residents and visitors alike has been destroyed. A kind of i might have i knew go. And several of the british air attacks on germany during the war were carried out exactly as the plan as had intended hamburg was one castle was one and also dresden height but such tactical perfection was the exception rather than the rule lynched the bombing of dresden was considered a must a piece of military planning to get perfect. Gift wish and just walk. The stroke. These are among the very few photographs taken on the night of the attack a silhouette of the tracks addressed since main Railway Station in the background blurred by the heat of flames. The pitches were taken by 15 year old hans joachim dixon who lived near the station at the time. Vino plots the train station was on vino plots. Across the way on the corner there was an enormous building that housed rather ironically the offices of the local Fire Insurance company. That was my neighborhood and hog with its fancy shops and leisure establishments. In which there were. Been just a few doors down the citys gestapo headquarters which could be considered a legitimate target was also in this district it was from here that the deportation of tristen jews was organized large quantities of military supplies were also sent to the front from the Railway Station refugees who were fleeing the soviet offensive to the east pass through the station as well. As what happened. Through the planes for direct hits on some of the buildings behind the train station. With those who were trapped for several hours in the basement in one of those buildings surrounded by dead bodies. And feel. More than 600 people were killed only the trying to station a life suffocated. Vanished the central issue was not the casualties it was the damage to the water mains the gas lines the electrical system and the streets that required a normal amount of personnel and material to repair. And that weaken the military effort. From a tactical standpoint its much more effective to destroy a citys infrastructure than it is to wipe out of the barracks for example those that could get up and running again in 36 hours but when an entire city is torched takes time for the survivors to find shelter. So why did the americans and the british launch such a huge right on. Were the specific intended targets. This is the historic noirmont district which includes the famous found keisha. Again how cinnamon was 14 when the church and his home nearby were destroyed in the attack. As children cinnamon and some of his friends have carved their nations into the sandstone edifice of the art academy across the square the situation its hard to see now thats me jeezy but some of the letters have faded a bit of wind but if thats what the contest and offered totn was here. That one of them lived in a house that was hit by a bomb and then another lived in the ones. And neither survived. Yes and you know i was compelled. To. Get hard cinnamon and his family lived in a building behind this hotel within view of the fountain share. A little hint of that in the 3rd back courtyard there was one corridor and then another the toilets were outside we had to walk a long way to get water. So there was always a bucket of water in the apartment room or it will and there was a space above the hallway where the coal for heating was stored just imagine how well that coal burned in the fire after the bombing according to. This is how the neumark district looked before the attack. Behind splendid the rock facades working class families lived in modest quarters. There were no military or industrial targets here but noirmont was flattened anyway. As 1st as for the mine looked like only 3 children in my class at school survived the rest were killed. For us theres no such thing as a class reunion and a pile. Of mud. For decades much of the area lay in ruins but more recently a lot of new Construction Projects are filling in empty spaces but before these projects are realized archaeologists explore the cellars and foundations of the original buildings. Susanna shona is leading an excavation near the found krisha in these ruins she often finds relics of Life Interest and before the bombing. In the machine we found a sewing machine and a sign saying this facility was authorized to make uniforms for all nazi Party Organizations so this was likely a tailors workshop much like a game its a nice wand but what i wanted to hear is some shoulder boards from a uniform that was probably made here. To water. The artifacts include bottles and other glass objects that would have formed in the high heat generated by the fires on the night of the attacks. Last starts to change shape at around 600. 00 degrees centigrade. Sandstone was often used in the construction of these buildings and it too shows traces of the intense heat. Your common options in here you can see some of the beautiful original sandstone with that warm yellow color. On you but in high heels it starts turning orange and red doesnt its all sharpness or it was a mistake as it is this sandstone was likely exposed to temperatures up to 1000 degrees and its very red and some of it has broken away just. Thousands of people took. Enticements only to die there. The 1st big allied attack on light seek in nearby industrial sites took place in december 943. 00 only after that did the authorities in dresden start taking Civil Defense missions. Of course there were no materials available to build a bomb shelters on that scale everything was reserved for the war effort Civil Defense wasnt a top priority as we can read in official documents from that time. Some measures were taken but it was haphazard due to having to deal with the various responsible party and state bureaucracy is. A simple its hard for you. With. A campaign of saturation bombing against german cities have been approved by the British Government in 1942 the attacks were carried out by the Royal Air ForceBomber Command headed by air Marshal Arthur house. Now a lot of people. Well that never been tried yet. Among us. A cynic might say it wasnt about trying to destroy the weapons factories which were very hard to hit but about killing the people who worked in those factories and destroying a citys infrastructure. Which in turn would reduce its importance to the military. Court and in that regard the plan proved successful concept or course and. In early february the leaders of britain the soviet union and the us met at yale to discuss their war strategy. Prime minister churchill agreed to support the soviets fans into germany by stepping up air raids on cities the idea was to disrupt germanys economy even further and to try to break the moran of the civilian population. As a church or inherit a scrap together at the weekend and watch films of the bombing where it was and these are tax return german cities and a smoldering funeral pyre. At that point bombs were being dropped on german cities almost daily dresden was considered a legitimate target but there were also specific technical reasons for the attack on the night of february the 13th. The weather forecasts call for cloudy skies at the much of eastern germany but some clearing was predicted around leipsic and dresden ideal conditions for a Successful Air strike. Churchill not only wanted to make good on his promise to increase the number of bombing runs he also wanted to demonstrate to stalin the destructive power of the Royal Air ForceBomber Command. Was for the letter was finished at it was. Clear that the real victor in europe was going to be stalin as he had enormous military resources at that time did up what ensued in the fog didnt get but britain and the United States wanted to prove their own might only they had the power and ability to reduce cities to dust. Evos this amounted to a struggle for postwar political power and it is in my opinion the reason behind the attacks on dressed in and later hiroshima. The people of dresden were completely unaware of the strategic Political Considerations when the 1st air raid sirens went off at 915 that night most thought that the attack would talk at an Industrial Center nearby as it happens so often in recent months. She hunts in place dressed and had so far been fairly untouched by the war mostly sure there were major bombing raids on leipsic but that didnt really raise fears among the people here neither there were rumors circulating that churchill had an aunt living in reston so it would never be attacked under your and your both need of us by c. E. O. Oracle wouldnt. For me though of it in early january or so the woman who owned our apartment house had a new staircase put in since then thats something that my was for the old sandstone and steps were torn out and replaced with tourettes oh and a few weeks later it was destroyed. It were. Credible scuppered. Kristoffer adam was 14 years old in february 19th 45 in his family lived in the district of your hunch that need to europe last far from the city center on the main train station the square was a popular Meeting Place for locals fiber the 13th was a choose day and the day before one Ash Wednesday the highlight of the carnival season in germany lots of children dressed up in questions just like every year norah long was one of them. And from dual flights i remember celebrating with my friends from the area. Being i was holland all and i dressed up as a dutch girl because what if you had my mother and grandmother made the costume for me complete with a blue and white dress a starched white apron and the traditional hat. Romford feel if we hung paper streamers and lanterns from the 4th floor window and i joked at the time that i wasnt going to take them down the next day i was just going to set a match to them that would be quick. Little dish my 1st client of this pond or sidecar. Nor along and her friend anita gone were both 12 years old like Christopher Dodd and they and their families lived in your hunch that. When anita yawn heard the 1st air raid sirens she knew exactly what to do. She grabbed a suitcase and went down into the basement with her parents. Just gullible but one snitched the air raid shelter wasnt really a room more like a corridor but even that was not finished with cement it was constructed out of cobble stones and these were all old houses. So each was required to have a container of sand and buckets for sand and water down there the whole. Mit sudden i am so rich in these restored in old disused bathtubs or other containers. Caused by old mr which was on. Here and is exposed cellars in front of the front you can see some of the citys rudimentary Civil Defense measures. As often as not whenever possible the basements here in dresden were connected to each other by a network of makeshift passageways that crossed over property lines. And spaces. That way if people found themselves trapped underground and couldnt get out they could escape by going through another building. So wouldnt look to go. In. Just before 10 oclock on the night of february 13th the Civil Air Defense Office reported that enemy aircraft are being spotted of the town of a few kilometers southeast of dresden american bombers had struck the citys Railway Yards in october 944. 00 in january 945. 00 but those raids were compassion of a small now the improper was targeting the same time the 1st british aircraft dropped magnesium parachute flares referred to as Christmas Trees by the germans to eliminate the target area your. View of the sky became as bright as day as the planes drop those Christmas Trees in the law if. There were cascades of light off. Theyre not heard it was an amazing sight to see. City or influence last year of the else that was the 1st time that any of us had seen a bombing raid of such magnitude if you thought if you thought. These reconnaissance photos of dresden were taken by the r. A. F. In may 944. The target area clearly included the neuer markt district and surrounding streets in this war neither side seen that interested in cultural landmarks or monuments when it came to planning bombing raids. The area warfare began with the german daytime attack on london in september 19th forcing the liftoff assume switched to night raids and targeted numerous other cities during this phase of the german air campaign which lasted until may 941 an estimated 43000 civilians were killed and more than 1000000 buildings destroyed. On nov 14th 940. 00 the germans launched a devastating attack on the Industrial City of coventry about a 3rd of the local factories were destroyed but residential areas were also heat more than 500. 00 civilians were killed in this attack. Coventrys cathedral was reduced to rubble. In june 944 germany started firing missiles into in the v. 2 a targets in britain. If of a 2 missile struck a residential street 200. 00 people would be killed instantly as in childhood mentioned after struggling to. The last of the 2 to hit britain landed on kent in late march 9455 weeks after the annihilation of dresden. We. Do. Even though it was clear the war was coming to an end it was difficult for the British Government to make a case for stopping the bombing of germany out of concern for civilian casualties when v. 2 rockets were still hitting london. Forts again. London. To the people of britain the men who flew for the Royal Air ForceBomber Command we hear a casualty rates were high more than 57000 crewmen were killed during the. Count of the total of the entire force. In the closing months of the conflict German Defense systems no longer posed a serious threat as a craft fuel was in short supply and the anti aircraft guns to be moved to counter the soviet offensive dresden stood alone against the british bombers. The raid that went horribly right. Alice and sent the bomber crews had a clear view of the target area. There were no anti aircraft guns. The city was completely exposed and couldnt defend itself against this attack. So fred tried to get dressed and with its 3 train stations was an important transport Haitian Center and there were several large military barracks in the district all of these were targets but none was seriously damaged during the raid. If you do via groups the planners had a specific strategy in mind and that was to disrupt the infrastructure and cause panic in the city center. And in that way that character of the attack on dresden was somewhat unique. And. Similar tactics had been used by Bomber Command in a joint u. S. And british attack on the began on july the 24th 943 and continued for several days the devastation spread out over an area of more than 30 square kilometers during the course of the riots an estimated 250000 buildings were destroyed and a total of more than 42000. 00 People Killed at the time it was the most destructive attack in the history of aerial warfare. On the night of july 27 blazes started by a massive bombing right on hamburg combined with hot dry weather conditions to create a tornado of flames known as a firestorm Bomber Command used similar techniques in attacks on darmstadt castle braunschweig and starting on february the 13th 945. 00 tristen. 100. 00 experiment to the u. S. Military build replicas of german apartment houses in the utah desert and calculated the amount of things like books clothes toys found in a typical german home to determine the upcoming lecture of explosives and combustible. Goodenough experiment fires in a german city were burned differently you can those in a japanese or many of the buildings on a go warden paper. And theres a cd or just of. Artifacts recovered interest in the decades after the attack a stored in the saxony state archaeological archives. Thousands of objects that bears silent witness to the devastation of the attack. There of glass bottles warped by the extreme hate coins books i glasses and various documents. Even toy tanks and other military toys evidence of the nazi regimes effort to promote the popularity of the German Military among children. Who started adam was often given items like these for christmas. Tree should be a good choice if we start from 0 deeply shore as a country with for example we had toy artillery pieces that used contact fuselage. You would load the cannon fire and a stream of flame came out of 4 of us were in the us on the other end or the shell hit a target it made a loud noise if you will assure i also have toys soldiers and of course all in hitler figurine with attachable hair i h