Transcript Firebombing of Dresden (Churchill*s Revenge)

Firebombing of Dresden
(Churchill’s Revenge)
Amelia Nathan, Bryce Smith, Kevin Zhu, and Michael Bania
Thesis
In the autumn of 1940, Hitler ordered a bombing on
London and Coventry. Hitler’s plan was aimed to lower
morale in Britain, but instead increased Winston Churchill’s
civilian support. Once the Allies had solidified their victory
in 1945, they met at the Yalta Conference. Complying with
his agreement with Stalin to continue bombing Germany,
Churchill ordered the Firebombing of Dresden as an act of
revenge. Churchill aimed to get retribution and to frighten
the rising Soviet Union away from attacking Britain in the
coming Cold War, while causing the deaths of
thousands of innocent civilians.
The City of Dresden
• One of the World’s most beautiful cities,
known for architecture and museums
• Eastern Germany
• No major contribution to
the war:
The British claimed it was
a communication base
after the bombing.
• Refugee camp
Historical Context of War
• Began February 13, 1945
• East – Red Army had captured East Prussia and reached
Oder River (Less than 50 miles from Berlin)
• Allies dominated skies over Europe, dropping
thousands of bombs on Germany every day
• The war was drawing to a close, Germany was close to
surrender
Timeline
Germany Surrenders
May 8, 1945
Axis Surrenders in
North Africa
5/12/1943
Germany Invades
Poland, beginning WWII
9/1/1939
Yalta
Conference
2/4/1945
The Blitz
9/7/1940
1939
1940
1941
Bombing of
Dresden Begins
2/13/1945
1942
1943
1944
1945
Yalta Conference
• February 4-11, 1945
• Allied leaders (US - President Franklin Roosevelt, Britain
– Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Union –
Joseph Stalin) met at Yalta in the USSR
• Visions of postwar world
• Decided on:
• German territory to be conquered
• Churchill and Roosevelt promised Stalin to continue
bombing against eastern Germany to prepare for
advancing Soviet forces
Operation Thunderclap
• Churchill’s plan to fly over Germany and bomb highly
populated areas including Berlin in an attempt to make
defense against the advancing Russians more difficult on
the eastern front.
• It was meant to precipitate total surrender after many air
raids two months after D-Day.
Strategy
• Minority Opinion: Strategically bombed because it was a
communication city for the Germans, and destroying it would
prevent the Nazi forces from getting messages to their army.
• Majority Opinion: Bombed to punish the Germans and kill civilians
as an act of revenge/weaken their moral
• Very destructive - damage disproportionate to what was
strategically accomplished
• Still controversial today
• “German cities… will be subjected to an ordeal the like of which
has never been experienced by a country in continuity, severity
and magnitude… To achieve this end there are no lengths of
violence to which we will not go” -Winston Churchill
Bombing in WWII –
Saturation Bombing
• An important aspect of the Allied air war against Germany
involved what is known as “area” or “saturation” bombing.
• All enemy cities (including civilian areas) are obliterated along
with troop areas.
• Cities were effectively destroyed with incendiary bombs that
caused fires.
• Allies thought bombing attacks would ravage the German
economy, break the morale of the German people and
force an early surrender.
• The Allies never admitted that they were engaged in saturation
bombing (controversial); specific military targets were announced
in relation to every attack.
Bombing of Dresden
• 3 days of bombing
• RAF bombers descended on Dresden in two waves
• The city’s air defenses were so weak that only six Lancaster
bombers were shot down
• By the morning, 800 British bombers had dropped more than 1,400
tons of high-explosive bombs and more than 1,100 tons of
incendiaries on Dresden, creating a great firestorm that destroyed
most of the city
• Later that day, as survivors made their way out of the city, more
than 300 U.S. bombers began bombing Dresden’s railways, bridges
killing thousands more.
• On February 15, another 200 U.S. bombers continued their assault
on the city
Altstadt District, Red-75-100% Destroyed, Green 25-75% destroyed, Circles – stray bomb hits, hospital,
train station, rail lines, red arrows: 1st attack, orange arrows 2nd attack
Significance
• Most destructive bombing of WWII
• Killed 30,000 - 135,000 people
• Churchill got revenge although it brought criticism towards him.
• Was actually appalled by the actual effects of the bombing.
• At the end of the war, Dresden was so badly damaged that the city
was basically leveled.
• A handful of historic buildings–the Zwinger Palace, the
Dresden State Opera house and several fine churches–were
carefully reconstructed out of the rubble, but the rest of the
city was rebuilt with plain modern buildings.
• Marked the transition from the notion that targeting civilians
was forbidden.
• At the end of the war, the Germans could not blame their loss on
the collapse of their home front and therefore the stab-in-theback myth was eliminated
Significance cont.
• “The Dresden atrocity, tremendously expensive and meticulously
planned, was so meaningless…” -Kurt Vonnegut
• Cold War
• Dresden bombing used as Cold War propaganda
• Intimidated the Red Army
• Some viewed the bombing as post-war aggression since the
war was almost over
• Dresden was seen as a representation of innocent German
victims under the Nazi regime and later the Cold War
Works Cited
Benda-Beckmann, Bas Von. "A German Catastrophe? : German Historians and the Allied Bombings, 1945-2010.
(2010): n. pag. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
"Bombing of Dresden." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
"Firebombing of Dresden." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
"Hellstorm - The Dresden Holocaust." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
Kadidal, Akhil. "Dresden 1945." Hermes Wings. N.p., 22 Apr. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.
“Strategic Bombing.”The Reader's Companion to Military History. 2001. History Study Center. Web. 6 Apr. 2016.
Selwood, Dominic. "Dresden Was a Civilian Town with No Military Significance. Why Did We Burn Its People?"
The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.
"The Firebombing of Dresden - Original Newsreel." YouTube. YouTube, 09 Dec. 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
Trueman, Chris. "The Bombing of Dresden - History Learning Site." The History Learning Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 25
Apr. 2016.
Whitlock, Craig. "As Dresden Recalls Days of Ruin, Neo-Nazis Issue a Rallying Cry." Washington Post. The
Washington Post, 5 Feb. 2005. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.