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Should Dresden have been bombed?

By the end of today’s lesson you should be able to…. Explain what happened to Dresden during the Second World war. Analyse why Dresden was targeted. Analyse why the bombing of Dresden was and still is controversial

Pre-war Dresden was known as ‘Florence on the Elbe’ because of its great beauty, reputation for culture and or the number of art treasures in the city.

At 10p.m. On Tuesday 13 February 1945 almost 800 RAF bombers headed towards the city

Each Lancaster Bomber carried 1.5 tonnes of high explosive bombs and 2.25 tonnes of incendiaries

These bombs could cause a deadly ‘firestorm’ with temperatures of over 1000˚C. These firestorms would suck the oxygen from the air at ground level and any civilians who survived the fire would die of suffocation.

We do not know exactly how many people died in the bombing raid We do not know exactly how many people died in the bombing raid. Estimates range from 25,000 to 100,000 men, women, and children.

Should Dresden have been bombed?

Dresden’s rail yards were well away from the centre of the city Dresden was a very important rail centre for moving troops, concentration camp prisoners and materials of war. Most factories were in the outskirts of the city, well away from the historic centre actually bombed Many industrial workers lived in the very centre of the city Dresden contained factories that produced shells, lenses for submarine periscopes, aircraft radios, fuses for anti-aircraft shells and engines for fighter aircraft Dresden was a city of great beauty Dresden held many priceless art treasures By February 1945, Germany had no realistic prospect of winning the war German troops were still fighting in defence of their country The Russians were advancing swiftly into Germany In 1934, Germany withdrew from the Geneva Disarmament Conference, refusing to support a British proposal that aerial bombing be banned The Russians were asking for help from Britain and the USA

The war factories of Dresden employed around 10,000 people Day bombing of precise targets had been tried and had resulted in huge casualties among air crews The war factories of Dresden employed around 10,000 people Dresden was very close to the Russian front line The Nazis had designated Dresden as a defence zone meaning it would be defended street by street if necessary The number of casualties were a direct result of the Nazi failure to provide air-raid shelters The British deliberately tried to start a fire storm So many bodies were left in Dresden that over 7,000 had to be cremated on the market square So many people died in the basements of collapsed houses that the Germans called recovery workers ‘corpse miners’ The gap between the British raids lured many German rescue services back out into the open German bombers had devastated many cities in Europe such as Rotterdam, Warsaw, Birmingham, and Plymouth In November and December 1940 the centre of Coventry and the City of London had very nearly been engulfed by firestorms as the Luftwaffe (German air force) dropped incendiaries. Only the small bomb loads prevented this.

Should Dresden have been bombed? In History you need to learn to write balanced answers. These are answers to a question which look at BOTH sides of the argument. This sheet is designed to help you to answer the question above. On the other hand Dresden should not have been bombed because.... On the one hand Dresden should have been bombed because.... Now for YOUR opinion. On balance I think Dresden should/should not have been bombed because.....

Winston Churchill 14th July 1941 ‘If tonight our people were asked to cast their vote whether a convention should be entered into to stop the bombing of cities, the overwhelming majority would cry, ‘No, we will mete out to them the measure, and more than the measure, that they have meeted out to us’.’ Winston Churchill 14th July 1941 ‘The ultimate aim of an attack on a town area is to break the morale (confidence and determination to continue the war) of the population. To ensure this we must achieve two things: first we must make the town physically uninhabitable and second we must make the people conscious of constant personal danger. The immediate aim therefore is to produce i) Destruction ii) Fear of death. Paper distributed by British Air Staff on 23 September 1941