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They
arrived precisely at 10.09pm that day of February way back in 1945. Like
a cloud they covered the city. Two hundred and fifty-four giant iron
eagles ready to devour the tender virgin morsel that lay beneath, all
tucked up on that cold winter night, drowsy and ready for sleep.
Dresden 1945
Dresden
is an ancient and historical city, a cultural centre both beautiful and
quaint. Through her flows the Elbe River peaceful as that Shrove Tuesday
when happy children colourfully attired skipped and laughed gaily in her
parks and open spaces while their mothers looked on with sweet
contentment. They knew there was a war on but they could not imagine
that their little non-military paradise and undefended city could
provoke an attack. Meanwhile,
two days earlier, the Yalta 'Big Three' Conference, which had run during
4 - 11 February, had come to an end. It is here that Winston Churchill
is believed to have given the final nod, approving the bombing of
Dresden. Stored
in the holds of those Lancasters were thousands of high explosive and
incendiary bombs. It took a mere 24 minutes to unload their burden and
return for home. The
mission was a success. Tons of incendiaries rained down upon that
friendly scene bringing death, devastation and suffering to tens of
thousands of people in an instant. But that was only the start. Three
hours later the RAF was back with more than twice as many planes and a
double payload of deadly freight. This started a firestorm. Here's
how David Irving in his book The Destruction of Dresden describes a
firestorm: The
Battle of Hamburg in July 1943 had brought Germany's first ever
firestorm: eight square miles of the city as one single bonfire. So
horrific was the phenomenon that the Police President had ordered a
scientific investigation into the causes of the firestorm, so that other
cities might be warned. An estimate of the force of this firestorm could
be obtained only by analysing it soberly as a meteorological phenomenon.
As a result of the sudden linking of a number of fires, the air above
was heated to such an extent that a violent updraught occurred which, in
turn, caused the surrounding air to be sucked in from all sides to the
centre of the fire area. This tremendous suction caused movements of air
of far greater force than normal winds. In
meteorology the differences in temperature involved are of the order of
20 to 30 degrees centigrade. In this firestorm they were of the order of
600, 800, or even 1000 degrees centigrade. This explained the colossal
force of the firestorm winds.... In Dresden the firestorm appears, by
examination of the area, more than 75% destroyed, to have engulfed some
eight square miles; the city authorities now put the area as eleven
square miles. Nevertheless
the firestorm was undoubtedly the most devastating that had ever been
experienced in Germany. All the signs observed in Hamburg were repeated
in Dresden multiplied in scale many times. Giant trees were uprooted or
snapped in half. Crowds of people fleeing for safety had suddenly been
seized by the tornado and hurled along whole streets into the seat of
the fires; roof gables and furniture that had been stacked on the
streets after the first raid were plucked up by the violent winds and
tossed into the centre of the burning inner-city. Still
the allies were not through yet. Ten hours later it was the turn of the
United States Air Force, their Flying Fortresses adding to the
unspeakable misery of that St Valentine's Day. The greetings conveyed
were not by courtesy of cards but on a level that brought a new menace.
After the bombers had disgourged their cargo the Mustang Fighters came.
The purpose was not merely to kill and destroy but chiefly to demoralise
the living. They
went after everything that moved. Survivors huddling in the rubble were
hounded like jungle animals. Mothers running desperately to find shelter
for their children and infants were straffed. The pilots had time. There
was nothing coming back at them, so they could take careful aim and
shoot straight. If they missed they could swoop again and again. There
was nowhere to hide. The
kill rate was high. It was a good day at the office. They could return
in triumph. Mission accomplished! A
day later the final assault was made upon the doomed Dresden, leaving it
a ruinous heap. The
wider issue that adds to the tragedy is that the population of 630,000
was greatly increased by the flood of exiles flowing in to escape the
Russian advance on the eastern front. Though exact figures are
impossible to establish it is safe to say that hundreds of thousands had
already arrived. As
for the number of casualties a fairly accurate assessment may be drawn
from the Dresden Police President's report which said: Up
to the evening of 20th March 1945, altogether 202,040 bodies, primarily
women and children, were recovered. It is expected that the final death
toll will exceed 250,000. Of the dead, only some 30% could be
identified... as the rumours far exceed reality, these figures can be
used publicly. (The Destruction of Dresden.) In
order to grasp the enormity of this war crime, a comparison with the
loss of life in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where two atom
bombs were dropped, looks like this: in Hiroshima some 80,000 people
perished and about half that number in Nagasaki. Another
important comparison that bears recording is that in one night more than
1,600 acres of Dresden was devastated, whereas, mercifully, less than
600 acres was destroyed in London throughout the whole war.
The
question remains, why?
This
murderous mission was not needed to win the war: that was a foregone
conclusion and a mere 12 weeks away, and our leaders knew it. Was it to
impress Stalin? It was certainly what he wanted, and Henry Morgenthau,
the secretary of the American treasury, who offered Winston Churchill
$3,500,000,000 in additional Lend-Lease and a further $3,000,000,000 for
non-military purposes if he would support his plans to pastoralise
Germany: i.e. to destroy her industrial power. (Note: that Morgenthau -
not President Roosevelt - offered American taxpayers' money to buy
Britain to do Morgenthau's dirty work.) Churchill
at first opposed the plan saying "it would chain Britain to a dead
body." However he did agree and signed the paper. Happily the
British war cabinet unanimously rejected the infamous document. Yet the
destruction of Dresden went some way to doing exactly what Morgenthau
wanted done. It's a strange old world is this! Isn't it a strange old
world? But
another thing, Morgenthau, as powerful as he was, was not the head... Bernard
Beruch was. He
was rightly regarded as the unofficial president of America. He
told a select committee of Congress: "I probably had more power
than perhaps any other man did in the war; doubtless that is true."
Mr
Baruch obviously wanted it; therefore Henry Morgenthau wanted it; and by
logical process it would seem that, out of necessity, Churchill wanted
it too. Perhaps
it was because he appeared to consort frequently with other war
criminals that Jorg Haider concluded that Winston Churchill was a war
criminal. Be
that as it may: every year on February 13th, church bells ring out in
Dresden, tolling in memory and mourning for the events and the victims,
neither of which will ever be forgotten. |
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