“Informed Opinions are so much more fun.”

“Dresden is a good example. IIRC it had a population of about 60K but the refugees could have bumped that up to 250 K with no problem……It was destroyed mostly as a warning to the Soviets. The Soviets were not impressed…”

The Dresden death toll has been revised downwards to 25,000 (see Age link below). The Allies bombed bombed Dresden at the request of the Russians because Dresden was a communications hub (See Sparctacus link below).

While to me 25,000 seems low considering the type of bombing, I have for some time wondered if the very high death tolls reported in some German cities was not part of an attempt by the Russians to keep the West on the defensive.

“Dresden bombs toll revised – Up TO 25,000 people were killed in the controversial Allied bombing of the German city of Dresden during World War II, fewer than often estimated, an official commission concluded…

…After more than five years of research, the Dresden Historians’ Commission released its final report on the firestorm unleashed by British and US bombers from February 13 to 15, 1945, just three months before the end of the war in Europe…The figure of 25,000 matches conclusions reached by local authorities immediately after the war, in 1945 and 1946.The report also found the number of refugees fleeing the horrors of the Eastern Front who were killed in the bombing was lower than often presumed, and dismissed speculation many bodies were not recovered…”

http://www.theage.com.au/world/dresden-bombs-toll-revised-20100318-qias.html

The Spartacus web site contains this account by Air Marshall Harris:

“After the War Air Marshall Arthur Harris came under attack for the bombing raid on Dresden. In his autobiography he explained why he ordered the bombing of the city in February, 1945.

“In February of 1945,with the Russian army threatening the heart of Saxony, I was called upon to attack Dresden; this was considered a target of the first importance for the offensive on the Eastern front. Dresden had by this time become the main centre of communications for the defence of Germany on the southern half of the Eastern front and it was considered that a heavy air attack would disorganise these communications and also make Dresden useless as a controlling centre for the defence. It was also by far the largest city in Germany – the pre-war population was 630,000 – which had been left intact; it had never before been bombed. As a large centre of war industry it was also of the highest importance…

…I know that the destruction of so large and splendid a city at this late stage of the war was considered unnecessary even by a good many people who admit that our earlier attacks were as fully justified as any other operation of war. Here I will only say that the attack on Dresden was at the time considered a military necessity by much more important people than myself, and that if their judgment was right the same arguments must apply that I have set out in an earlier chapter in which I said what I think about the ethics of bombing as a whole.”

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWdresden.htm