The evening on February 13th, 1945, was just another chilly evening in Dresden Germany, the “Florence of the Elbe, a city of refugees fleeing from the advancing Soviets coming from the east, into the city that has yet to be bombed into a smoking pile of burned out rubble by the British and American Airforces. And on the night of the February 13th, 1945, that would all change as suddenly the whirring noise was heard across the cities as the cities air raid sirens went off, and soon the city sky was filled with hundreds of bombers, opening their bay doors to drop there deadly payload onto the city below. At first, it was just the normal bombs then it was incendiary bombs that lit the city alight into a fiery blaze. The story of the bombing of Dresden is seen by some as a war crime a tragedy, while other's see it as a necessary part of the war. The story of the bombing of Dresden is that of lies and propaganda that have turned this story into one with the truth hidden under a web of lies. It is my belief that the Allied bombing of Dresden was strategic and important towards the defeat of Nazi Germany, although the tragic loss of life is something that no one wants to do, this attack was necessary towards speeding up the end of the war. Although finding my way through the web of lies was not easy, I will show you the reason why Dresden was a justifiable target.

While many people believe that Dresden was simply an elegant city with absolutely no military value and that the Americans and British bombed it just because it was the largest unbombed city in Germany that could burn, but that is simply not true. Dresden had around 130 factories producing everything from gun sights, AA guns, to poison gas according to the site here. And Dresden was a major transportation and communications hub for shuttling tanks, troops, and equipment out east to defend Berlin from the advancing Soviets. So the fact that Dresden was simply a civilian city is a lie spread by Nazi propaganda. But some people might retaliate saying that the industrial sector of Dresden, which lies in the city suburbs outside of Dresden was not touched. And that fact was true, the Allies went for the city center and ignored the industrial sector for a reason. This was because the Soviets were closing in on Berlin, and Dresden was a major transportation and communications hub that allowed the transfer of thousands of troops and material to defend Berlin. And where are all of these marshaling yards and communications centers located? In the city center! Which is why it was necessary to bomb the city center to destroy the infrastructure needed to transport the men and equipment. Although the bombing of the city center seemed like an attack on the citizens, it was actually a strategic attack that was meant to shorten the war.

Other's say that the Allies were too indiscriminate about their bombing and could have lessened the loss of life suffered by the cities residents. But this was simply not possible in the 1940s, because now we have laser guided precision smart bombs which guide themselves to there target, but in the 1940s, there were only conventional dumb bombs, which were only so accurate(And you can see why bombing in World War 2 was so inaccurate here). And even though there were somewhat accurate bombsights that were used by bombers, on the days the bombing of Dresden happened, it was either cloudy or the Allies were bombing at night, so the Allies had to guess when to drop their bombs because they were unsure if they would land in the right place. Trying to justify that the Allies could have been more accurate just because we live in an age were laser-guided precision bombs are a thing, and we assume that the Allies had the same technology is the same as saying that if the British had 10 guys with M-16s, they could have beaten the Americans. It is unfair to judge past events assuming that they have the same technology that we have today and call the event a tragedy because the other side could have used better technology which actually did not exist at the time because we live in a time where that technology actually exists. So saying that the Allies could have killed fewer people if they were more accurate is simply unfair, also considering that on the days that they were bombing Dresden, it was cloudy meaning that the bombers could not see their targets that well, and had to guess using the plane's radar to try and hit their target. The planes of this time are still propeller-driven aircraft with no onboard autopilot, computer-guided weapons, or any fancy modern tech that modern $100 million aircraft, these are aircraft that are built to be mass produced and designed to fight. So expecting aircraft that were used 70-80 years ago to be able to bomb targets while thousands of feet high, with cloudy weather, accurately is insane.  We have to view events with an understanding of the technology to understand why these events happen or the truth of an event may never come out.

Other people often say that Dresden should have never been bombed in the first place because the war was nearly over. But we are looking at this 20/20 hindsight that Nazi Germany will surrender within a couple of months and that there was no point in bombing Dresden. But we are looking at this situation with 20/20 hindsight, the western Allies had no idea how long Germany will hold out, and this especially after the Battle of the Bulge where the Germans were able to make a 70-mile bulge in the American and British lines. Even though the Allies were closing in, the Germans were going to fight to the last man to defend their country, their capital, and their fuher, and the Allies knew this so even though the Soviets were only 70 miles from Berlin, how long the Germans would holdout was unknown as the Soviets were entering Germany itself, and Hitler was through everyone from high schoolers and middle schoolers to veterans of the FIrst World War who are in their 60s and 70s to fight. This was a nation that would hold out as long as possible, and the Allies knew that so that is one of the reasons the Allies kept up their bombing campaign, and also why it is important to not always judge decisions you perceive as bad just because the ¨the war would have ended in 3 months, there was no need to bomb Dresden¨. So remember that you have to look at decisions made by leaders without using 20/20 hindsight.

Some people may also cite the high death toll of 200,000 - 300,00 people. But those numbers are fake propaganda numbers made up by the Nazi’s Ministry of Propaganda, to make the Allies look bad. And a number of bad/fake historians have used this number to try and say that the bombing of Dresden was wrong when even the city of Dresden it self conducted a study and found out that the death toll was between 25,000 and 35,000 people, and you can see where those figures come from here.

And if you refuse to believe any of what I said before, under the Hague Conventions of 1907, which stated the laws of war, and there was no section that said nothing about airpower, because the Hague Conventions happened before the rise of airpower. Although there were several attempts to add a section governing air power, but it never happened. So technically, the Allied bombing of Dresden is not a war crime according to the site here. And remember, it was not only the Allies that bombed enemy cities, the German Luftwaffe ruthlessly bombed the cities of Warsaw and Rotterdam, and they conducted the blitz, which was a months-long bombing campaign of Britain. So calling into question what the Allies did, while the Germans did the same thing, and most people don’t seem to care about it, is hypocritical.

War has always been a messy and bloody part of human history and having events like the bombing of Dresden makes it even more complicated to understand. But once you are able to sift through the evidence, figure out which numbers are inflated propaganda, you can find the truth. And when I did all of these steps I was able to discover the truth behind the bombing of Dresden. That the bombing of Dresden was a strategic bombing that helped the war effort for the Allies and was not a war crime. So take any fact you are given with a little grain of salt and make sure you know all the facts before you make a possibly a fake conclusion.