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‘Reduced to Atoms’: The Devastating 1945 Allied Bombing Campaign in Dresden
The 15-hour Allied air raids created a firestorm killing an estimated 25,000 and destroying 75,000 homes, sparking ongoing debate over the military necessity of the attack.
- For 15 hours beginning on the night of Feb. 13, 1945, Allied warplanes battered Dresden, with Lancaster bombers starting strikes at 10:15 p.m. and over 300 B-17 Flying Fortresses attacking at noon the next day.
- Allied planners shifted focus to Dresden after the Yalta Conference and Soviet advances, while poor weather diverted more than 200 American B-17s from an oil plant to Dresden.
- Within 15 minutes, 880 tons of bombs were unleashed, and a formation of 550 heavy bombers renewed the assault, with fires melting iron, turning stone to powder, and causing trees to explode.
- Out of 220,000 homes in Dresden, 75,000 were totally destroyed and 18,500 severely damaged, leaving eighteen million cubic meters of rubble, while to avoid a health crisis, bodies not incinerated were burned on mass pyres.
- Since the bombs first fell, significant controversy has arisen about the attack's military necessity, prompting postwar analyses, and the city endured two further heavy attacks on March 2 and April 17 with 453 additional dead.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Military Times
‘Reduced to atoms’: The devastating 1945 Allied bombing campaign in Dresden
The bombing of Dresden remains a controversial period in the Allied air war over Europe.
The weather is good with the Royal Air Force Bomber Command on February 13, 1945. However, the consequences were dramatic for the Saxon residence city on the Elbe: up to 25,000 people were killed during the air raid and the subsequent firestorm.
Today in Dresden, a memorial day commemorates the victims of the Second World War and the destruction of the city 81 years ago.
THE BLOOD OF DRESSEN We burn the words, silence us, and the voice of the people will always be heard. Useless is killing, death proves that life exists... Litto Nebbia DRESSEN, FEBRUARY 1945 The city and the Dresden context had always been one of the most herm German cities.
This Day in 1945: Operation Against Dresden Sees 773 Lancasters Strike in Two Waves
On the night of February 13, 1945, Allied air forces carried out one of the largest bombing operations of the Second World War against the German city of Dresden. The attack was part of a broader strategic effort to disrupt German transportation and communication networks as the war in Europe neared its end. RAF Bomber Command sent hundreds of heavy bombers in two waves, dropping a mixture of high‑explosive and incendiary bombs. This raid marked…
Feb. 13 – Firebombing of Dresden
On the evening of February 13, 1945, a series of Allied firebombing raids begins against the German city of Dresden, reducing the “Florence of the Elbe” to rubble and flames, and killing roughly 25,000 people. The post Feb. 13 – Firebombing of Dresden appeared first on The Declaration.
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