Do most people in this category know about the firebombing of Dresden?

Question

It makes an interesting comparison to the recent bombing in Beirut. Were the Germans given a week's advance warning with leaflets being dropped advising them to vacate the area? Were targets in Dresden limited to military locations?

Answer 1

"The Air Staff have now arranged that, subject to the overriding claims of attacks on enemy oil production and other approved target systems within the current directive, available effort should be directed against Berlin, Dresden, Chemnitz and Leipzig or against other cities where severe bombing would not only destroy communications vital to the evacuation from the east, but would also hamper the movement of troops from the west." Archibald Sinclaire, Secretary of State for Air for Great Britain.

The goal was to shorten the war. Targets were apparently not limited to just specific military targets - it was felt that Dresden was a mass of munitions works, an intact government centre, and a key transportation point to the East. After the bombing it was none of those things.

There is little to compare between Dresden and Beirut other than the fact they both have been bombed and the bombings have been called war crimes in some circles. The Isrealis have no intention of occupying Beirut; the Allies knew they had to occupy Dresden. The Allies were trying to expedite the end of a war; the Isrealis are trying to kill individuals and destroy materiel to prevent a war. The Nazis represented a soveriegn nation; Hezbollah is a band of militants who hide behind other nations.

My guess is that most people don't really know about Dresden.

Answer 2

In all of the responses to this question, all but one have overlooked the fact that apparently it was okay for Germany to indiscriminately bomb British cities. And every time that the Allies bombed a city proper (i.e. dresden, hiroshima), the citizens were warned.

This is also a tribute to the fighting men that were flying the mission. The mission was effectively announce to the enemy beforehand, and neither the Germans at Dresden, nor the Japanese at Hiroshima/Nagasaki were able to prevent it.

As to the nuclear bombs in Japan, their use was calculated to save American lives. Hiroshima was one of the only cities that had yet to be bombed, and aerial reconnasaince showed massive amounts of military equipment and personnell staging to head south towards the fighting.

Apparently it is okay for Americans to die, as long as we don't hurt the enemy.

Answer 3

Dresden & Beirut? Not in the same ball park at all.....
The attacks on Dresden was made by hundreds of bombers doing area bombing, at night, on a general area target. It did more to destroy property and kill, then achieve a military objective. Israels attacks on the other hand targeted things of importance to conducting war. Airports, ports, power grids, road links to Syria, etc. All were means of hezbolah supply & comunications. Thus, they would be high targets to destroy. The rockets, being hidden in built up areas were again another reason for the amount of collateral damage.

Answer 4

Bear in mind the Geneva Conventions weren't written in Feb. 1945.

What right does anyone have to second-guess the Allies actions in 1945 when the Germans had blitzed London? Does anybody not think the Germans would have leveled London and the Japanese nuked New York if either could have done it?

War is hell. Civilians will always pay the price. The more so when they're such eager supporters of wars.

And supporters of today's terrorism. The Geneva Conventions were an experiment. As far as I can tell, virtually every state engaged in war since 1945 has violated them with impunity: they have no enforcement mechanism, nor can they.

Liberals, tagging along with visceral anti-Semites, blame Israel in knee-jerk fasion for violating them. But see:
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,19960056-5006301,00.html
Hezbollah, of course, are not bound by the Conventions: they're not a State. It was and is Lebanon's duty to enforce the Conventions on its territory.

The State's frst priority is preserving its existence. No Convention, not even the atomic weapons ones, will be respected in those last hours of a State's existence.

Answer 5

Dresden and other German cities were carpet bombed by the allies. There were targets but to get them whole areas had to be bombed because of the limitations on bomb sights and many other factors. Since this was full war there was no advance warning although it was known that the bombers were after arms factories, warehouses, dams any facility or infrastructure that was part of the war effort.

Since the war in Lebanon was not against the country itself the bombing was limited to any Hezbolla facility, building or infrastructure that supported the terrorists as well as command and control notice was given to civilians to vacate many areas.
This is good and proper conduct on behalf of Isreal. Of course, there are many questions about Isreal's conduct in other areas of this war.

Answer 6

No, Dresden was all but razed from the air in response to German V-2 attacks on London. The Geneva conventions were set up in a way so that calamities like Dresden would never happen again. The difference between Dresden and Beruit is that England never signed the Geneva Conventions before WWII, because the Geneva Conventions didn't exist before WWII.

The recent bombing of Beruit (or rather, southern lebanon) is significantly after the Geneva Conventions, and Israel willingly violated them (and continues to violate them and more UN resolutions than any country to this day, despite their being created through UN charter).

That's the difference.

The leaflets were only dropped so that Israel could blame civilians for not leaving even when they were warned; a pathetic attempt to slink around the violation of international law, but it seems to be working to some degree, as evidenced by this question.

Answer 7

not at all.... Dresden was at the time one of the most beautiful cities in Germany and because of the destruction to the surrounding cities it was overflowing with migrants and refugees. The city was firebombed and although most of the targets may have been of strategic or military value once the fires started there was no stopping them from spreading..

Answer 8

Yes, I kow of the firebombings of Dresden as well as Tokyo and Yokohama. We killed more Japanese in those two firebombings than we did with atomic bombs.

No Beriut has nothing in comparison with those bombings.

Those bombings were part of the overall war strategy at the time. To destroy the enemies capabilities to wage war, to destroy his infrastructure and to destroy the peoples will to continue the war. Prior to the American Civil War wars were fought against the armies of opposing nations. Their goal was to engage in battle with the opposing armies of your enemy and defeat their armies, not to wage war against cities or the civilian populace. The American Civil War saw the advent of Total War with Shermans march through Georgia. That brought about the concept of waging war against an entire country and its people to destroy its ability and will to wage war.

Answer 9

I don't know but my guess is no. The Nazi air defenses were a lot more formidable than those of the Lebanese. Warning Dresden would have turned the allies mission into a suicide run.

Answer 10

Yes I know no no leaveletts where dropped 50 000 civilians died and it was not aimed at any millitary isallation smack bang in the midle of the city to teach the germans a lesson send by the war criminal CHurchill the fat ugly pommy bastard he was made a hero only because the won the war. So lets never forget all people who are in the buisness of warfahre are Criminals.! ALL