Dresden, 1945

In your thoughts today, do not forget the fate of Dresden. Dresden was one of the most beautiful cities of pre-Second World War Germany (see below).

From Feb 13th to 15th, 1945, the British and American air forces bombed Dresden relentlessly, creating with merely conventional explosives a fire storm...

Eye witness account: "We saw the burning street, the falling ruins and the terrible firestorm. My mother covered us with wet blankets and coats she found in a water tub. We saw terrible things: cremated adults shrunk to the size of small children, pieces of arms and legs, dead people, whole families burnt to death, burning people ran to and fro, burnt coaches filled with civilian refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many were calling and looking for their children and families, and fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm threw people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from."

The means of creating a fire storm are crude but effective: high explosives are dropped by bombers to shatter the roofs of buildings, exposing the wooden timbers. Then incendiaries are dropped by a second wave of bombers a few minutes later. Afterwards, more bombers drop a final wave of high explosives to kill and destroy fire and rescue crews.

This is Dresden today. A serene city at sunset once more...