Firestorm: Allied Airpower and the Destruction of DresdenOn February 13 and 14, 1945, three successive waves of British and U.S. aircraft rained down thousands of tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs on the largely undefended German city of Dresden. Night and day, Dresden was engulfed in a vast sea of flame, a firestorm that generated 1,500-degree temperatures and hurricane-force winds. Thousands suffocated in underground shelters where they had fled to escape the inferno above. The fierce winds pulled thousands more into the center of the firestorm, where they were incinerated. By the time the fires burned themselves out, many days later, a great city–known as “the Florence on the Elbe”–lay in ruins, and tens of thousands, almost all of them civilians, lay dead. In Firestorm, Marshall De Bruhl re-creates the drama and horror of the Dresden bombing and offers the most cogent appraisal yet of the tactics, weapons, strategy, and rationale for the controversial attack. Using new research and contemporary reports, as well as eyewitness stories of the devastation, De Bruhl directly addresses many long-unresolved questions relating to the bombing: Why did the strike occur when the Allies’ victory was seemingly so imminent? Was choosing a city choked with German refugees a punitive decision, intended to humiliate a nation? What, if any, strategic importance did Dresden have? How much did the desire to send a “message”–to Imperial Japan or the advancing Soviet armies–factor into the decision to firebomb the city? Beyond De Bruhl’s analysis of the moral implications and historical ramifications of the attack, he examines how Nazi and Allied philosophies of airpower evolved prior to Dresden, particularly the shift toward “morale bombing” and the targeting of population centers as a strategic objective. He also profiles the architects and prime movers of strategic bombing and aerial warfare, among them aviation pioneer Billy Mitchell, RAF air marshal Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris, and the American commander, General Carl Spaatz. The passage of time has done nothing to quell the controversy stirred up by the Dresden raid. It has spawned a plethora of books, documentaries, articles, and works of fiction. Firestorm dispels the myths, refutes the arguments, and offers a dispassionate and clear-eyed look at the decisions made and the actions taken throughout the bombing campaign against the cities of the Third Reich–a campaign whose most devastating consequence was the Dresden raid. It is an objective work of history that dares to consider the calculus of war. |
Contents
CHAPTER TWO THE ARCHITECTS OF DESTRUCTION | 27 |
CHAPTER THREE WEAPONS FOR THE NEW | 55 |
CHAPTER FOUR THE FATAL ESCALATION | 81 |
CHAPTER EIGHT SHROVE TUESDAY 1945 | 186 |
CHAPTER NINE A PILLAR OF FIRE BY NIGHT | 203 |
CHAPTER TEN A COLUMN OF SMOKE BY | 217 |
CHAPTER ELEVEN ASH WEDNESDAY 1945 | 235 |
CHAPTER TWELVE MR PRIME MINISTER? | 255 |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN FROM THE ASHES | 286 |
EPILOGUE | 297 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 307 |
323 | |
332 | |
Other editions - View all
Firestorm: Allied Airpower and the Destruction of Dresden Marshall DeBruhl No preview available - 2010 |
Firestorm: Allied Airpower and the Destruction of Dresden Marshall DeBruhl No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
aerial bombardment air raids aircraft airplane airpower Allied antiaircraft Army Air Arnold attacks August became began Berlin Bomber Command Bomber Harris Britain British building burning campaign camps capital Carl Spaatz cellar chief Churchill's crews damage David Irving daylight death defense destroyed destruction Diaries Dresden raid dropped Dudley Saward east Eastern Front effect Eighth Air Force Elbe enemy England Europe factories February fighter fire firestorm flight flying bombs German German cities Goebbels Goring Hap Arnold Harris heavy bombers high explosives Hitler hundred incendiaries Jewish Jews Joseph Goebbels killed larris London Luftwaffe Marshal massive miles military morale bombing Mosquito Nazi never night offensive operations percent pilots planes Portal precision bombing prime minister Public Record Office Record Office Kew refugees Roosevelt Russian Saxony Soviet Speer staff strategic target Third Reich thousands Thunderclap tion tons of bombs troops weapon weather Winston Churchill woidd World