ok, so lets examine the situation fully.
Was Dresden unnecessary? Yes, absolutely. Then why was it done? Because the British Government had backed area bombing years before and no politician reverses a decision without a damn good reason. And also because the RAF had gotten damn good at it. Huge industrial effort had been made to supply thousands of Lancaster bombers and if they'd been sat on the tarmac not being used then some smart arsed politician would have kicked up a stink in Parliament about it.
So why was area bombing approved?
Reverse back to 1941 and have a look at the political landscape. You've got Britain, hemmed in on its island, being starved by the U-boat campaign, no fleet of landing craft or much in the way of an expeditionary force left after Dunkirk....no way to wage war. Impotent, if you will. What land forces the British had left were either dug in for defence or kicking Italian butt in North Africa. Churchill also had Stalin asking, begging, him to do something.....anything.....to help, to draw some of the tidal wave of German forces steam rolling over Russia away. And so, Bomber Harris comes along with his plan that the level bomber can win the war on its own. What else could Churchill do but approve the idea or be seen as impotent by foreign states and the British population alike?
However, we'd tried daylight bombing of Germany back in 1939 and it didn't work well. At that time in the war, without a long range escort fighter available, the only option was night-time bombing.....which means area bombing, can't precision bomb what you can't see.....which means cities are the only viable target. Result: Hundreds of thousands of de-homed workers, Germany's industrial base significantly reduced on every raid.
But the thing about the English......the thing that most of the world has discovered at least once throughout history......the thing.....the actual thing is.......the English are the cruellest, most sadistic, b*****ds in the history of the world. You foreigners have no idea just how insane I'm talking here. Christ Alive, the things the English have done to their own people don't bear thinking about........did you know there was once a not very popular king of England who was executed.....but because those in power wanted the people to think he'd died of natural causes the execution was by sticking a red hot poker up the kings backside and waiting for the steam to stop coming out of his ears. Sadistic or what!! I tell ya, Charles Manson has got nothing on your average Englishman.
'Escalation of hostilities' and 'moral standards' mean nothing to these people. One German bomber accidentally drops a 100lb bomb on our local chippy cos he was lost and it was dark and the English respond by setting your whole country on fire. When asked to do a necessary task, no matter how despicable, the English will find the best, most efficient way to complete the task. It stems from the way we bring up our children. When I was 6 there was a school bully and my dear old sweet mother said to me, if he hits you you hit him back twice as hard....and when he goes down stand on his bollocks.
In 1941 the RAF was haphazardly bombing German cities. By 1944 it was a fine art: Pathfinders go in first with expert navigators to drop flares at the target. The first wave of heavy Lancasters go in with GP bombs designed to blow out every bit of glass in every window.......so that the second wave of Lancs with incendiary bombs can start a fire which will burn out of control. And then follow up with a 3rd and 4th wave of GP bombs and incendiaries to make sure. Throw in a few bombers dropping time delay land mines designed to kill anyone trying to fight the fires and what you have there is the most efficient way of destroying a city other than an A-bomb.
Why was Dresden destroyed? Cos they started it and the RAF was good at it.
