Dresden

# Dresden The archival documents reveal Dresden as the target of a devastating British bombing raid on February 13, 1945, described as obliterating the previously unscarred Saxon capital. The attack occurred against a city overcrowded with refugees and lacking adequate defenses, resulting in catastrophic casualties and destruction. ## Primary Findings The bombing of Dresden took place "on the following night, February 13" [Goebbels Diaries by David Irving], when "the British bombers crowned their orgy of destruction by obliterating the hitherto unscarred capital of Saxony, Dresden" [Goebbels Diaries by David Irving]. The city was described as "overcrowded with a million fleeing human beings – refugees, prisoners, evacuees, and children – a city innocent of air-raid shelters, with all of its flak batteries removed to the eastern front and its fighter squadrons grounded for lack of fuel" [Goebbels Diaries by David Irving]. The bombing consisted of multiple raids. A German police report recorded in decoded messages indicates the first attack occurred "von 2205 bis 2235 Uhr" (from 22:05 to 22:35) followed by "noch stärkerer Angriff von 0124 Uhr bis 0148 Uhr" (an even stronger attack from 01:24 to 01:48) [Decodes]. The attacks involved "mindestens 3 000 Spreng-, 25.000 Brandbomben (geschätzt)" (at least 3,000 explosive bombs and 25,000 incendiary bombs, estimated) [Decodes]. The casualties were severe, with estimates of "between sixty and one hundred thousand men, women, and children were choked to death or burned alive in the ensuing firestorms" [Goebbels Diaries by David Irving]. The German report estimated "schätzungsweise fünf centa mille [500.000] Obdachlose" (approximately 500,000 homeless) [Decodes]. Hitler's reaction to the bombing included discussion of "the Dresden catastrophe" with Goebbels, noting that "Hitler's own half-sister Angela Raubal had written him an eye-witness account of the horrors" [Goebbels Diaries by David Irving]. Prior to the bombing, Magda Goebbels had visited Dresden, staying with "Ello Quandt at the White Hart sanitarium" [Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich by David Irving], where she expressed pessimism about Germany's prospects, stating "Germany's defeat is only a matter of weeks" [Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich by David Irving]. ## Documentary Evidence > "ON the following night, February 13, the British bombers crowned their orgy of destruction by obliterating the hitherto unscarred capital of Saxony, Dresden. Overcrowded with a million fleeing human beings—refugees, prisoners, evacuees, and children—a city innocent of air raid shelters, with all of its flak batteries removed to the eastern front and its fighter squadrons grounded for lack of fuel, Dresden became an inferno within minutes. Between sixty and one hundred thousand men, women, and children were choked to death or burned alive in the ensuing firestorms..." > [Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich by David Irving] > "Bei dem entstandenen Feuersturm muß mit nahezu völliger Vernichtung der Stadt gerechnet werden. Schätzungsweise fünf centa mille [500.000] Obdachlose." > (With the resulting firestorm, one must reckon with the near-total destruction of the city. Estimated 500,000 homeless.) > [Decodes] ## Historical Context The documents place the Dresden bombing within the broader context of the final months of World War II in early 1945. The sources indicate this occurred during a period when "Russian armies engulfed and encircled Breslau" [Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich by David Irving] and when German leadership was discussing the need to "hold the Rhine" as "if the British and Americans once got through into central Germany, there would be no need for them to negotiate with Hitler at all" [Goebbels Diaries by David Irving]. The city's vulnerability is attributed to military priorities, with "all of its flak batteries removed to the eastern front and its fighter squadrons grounded for lack of fuel" [Goebbels Diaries by David Irving], reflecting Germany's strained military resources in the war's final phase. ## Source Analysis The documentation includes diary entries and biographical material attributed to Joseph Goebbels through David Irving's works, contemporaneous German police and military communications preserved in decoded messages, and what appears to be an academic bibliography. The materials provide both immediate wartime perspectives and post-war historical analysis of the Dresden bombing incident. --- ## Document Sources - Belzec Etc - Decodes - Goebbels Diaries by David Irving - Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich by David Irving - Tgb Himmler 1935