Dresden.. an unusual survivors story. (WWII, war, bomb, England)

[Baldrick]

Well worth a watch, especially as today marks the anniversary of something which is still seen by some as controversial.

BBC News - Dresden survivor's story

Sixty-eight years ago today, British and American Air Forces dropped more than 2,600 tonnes of high-explosive bombs on the German town of Dresden.
The fire storm it unleashed destroyed six square miles of the city centre and killed an estimated 25,000 people. The campaign has become known as one of the most controversial operations of the allied forces.
Victor Gregg, now 92, was a soldier in the 10th Parachute regiment when he was captured and sent for execution in Dresden on the day the air raids began. He was being held in a warehouse when the bombs started falling.
He told BBC News about his experiences.

Also an interesting interview with 'Bomber' Harris.

BBC News - Bomber Harris defends WWII bomber command in rare film

Arthur Harris led RAF Bomber Command in World War II, earning him the nickname 'Bomber Harris'.
The British policy of 'area' bombing German cities including Cologne and Dresden made him a hugely controversial figure.
BBC Inside Out has gained exclusive access to a rare interview with the Cheltenham-born RAF commander which has never been seen by the public.
After 35 years of collecting dust in the RAF's film archive, the film was tracked down by retired Air Vice Marshall Tony Mason who interviewed the commander in 1977.
In the interview Harris shoots down the myth that the controversial 'area' bombing was his idea and says it was already government policy.

[WinterStar]

I visited Dresden in 2010. They aren't as friendly to Americans as they are in Leipzig and it is noticable. The outskirts of the city are still dilapidated.

[Wardendresden]

A most interesting interview, Baldrick, thanks for posting it. I was very surprised by the statement that the British people were opposed to the carpet bombing of German cities, particularly since they had been victims, less sucessfully, of the same thing.

When we visited London in 2006, we stayed near the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kennsington. There are still holes in the pedestrian wall around it where chunks were blown out from either bombing or V1's and V2's.

And when I lived over there as a young tike (my father was USAF) we stayed for awhile in a hotel, where the lady who owned it took me to the bomb shelter built right on the premises for her family and guests. It wouldn't have held more than about twenty people max, but was about three quarters underground with a double row of concrete blocks. I remember going there to sit sometimes and pondering over what it might feel like to know planes were dropping bombs onto the city.

I wonder what the reasoning was by the English citizens opposed such bombing when they had already suffered tremendously themselves from Germany's bombing?

[Spikett]

Interesting books on the bombing of Germany:

Richard Overy on The Fire: The Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945 by By Jrg Friedrich and Inferno: The Devastation of Hamburg, 1943 By Keith Lowe Literary Review -