“I don’t know, and can’t know, whether the Dresden attack was militarily justified. Nowadays it would be morally unthinkable, of course...”
I thought that military materiel was stored in Dresden? Wouldn’t that make it a target?
Yes, there was.
Major military transport route and hub, over 110 factories making war material.
Military materiel was stored, and produced, in Dresden. Frederick Taylor's book "Dresden: February 13, 1945" casts much light on this.
The city was, in February 1945, an important transportation center for what remained of the German Reich, in addition to being a center for ammunition production.
Yes, civilian casualties were high and appalling. But the city contained targets of military value.