BBC's insult to hero pilots: Veterans rage over Dresden coverage that attacks Britain...

dailymail.co.uk ^ | 14 February 2015 | Larisa Brown and Inderdeep Bains

[Berlin_Freeper]

The BBC’s coverage of the bombing of Dresden in which Britain was described as ‘worse than the Nazis’ was condemned as disgraceful by RAF veterans and MPs last night.

Despite dedicating more than 32 minutes of airtime to the 70th anniversary of the fire-bombing that killed tens of thousands at the end of the Second World War, there was barely a mention of British airmen who lost their lives.

The BBC’s four major news shows and Radio 4 interviewed multiple German survivors of the bombings.

They also showed a British prisoner of war who berated those who ordered the raids, adding it was ‘demonic’ and ‘evil’.

[W.]

For those here who remember Jeff Cooper's Commentaries, he wrote of a school in England that arranged for a veteran pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain to speak to a class on the subject. Unfortunately, neither the teacher nor the students had any idea what the Battle of Britain was. Another example of why we are where we are.

[KC_Lion]

Correct.

Also, Leftist push the moral equivalent of War (because during a crisis you can do things you couldn't before you see)

The War of Poverty, the War on Obesity etc etc.

The Communists aren't Anti-War (Writ large either). Look at what Both World Wars were able to achieve for them.

Post WW-1 They got the biggest country on earth and post WW-2 they got even more.

[Magnatron]

It’s how you get to unconditional surrender. It’s how you stop the construction of a guerrilla movement. It’s how you fight war.

“It is well that war is so terrible - otherwise we would grow too fond of it.”
Robert E. Lee, Statement at the Battle of Fredericksburg (13th December 1862)
US-Confederate general (1807 - 1870)

[Geronimo]

The Luftwaffe were the first to use incendiary bombs when they hit Coventry...

Being in the RAF and bombing the crap out of Nazis during World War II was not an easy job mate, from Wikipedia...

Bomber Command crews also suffered an extremely high casualty rate: 55,573 killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew (a 44.4% death rate), a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war.

[cripplecreek]

Americans took part in summary executions of nazis as well. Recall the scene from Band of Brothers where they found a suspected nazi officer in a mountain cottage. While they were arguing over whether it was the nazi or not the guy started running and took a round in the back.

I have no remorse for such things because the nazi power structure needed to be completely eliminated so they wouldn’t return to power.

[Celtic Conservative]

“Uncle Billy” was hated too, for pointing out the obvious.

CC

[oh8eleven]

This is the story of how and why the German people gave it to him. Third Reich - The Rise
The other half of the set is - Third Reich - The Fall. Both are spellbinding and should be shown in every high school in America.

[cripplecreek]

Robert E. Lee

This yankee’s favorite confederate.

[Netz]

We live in an era where nobody is supposed to get hurt or killed no matter what the cause. At some point soon we will be fighting for our way of life and lives for our defeatest attitude will allow Islam to reach the Gates of Vienna once again. The time to stop these beasts is now. Mehtinks carpet bombing is applicable at this point.

[cripplecreek]

The Rise and The fall are downright frightening in their similarities to what we see in America today.

[Netz]

It was worse than depicted in Band Of Brothers...this was the best Series ever. I even wrote Major Winters a letter of appreciation before he passed away, RIP.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I guess Warsaw doesn’t count then.

[SpeakerToAnimals]

In August, we have the 70th anniversary celebrations of Hiroshima Day and Nagasaki Day.

None of the people at these events, and none of the reporters covering the events know that only 3% of the damage done to Japan by the B-29 was done with atomic bombs.

The firebombing of Tokyo March 6 1945 killed far more people than the atomic bomb. Day after pictures of Tokyo and Hiroshima are impossible to tell apart. 90% destruction of 131 cities were done with napalm.

[HomerBohn]

The Luftwaffe were the first to use incendiary bombs when they hit Coventry...

Au contraire, mon ami.

(A bit of French lingo there to show my fondness for little froggies.)

The first incendiary bombs were first used by the UK and were dropped on the German port city of Emden.

The statistics you use are all well and good, but the fact remains that targeting civilian centers was originated by the UK.

[HomerBohn]

Are you one of the Nazis who says the Holocaust didn’t happen...

The murder of millions of Jews is quite another topic that hundreds, if not thousands, of tomes have been dedicated. I've read many of them.

Do you have anything to contribute in respect to the firebombing of Dresden?

[onedoug]

Would that Lee and Forrest might have structured more of their Army around the “Grey Ghost” model. Not that the South would have necessarily won the war, but would have made it even costlier to the North.

That being said despite my Southern sympathies, Sherman was quoted as having said, “War is the instrument our enemies have chosen. And I say, let us give them all they want.”

[Jim Noble]

This is something about which people in 2015 should really be able to take both sides at the same time.

The state of the world in February 1945 was a firestorm of violence and horror, in Japan, on Iwo Jima, in Manila, in France, Belgium, and Holland, in Germany, ESPECIALLY on the crumbling Eastern front, and of course in the SS camps as they shut down and tried to hide the evidence.

People, including heroic figures like Churchill, did things, planned things, ordered things that in a world not gone crazy never would have entered their minds.

Seen in this light, Dresden was a minor episode. Every bit as bad as they say now, of course, but part of a bigger catastrophe.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Read the wikipedia entry. Three facts emerge that are relevant and often overlooked:

1.) Joseph Goebbels exaggerated local Dresden police reports by at least an order of magnitude to enrage the sensibilities of the German people, and to a lesser extent to instill a sense of shame in the allies.

2.) The Russians repeated Goebbels lies because they served Soviet purposes, to arouse hatred of the Anglo-Americans among the German people in both the east and west and to harm their reputations world wide.

3.) Many if not most of the causalities were the result of poorly improvised basement air raid shelters. People were trapped in the basements of collapsing burning buildings. The ordnance dropped was mostly incendiaries, preceded by small explosives intended to break windows and roof tiles, providing ventilation and access for the incendiaries. The worst place to be in such a raid was in the basement of a large flammable building. The air raid shelters were more a placebo than protection. They were intended to make people feel the government was protecting them, at low cost.

While the Geneva Conventions outlaw indiscriminate killing of non-combatants or waging war on civilian populations, the protection is not absolute. Attacks on targets of military significance, like the rail yards in Dresden are permitted.

I find it hard to look at turn of the previous century photographs of Dresden, and not feel deep remorse that so much beauty was destroyed so senselessly. Still, I find, that the bulk of the senselessness resides with the Germans who welcomed the Great War and their children who welcomed the Second.

[Flag_This]

I have no sympathy for Dreseden.

Warsaw, Poland:

The nazis bombed the city with absolutely no regard for the civilian population in 1939. In 1944, after it was abundantly clear that Germany was going to lose the war, Hitler ordered the city razed to the ground. The Germans went house-by-house, street-by-street and block-by-block methodically leveling buildings - frequently those buildings were occupied, but the nazis handled that little problem by flinging grenades and incendiaries through basement windows where the civilians tried to take refuge. Survivors of this initial assault were rousted out of their shelters and shot in the street - men, women and children. It's estimated that between 150,000 - 200,000 civilians were killed in these mass executions. Artillery was called in, as were Stuka dive bombers. Germany received far less than it deserved.

[babble-on]

What rank was your father in the SS anyway?