Firestorm [The bombing of Dresden]

Front Page Magazine ^ | 2/15/'07 | David Forsmark

[Zionist Conspirator]

With the Left's adoption of Ahmadinejad (mach shemo!) as a "victim of America," it's probably only a matter of time before the Left extends its guilt for fighting Japan to Nazi Germany itself.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Ping for your interest.

[fso301]

For these type topics, this man's opinion always seems to come to mind

[Alberta's Child]

I tend to believe that the criticism of the Allied bombing of Dresden was valid -- primarily because the U.S. military denied any involvement in it for some years after the war was over. That's a curious stance to take if Dresden were a legitimate military target.

[zook]

I will never apologize for any act of the Allies during WWII. I believe the use of escalated terror bobming against Japan and Germany was entirely justified. I believe we need to return to that philosophy today if we want to win this war against Islamic totalitarianism.

Sadly, I don't think we ever will. The west has lost its spine, its will to fight a war for survival. Only those nations willing to defend themselves ruthlessly will survive. Who will it be?

[syriacus]

Thanks for posting this.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Sadly, I don't think we ever will. The west has lost its spine, its will to fight a war for survival. Only those nations willing to defend themselves ruthlessly will survive. Who will it be?

The ironic thing is that the reason for the west's guilt complex is the crimes of Nazi Germany. Then liberal westerners exonerated the Japanese (for being a non-western people who can't be judged by western standards); then they exonerated the Italians (I vividly recall many years ago a PBS documentary whitewashing Mussolini--not that he was anywhere near as evil as Hitler--and a more recent History Channel documentary on the treatment of Italians in the US during the war). And now because we have assumed the guilt of Nazi Germany, we feel guilty for bombing Nazi Germany!

No wonder today's "philo-Semitic" liberals have adopted David Duke's pal Ahmadinejad as their poster boy!

[MplsSteve]

Read the book "Dresden" by Frederick Taylor.

It was only written in the last 5 years or so. He makes many of the same points that Marshall de Bruhl made.

Though Germany was on the ropes, the Allies felt that Dresden still possessed a significant military-industrial capacity. The Allies also wanted to destroy the rail lines leading in and out of Dresden to keep the Germans from transferring troops from one front to the other.

I think that an argument could be made that the use of incendiary bombs was over-kill (no pun intended). The use of high explosives to accomplish the destruction of the rail lines and smaller factories should have been enough.

But then again, if you were a dead civilian, you probably didn't care whether you were killed by fire or bomb blast.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Thanks for posting this.

You're most welcome.

My own late father was a WWII veteran, having served in North Africa (though after fighting there had ended), Italy (took part in the invasion of Salerno), and back stateside guarding German prisoners.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"...evangelical Christian left.."

Oxymoron

[Duffboy]

Don't overlook the fact Hitler declared a "scorched earth" policy. The Dresden bombing was correct.....old news reels
show the people of Dresden with tears in their eyes heiling Hitler as he passed by.....To hell with all revisionists.

[streetpreacher]

3. Civilian deaths, while numerous, are greatly exaggerated by the activists. The chaos of war makes counting difficult, but casualties have been “estimated” at up to 250,000. De Bruhl argues that 25,000 is a more realistic figure, with 35,000 the maximum. At least 50,000 residents worked in producing war material.

Sounds like he's engaging in the same kind of rationale that holocaust skeptics are. Except I don't hear any Germans screaming "Never again"!

[geopyg]

I saw a sort little bit of the History Channel's "mail Call" and they were talking about the Air force and LeMay(sp?).

I guess he got frowned upon for firebombing Toyko and a bunch of other cities too. (Toyko firestorm was 12 miles wide and 4 miles deep they said). LeMay's proper response to the cricism was "Then they shouldn't have attacked us".

[MittFan08]

I might have a problem with Dresden against a less barbaric enemy, but I just can't bring myself to regret any horrible deed that was inflicted upon Nazi Germany. Yes, it was horrible, but Germany didn't seem to have any problem with starving out Leningrad or turning Warsaw to rubble.

[75thOVI]

Some years back, while I was driving a cab, one of my favorite passengers was a little old German lady. Very reticent and reserved but we got along. She noticed that I always had a book with me, history often as not, and usually military history. One day she poked at the cover of a book I was reading and said "Vor, vor, vy are you always reading about vor? I sort of casually remarked, "What have you seen of war?" She said "Dresden!" I said, "You win." If you have seen the footage on the History or Military channels you've seen the "snowflake" incendiaries. She described seeing them from a railroad underpass and watching the city burn. She had some great stories. She was a Luftwaffe veteran, and married a US artilleryman after the war. She always wanted to go home, she and her family were thrown out shortly after the war started, and was cut off after the war when her hometown was on the wrong side of the "Wall". It was a little town called Penemunde. She passed away just about a year before I stopped driving the cab. One of my greatest regrets in life is that I was never able to get her in contact with an author. She said nobody would be interested anyway. I think she was wrong.

[Lewite]

I am just sorry the Allies did not do a lot more Dresden type bombings on other German cities. They certainly deserved it.

[samm1148]

What is missing is that as distasteful as bombing civilians might seem it is those same civilians who back their regimes. Hitler came to power with the popular support of the German people (some of his ideas mirror those held by modern democrats).

Sure there was a secret police. But America of the 1700's threw off an empire that spanned the globe. The Soviet Union ended at the hands of Russians tired of waiting in line for toilet paper.

My point is that these empires only thrived because their people endorsed the despot. This modern notion of engaging hostile governments while holding the people supporting those governments blameless is just absurd.

Just like in that war; until someone with the stones to order bombings against Arab cities; the strongholds of terrorism, the home of their supporters, there is no point in fighting.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

I did a paper on this in college a long time ago. From what I was able to discern, it was an experiment to see if a firestorm could be created: first wave was high explosives followed by a second wave that were incendiary. The idea was to blast the wood frame buildings apart, then set them on fire. The huge fire would then create fantastic winds which would feed oxygen into the conflagration, somewhat like what oxygen does for acetylene. Having said that, the Germans had it coming in a BIG way. There was a large ball bearing plant there as well, IIRC.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Sounds like he's engaging in the same kind of rationale that holocaust skeptics are. Except I don't hear any Germans screaming "Never again"!

The bombing of Dresden may be compared to our bombing of Japan or Germany's bombing of Britain, but to compare it to the Nazis' systematic attempt to annihilate an entire people (civilians, women, children) who were not at war with them is absolutely obscene. And I'm far from being a "holocaust liberal."

Shame on you.

[Grizzled Bear]

During WWII it was considered common sense to bomb large population centers. You wanted to lower the population. That's where the soldiers and their support systems

It also insured fewer people to control during the occupation and rebuilding.

Before I get flamed; I didn't make the rules. I'm just telling it the way it was.