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The cite is from the Foreword to the original edition of David Irving's famous bestseller: The Destruction of Dresden

FOREWORD
by

AIR MARSHAL SIR ROBERT SAUNDBY
K.C.B., K.B.E., M.C., D.F.C., A.F.C.

Saundby is at right of this jacket image of US Bantam Books edition
WHEN the author of this book invited me to write a foreword to it, my first reaction was that I had been too closely concerned with the story. But though closely concerned I was not in any way responsible for the decision to make a full-scale air attack on Dresden. Nor was my Commander-in-Chief, Sir Arthur Harris. Our part was to carry out, to the best of our ability, the instructions we received from the Air Ministry. And, in this case, the Air Ministry was merely passing on instructions received from those responsible for the higher direction of the war.

This book is an impressive piece of work. The story is a highly dramatic and complex one, which still holds an element of mystery. I am still not satisfied that I fully understand why it happened. The author has, with immense industry and patience, gathered together all the evidence, separated fact from fiction, and given us a detailed account as near to the truth, perhaps, as we shall ever get.

That the bombing of Dresden was a great tragedy none can deny. That it was really a military necessity few, after reading this book, will believe . . . "

It is nice that we can look back at these incidents and argue whether they were justified.

Taken in the context of what was going on back then, I can easily see them coming about.

Germany had pissed off the world by this time with their barbaric deeds. I don't think the Allies were spending all of their time pondering niceties.

The Allies also firmly believed that bombing German cities would shorten the war. At that time, shortening the war was of paramount importance.

The cite is from the Foreword to the original edition of David Irving's famous bestseller: The Destruction of Dresden .

Thanks for the answer. I've read that David Irving is a Dresden Liar and Holocaust Denier.

I found this commentary on Irving's book by following footnote #13 of the Wikipedia article you first mentioned on this thread.

Irving’s account of the bombing of Dresden manipulates and invents material, misinterprets documents, and gives weight to unreliable documents. He also gives undue weight to eyewitness testimony when it suits him, and falsifies statistics in order to put the behaviour of the Allies and particularly Churchill, in a negative light

There are some very useful footnotes on the Wikipedia page that you originally cited.

Here's more information, from footnote 29, of your Wikipedia article

...The Daily Telegraph issued a memo to all its correspondents. "It is incorrect," it said, "to describe David Irving as a historian....