The Three-Day Allied Bombing of Dresden on 13-15 February 1945 That Killed Approximately 25,000 Civilians in the Last Months of the War

By February 1945 the Second World War in Europe was in its final months. The Soviet Red Army was advancing across eastern Germany; the Western Allies were preparing the Rhine crossing. The RAF Bomber Command under Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris and the US Eighth Air Force were conducting strategic bombing across the whole of Germany.

Dresden — population approximately 650,000 in February 1945, swollen by refugees fleeing the Soviet advance to perhaps 750,000-1,000,000 — was the seventh-largest German city. It had been spared from major bombing through the preceding years of the war.

The Allied strategic conferences at Yalta (4-11 February 1945) had included Soviet requests for Allied air operations to disrupt the German east-west rail movements opposing the Soviet advance. Dresden was a major rail hub for those operations.

13-15 February 1945

The bombing was conducted in four raids:

— Raid 1: RAF Bomber Command, 244 Lancaster bombers, 22:13 on 13 February 1945 — Raid 2: RAF Bomber Command, 529 Lancaster bombers, 01:21 on 14 February 1945 — Raid 3: USAAF Eighth Air Force, 311 B-17 bombers, midday 14 February 1945 — Raid 4: USAAF Eighth Air Force, 210 B-17 bombers, afternoon 15 February 1945

The RAF raids used incendiary bombs (about 75 percent of the tonnage) plus high-explosive bombs (25 percent). The combination was deliberately designed to create a firestorm — high explosives smashing walls and roofs to expose timber structures, incendiaries then igniting the timber.

The firestorm developed across the early hours of 14 February. The centre of Dresden reached estimated air temperatures of approximately 1,000°C. The firestorm-induced winds reached estimated speeds of approximately 200 km/h. People in cellars died of carbon monoxide poisoning from the fire above. People in the open died of direct thermal radiation or were sucked into the firestorm.

Death toll

The 2010 Dresden Historians Commission, a multinational scholarly panel commissioned by the Dresden city government, reviewed all available evidence and concluded that approximately 25,000 people died in the four raids. The earlier higher figures of 100,000-200,000 cited in Cold War-era East German and neo-Nazi sources were conclusively refuted by the Commission as having no documentary basis.

Approximately 90 percent of the historic city centre was destroyed by the firestorm. The baroque Frauenkirche, the centre of the Old Town, burned for two days and collapsed on the morning of 15 February 1945.

Whether it was justified

The Allied military justification was published on 14 February 1945: Dresden was a transportation hub serving the Eastern Front and the bombing was requested by the Soviet command. The actual rail disruption was limited; the first trains moved through the damaged station within three days.

The post-war debate has continued for 80 years. The principal arguments against military justification: the city was primarily civilian; military targets within Dresden (the railway yards, the industrial periphery) were untouched by the city-centre raids; the Allies had available precision tools that were not used. The arguments for: military necessity in the final weeks of a total war; Soviet coordination requirements.