Dresden Germany

[Mobuchu]

This is a beautiful city that was destroyed in 1945 in a very controversial bombing. The city however has been rebuilt and to this day is continuing to restore old structures. The most famous of which is the Dresden Frauenkirche which was untouched as a pile of ruble for almost 50 years until they started to rebuild it in 1993. It was completely finished last year with some of the original pieces in their original position, still black from fire damage. You'll notice it at the bottom.

[Weltenbummler]

Yep, the Bombing was done and ordered by Churchill und his Bombergeneral Harris and carried out in

2 waves on February-13-1945 by the "RAF" with 1000 Bombers, who destroyed the whole city.

There were no military Targets, no factories, no Militaer, ...the whole bombing had no military benefits, and the whole city was filled with old people, children and refugees, but no soldiers, because they were

"on the front"

The German Luftwaffe had 13 fighters of the Type "Messerschmitt ME 109" on the ground around Dresden,

who could not go in the air, because they had no gasoline fuel.

The exact numbers of the killed people are unknown, but the figure estimates about 200000 to 250000

dead people doing that single attac.

It was named as one of the worse war crimes doing WWII.

England never apoligized nor regreded that attac!

The english government just had built a memorial for Sir Harris in London honoring him.

that memorial was built in the 1990 th/.

@ Mobuchu:

did you had visited the near by "Meissen" (Porcellan and "China") and Radebeul (Bier-Brewery)?

you also should had seen the "Elbsandstein-Gegend" around Pirna....wundervoll!

Greets

[Mobuchu]

I wish I could have seen more, but only had 1 day to spend in the city and most of that was on foot. I tried to see as much as possible though, the church was amazing.

Iv'e heard alot of mixed messages as to what happened during that bombing. Some say it was an American bombing, some say English. It was certainly a controversial event either way, thankfully the city has rebuilt and is prospering.

[Weltenbummler]

I wish I could have seen more, but only had 1 day to spend in the city and most of that was on foot. I tried to see as much as possible though, the church was amazing.

Iv'e heard alot of mixed messages as to what happened during that bombing. Some say it was an American bombing, some say English. It was certainly a controversial event either way, thankfully the city has rebuilt and is prospering.

That Bombing was a crime, a crime against humanity!

America had no war criminals as Pilots and no war criminals in their leadership and no war criminals as Generals.

'

I know a lot about history!!!

The Bombing during WWII over Germany was done as follows:

BRITISH (RAF): The Bombed mostly zivil Targets, and they mostly done their Raids at night Time.

AMERICAN: The only bombed military Targets, Railways, factories, Refineries, warproduction plants,

and they done it doing daytime!

The goal of the British Bomber raids was to target zivilians anfd terrorise them.

The Goal of the American Bombers was only Military Targets and factories.

In Dresden was no military targets, that was well known! The Bombings were carried out doing Night

time, the destroction was only civil targets and the british admit to that war crime.

The order came directly form churchill and his high ranking general Harris.

here the original article of 1945 in the british "Sun"

[Mobuchu]

Yes, terrible things happen during wars. Look at what happend to Poland and France during this war, and the millions upon millions that died during this war, civilian and military. It would have been nice if the war never happend in the first place, but that is a discussion for another forum. It is history now and we can only learn from our mistakes and hope to rebuild these beautiful cities to their former glory.

[Weltenbummler]

Yes, terrible things happen during wars. Look at what happend to Poland and France during this war,

Yep...almost all Europe (exept Switzerland) was destroyed!

Poland and Germany ...that was a "old hate" what dated even back way back before 1933, and reality is, that some treaty after world war 1 gave the polish government large amount of Germany and those areas became poland, but the people in those areas still remained Germans, and there were a lot slaughtering and mistraeting going on doing, where polish citizen mistreated and murdered Germans.

The best know massacre was in 1920 or 1921 the so called "Bloody sunday of Lemberg" where a couple thousand of germans were butchered up.

Concerning france (I'll been there too....very very good food)!

was the french government, who decleared war on Germany on Sept.03.1939.

Matterfact, Germany even didn't want to go to war with france.

Unfortunatelly, its only the common people who suffer, and not the politicians, who make all those desicions with war.

and the millions upon millions that died during this war, civilian and military.

Germany had about 3 Million civilians and 3 Million soldiers died during that war.

Russia lost 12 Million soldiers, because They used their soldiers as "Kanonenfutter", which means, they send soldiers against the front as "Bulletcatchers" until the "Enemy" (German Wehrmacht) run out of Bullets

(True and sad reality)

It would have been nice if the war never happend in the first place, but that is a discussion for another forum.

oh, that would be great!

It is history now and we can only learn from our mistakes and hope to rebuild these beautiful cities to their former glory.

nope...human beings unfortunatelly do not learn from the mistakes in making war!

there is also to much money to made with wars:.... all the factories who produce war materials ect.

now we have a much bigger thread: ... the Moslems, and they are mor dangerous than a large army who at least fights a fair war.

[Miesian Corners]

I had always heard that the bombing of Dresden was in retaliation for the German firebombing of Coventry Cathedral in England.

[Rwarky]

This is a beautiful city that was destroyed in 1945 in a very controversial bombing. The city however has been rebuilt and to this day is continuing to restore old structures. The most famous of which is the Dresden Frauenkirche which was untouched as a pile of ruble for almost 50 years until they started to rebuild it in 1993. It was completely finished last year with some of the original pieces in their original position, still black from fire damage. You'll notice it at the bottom.

Wonderful architecture and pictures!

[b3nr]

Its no wonder Coventry and Dresden are twinned now.

The Sun only started circulation in 1982. That fabrication is a bit upsetting actually.

WWII was weird, and somthing europeans should probebrly not argue about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_%28newspaper%29

[MikeR]

I had always heard that the bombing of Dresden was in retaliation for the German firebombing of Coventry Cathedral in England.

[Southron]

It's good to see that some of the pre-WWII buildings have been restored -- Dresden has some beautiful architecture. I was under the impression that virtually all of the old city was lost in the bombing campaign.

[FOLK]

Good pics

[Rural King]

Great pics. Great to see the Fraukirche finished. Dresden is a great city to visit, and its a great stop if you on your way to Prague from Berlin and want to spend a couple of days in a great city that often gets overlooked for what it has to offer beyond history. The city is known for great sweets and coffee too. Thats a reputation I have to validate, and that comes from someone who is not fond of either.

[Richhamleigh, DC]

There are pre-February 1945 aerial views of Dresden available on-line. I knew that the city had been firebombed and 100,000's of people we killed but I never really grasped the utter destruction of the place until I saw the aerials of "before" and "after". No way around it what we did was a crime and the ultimate victims are the post-World War 2 generations who never had a chance to be enriched by what was...

[Unionstation13]

What happened in Dresden was a crime. What happened to most of Germany was a war crime.

If Britian wishes to look civil at all, they should apologize for the useless slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people! I think that England should be paying for these reconstructions, or atleast apologize! The fact that people took pride such as in that newspaper for killing people is disgusting!

That night, those English bombers fell to the same level as the Nazis themselves.

[DanRNC]

Considering most Germans had no part in WWII it is very much an act of war crime to knowingly annihilate civilians. The US and GB should have apologized but most likely never will.