Why did the Americans and the British destroy Dresden
View from the city hall of Dresden on the ruins of the city after the Anglo-American bombing in February 1945. Right sculpture by August Schreitmüller "Welcome"
75 years ago, February 13-15, 1945, Anglo-American aviation dealt a terrible blow to Dresden. Tens of thousands of people died, the ancient cultural center of Germany was wiped off the face of the earth.
The monstrous cynicism of the West
Scientific Director of the Russian Military Historical (RVIO) Society Mikhail Myagkov saidthat the bombing of Dresden became "a manifestation of monstrous cynicism for the sake of intimidation of the Soviet Union." At the same time, the mass death of the civilian population was not worried by the Allied command.
As the scientific director of RVIO notes, the bombing of Dresden and other German cities, which were supposed to enter the Soviet zone of occupation after the war, was carried out not so much for military purposes (destruction of military facilities, damage to the enemy’s army), but rather “to show the Soviet Union that would threaten the Red Army if a conflict suddenly arose now between the Western countries and the USSR. " So, the Royal Air Force memorandum, with which the British pilots were acquainted on the night before the attack (February 13, 1945), reported:
"The purpose of the attack is to strike the enemy where he feels it most of all, behind the partially collapsed front ... and at the same time show the Russians when they arrive in the city, which the Royal Air Force is capable of."
The result was consistent: tens of thousands of civilians were killed (up to 200 thousand people); one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, "Florence on the Elbe", a culturalhistorical the center of Germany and Europe was destroyed, 80% of city buildings were destroyed, the restoration process of the city center took 40 years.
At the same time, Dresden was bombed two days after the end of the conference of the anti-Hitler coalition in Crimea. Where the "Big Three" agreed on the fate of post-war Germany and Europe. And almost immediately, London and Washington decided to show the USSR their air power - how the West is able only with the help of air strikes to erase entire cities and industrial areas from the face of the planet. In the future, Western aviation continued to strike at the cultural and historical centers of Germany, the cities of Japan. The West delivered its first atomic strikes against Japan. They did not have a clear military purpose. That is, they did not bring the end of the war closer. But they showed Moscow the future fate of Russian cities if the Soviet leadership was stubborn.
All this was within the framework of the plan of the new world war - the West against the USSR. Already in the spring of 1945, on the instructions of Churchill, they prepared a plan "The Unthinkable" - a plan of war against the USSR. True, Operation "The Unthinkable" remained on paper. The Anglo-Saxons did not decide on a direct war with the Russians. They were afraid to attack the USSR. The Russian army at that time possessed such military power and morale that it could reach the English Channel and the Atlantic with one jerk and liberate all of Europe.
Aerial view of the ruins of Dresden
German police collect and burn the bodies of those killed in Altmarkt after the Allied air raid on Dresden
Contactless War
Among the great powers, two types can be distinguished: land and sea. England and the USA are classic maritime powers belonging to the Atlantic civilization. Germany and Russia are classic land powers. Russians and Germans prefer to beat the enemy on land, to meet and attack his forehead. These are the best warriors in the world. Japan, despite the maritime traditions (Russians have them, remember the Varangians, Novgorodians and Pomors), is nevertheless closer to the land powers. Samurai prefer to decide on land. Although the sea also fight well.
Hence the strategy of wars of naval powers. Anglo-Saxons are classic pirates, sea robbers. They prefer contactless wars. He came, saw, quickly looted, burned and fled until the locals woke up and beat. They look for weaknesses, prefer not to beat head on head, do not hold a blow and quickly lose their spirit with high losses. In some cases, Russians are ready to die completely, but gain time, opportunities for others. The Germans and Japanese are also prepared for high losses for the sake of the emperor (Kaiser, Fuhrer), homeland and honor.
With fleet the British created a world empire. They used the weaknesses of other countries, peoples and tribes. They divided, pitted and dominated. Robbed the entire planet. The Americans created the same type of empire. By the beginning of World War II, the development of aviation led to the fact that the Anglo-Saxons received a new weapon "Contactless" war. Massive bombing with the extermination of thousands and thousands of civilians, attacks on cultural and historical centers, that is, air terror, allowed to break the will of the enemy to resist. Break it, force it to surrender without a decisive defeat on land.
Completely destroyed residential areas of Tokyo
Heavily charred corpses of Tokyo residents
Air terror
In World War II, the North Atlantic world (USA and England) showed the planet a new weapon of world domination - aircraft carriers and “flying fortresses” (strategic aviation). Carpet bombing wiped entire cities off the face of the earth.
Hitler's invasion was terrible, but traditional, mostly land. The main weapon of the Germans was a tank and a dive bomber (short range). Hitler did not have an air fleet of distant, strategic bombers. And the Anglo-Saxons created a new weapon of "non-contact", remote warfare - a squadron of air fortresses reaching the target of thousands of kilometers, fighting in tight battle formations, where one plane covers the other ("flying fortresses" had good defensive armament). Against these "air fortresses" conventional cannon fighters proved ineffective. I had to create air-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft missile systems.
The blow to Dresden has become a classic act of air terror. The peaceful city has turned into a huge fire and burial ground for tens of thousands of civilians. Mostly civilians and numerous refugees, women, the elderly and children. The soldiers and military equipment of the Reich were at the front. Therefore, it was a vile, extremely cruel and cynical bombardment of a city where there were almost no air defense systems, the mass destruction of peaceful and defenseless people.
On February 26 and March 10, 1945, the Americans burned the Japanese capital Tokyo in the same way. The airstrike involved 334 strategic B-29 bombers, each of which dropped several tons of incendiary bombs and napalm. As a result of fires in residential neighborhoods, completely built up with wooden buildings, a fiery tornado formed, which did not allow fighting fire and led to mass deaths. People tried to save themselves and rushed into the ponds in bulk, but the water boiled in them, and the fire burned the air, strangling the survivors. Killed more than 100 thousand people. Mostly civilians.
There was no military need for this and subsequent attacks on Japanese cities. The Japanese empire continued to resist. She could still fight for a year or two on the Japanese islands and the mainland. Americans and British would lose millions of people. Japan was forced to capitulate only the entry into the war of the USSR. The Soviet army on land destroyed the Japanese Manchu army, deprived the Japanese high command of the hope of a continuation of the war in China and Manchuria, where there was a "reserve airfield" of the Japanese elite.
Carpet bombing was a classic Western act of mass terror. The US Air Force general, who planned and carried out massive bombing of Japanese cities during World War II, Curtis Lemey later said: "I think if we lost the war, I would be judged as a war criminal."
Folded to burn the bodies of residents of Dresden on Altmarkt Square, who died as a result of the Allied bombing of the city on February 13-15, 1945
An attempt to intimidate the Russians
The massive bombing of Germany (partly Japan) became a kind of huge psychological operations. Firstly, the owners of London and Washington tried to break the morale of the warrior nations, Germans and Japanese. For generations ahead, break down the Germans and Japanese, make them slaves to the future world order, led by the Anglo-Saxons. Therefore, Westerners completely destroyed small German towns like Ellingen, Bayreuth, Ulm, Aachen, Munster, etc. These were centers of history, culture, art and German faith (Lutheranism). The "nerve nodes" of historical memory, culture, religion, science and education burned to the ground. Massively sacrificed women, children and the elderly.
The military-industrial potential of Germany and Japan practically did not suffer in these attacks. The Germans hid the military factories underground in the rocks. The military industry of the Reich worked right to the very end, like the whole German war machine. After the main industrial centers of Germany were destroyed (the companies disguised themselves, hid them underground), the Anglo-American command made up a new list of targets - cities almost not covered by fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery. Those that could be bombed with almost impunity. Air terror of the West was aimed at suppressing the spirit, the will of the nation. From now on, no faith and magic, no military cults, only slavery and consumption (the victory of the "golden calf"), the power of the owners of money. No more secret orders, ancient magic, the cult of the warrior, honor and dignity, self-sacrifice in the name of the nation and the Motherland, only consumer slaves subordinate to the dollar and the masters of the United States. It was a murder of the "spirit of the nation."
Secondly, it was a demonstration for the Russians. Bloodless Russia was shown its future if it did not show “flexibility”. The West showed its terrible air power of wounded Russia. Like, the same will be with Russian cities. True, with Stalin, the owners of London and Washington did not pass this trick. Russia could respond with steel tank armada and powerful fighter aircraft. The first Soviet jet fighters, anti-aircraft guided missiles and atomic weapons were on their way. The direct military "club" of Stalin was not impressed. The Russians knew about the terrible threat and worked day and night so that there was something to answer the adversary. Therefore, the West had to abandon direct aggression and start the Cold War.
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