I think the confusion here is that Paris got off relatively lightly due to the capitulation, whereas other cities that didn't surrender so quickly where completely flattened. Warsaw is a case in point.
When I was stationed in Heidelberg in the 60's, it was my understanding that Heidelberg was the only city in Europe declared off limits. No bombs fell on the city.
The story was that Heidelberg had no strategic targets, and it was selected to become headquarters for USAREUR. I think it still is today.
Dresden had no strategic targets
No ****. The main objective was the Dresden railway station. The sad thing is, that even after the bombing, it remained standing and was running trains the day after the bombing. All those thousands of deaths, all for nothing
not for nothing, RAF had to play catch up from the Civillian deaths during the Blitz.
not for nothing, RAF had to play catch up from the Civillian deaths during the Blitz.
Christopher Hitchens (Zeus rest his soul) made an interesting point about this. He argued that the reason that there was no armed resistance against Hitler during WW2 (as there was against Mussolini) is that many of those who would have done so lived in Dresden. The very reason that these districts where bombed is that they where working class districts where houses where packed closely together. As such Dresden had traditionally been a socialist stronghold which Hitler wouldn't even visit because he knew everyone there hated him. Seems to be the same lesson that we are failing to learn in Afghanistan.
Never heard about this. Is there a link or something?
I forget where i saw the interview, I'l have a look
Edit it was here somewhere
In Defense of WW2 Part 1 of 5 - YouTube
I don't have time to watch a stuffy interview. Just summarize it. Would greatly appreciate it if you do.
On second thought, I'm very prejuidiced against Hitchens and think that the man was an idiot, though his recent passing though is regretable, like most deaths
Dresden issue was only mentioned in passing and a sumarry of it would be pretty much what i already gave.
Again, ignoring evidence thrown at your face
lol what evidence are you talking about? The train station? Everyone knows that, but most people with a brain cell also realises that to destroy a train station you do not need to drop 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city.
Thanks. I'll just take your word for it, but will add it to my list of WWII-related things to research.
(Searches for the list, locates it, *shock*)
My God, there's already 13 more things on the list, including two documentaries, three highly recommended WWII history books, something about German help in the Warsaw Uprising, more details about the Yezhovschina purges, and a couple of other odd things.
Let me know what you find. The lack of armed resistance to Nazi Germany compared to Italy etc. is always something I've been curious about, guess the Nazis where just better at what they did.
Christopher Hitchens (Zeus rest his soul) made an interesting point about this. He argued that the reason that there was no armed resistance against Hitler during WW2 (as there was against Mussolini) is that many of those who would have done so lived in Dresden. The very reason that these districts where bombed is that they where working class districts where houses where packed closely together. As such Dresden had traditionally been a socialist stronghold which Hitler wouldn't even visit because he knew everyone there hated him. Seems to be the same lesson that we are failing to learn in Afghanistan.
Except the bombing of Dresden took place in February of 1945. The 'opposition' in Dresden had 12 years to foment an armed resistance against Hitler. Blaming the bombing - which took place two and a half months before the end of the war - for the lack of armed resistance to Hitler seems fairly lame to me.
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