The British knew of the firestorm potential from its study of the destruction of Coventry in 1940, and the 1943 raid on Hamburg. Yet, Dresden remained a charmed, cultural city, devoid of military potential. Taylor shows us this was not entirely accurate-it was both a vital communications center, especially in the latter stages of the war as the Russian approached on the eastern front, and that increasingly it was a specialized industrial and armaments location. It also becomes painfully clear that unlike many other German cities, protection from air raids was sadly neglected. Some people have maintained that the Dresden firebombing was unique, but from reading the book I gathered it was not. Rather it was a case of things going "horribly right" instead of horribly wrong, as was the instance with many large-scale "city-busting" operations. Indeed, Dresden was not, perhaps the worst example of area bombing. Proportionally, the destruction of Pforzheim, which came later, was worse.
Ignore the first few chapters (unless you're a fan of more ancient history), and start with chapter 4. You will gradually become absorbed in the background of events leading up to the evening of February 13, 1945. The accounts of the bombing and the fire are riveting: I was unable to put the book down and lost half a night's sleep to find out the conclusion. And when you finish the book, you might feel like I did, saddened by the atrocity of war, appalled by this Sodom and Gomorrah-like carnage. It almost made me feel shamed to be a member of the human race.
In our current war with Iraq, we would do well to remember what's it like to be at the receiving end of "shock and awe," that the overwhelming number of casualties are not the enemy, but innocent civilians caught up under circumstances in which they have no control.
A portion of the combative inhabitants of the north-German area known as Saxonia chose to move further east into the heart of Europe rather than accompany their brothers westward to drive the Romans from England around A.D.350. The invaders were later followed by other Germanics, Danes and Normans to become collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons---the English. It is this albeit distant relationship between the clans which engendered a belief by Dresdeners in a tie between England and Saxony that could never be truly severed, and which set the stage for the tragic consequences to come.
Saxon displaced Slav in their eastward march and for centuries fought against Czech, Prussian and Austrian, with Dresden taking its particular share of the destructive hostilities, as well as suffering a devastating fire. But by 1871, the various German states joined together as one (Prussian) nation with Berlin as its capital. Later, between the wars, as the world's economies collapsed, factional disputes between Left and Right over how to address the problems raged in Saxony, which retained its sovereignty until 1933 when its Parliament voted itself out of existence in favor a more hopeful financial future under the National Socialists. Throughout the centuries, however, Dresden continued to refine itself artistically, culturally, architecturally---although a resurgence of anti-Semitism under the Nazis tarnished its image but could not detract from its beauty.
Taylor then outlines the development and gradual improvement of aerial bombing techniques as he begins to make the case for "Florence on the Elbe" becoming more and more important to the Reich as a hub for military, industrial and transportation activity---especially late in the war as these needs were moved further east toward Dresden and hopefully out of the range of Allied bombers. The city's status thus changed to one justifiable for targeting. But there is nothing which can describe here the horrors of the destruction of Dresden---one must read it for oneself. And one can only imagine how Dresdeners felt as they watched their Saxon brothers bomb their beautiful city into oblivion.
Taylor points out that Dresden was not the only German city left in ruins---Hamburg, in fact, first suffered the force of a firestorm---neither was it the only one with such historic significance and ancient treasures. He further notes that the populations of other German cities suffered in greater proportion than did Dresden. Equally, he makes it clear that Germany sent just as much firey death and destruction to England, to much of Europe, and especially to Russia in its sieges of Stalingrad and Leningrad.
Finally, the enigma of what happened---first Nazi and then Communist propoganda decried what took place in Dresden, and later the Allies as well did a lot of soul searching. But as hostilities raged on and thousands died with no real end in sight, did Dresden become just one more on the list of casualties designed to hasten the end of the war? And even having been chosen, was it merely the happenstance that night of weather conditions favorable for bombing raids which made the difference between Dresden and other cities in the vicinity? Did the allies apply too much overkill, go too viciously far in the attack, even to point of strafing fleeing citizens? Was Dresden's fate designed to aid the Russians in their advance westward toward Berlin, or to show them the military might of the Allied powers, or some combination of all of these? Although Taylor neatly lays out the possibilities, we are left to weigh the issues and decide for ourselves.
