Dresden (56 page)

“heavy air attacks on Berlin”: PRO, London, CAB 81/93.

code-named Thunderclap:
Bombing of Berlin,
note by the Secretary, January 22, 1945, PRO, London, CAB 81/127.

“a shattering effect”: Quoted in Longmate,
Bombers,
p. 331.

“immense devastation”: Memorandum from Portal for chiefs of staff quoted in Sir Charles Webster and Noble Frankland,
The Strategic Air Offensive against Germany 1939–1945,
vol. 3 (London, 1961). p. 55. See also for the authors' remarks.

general report on bombing:
Strategic Bombing in Relation to the Present Russian Offensive,
Report by the Joint Intelligence Sub-Committee, January 25, 1945. JIC (45) 31 (0), PRO, London, CAB 81/127.

added to the list: Probert,
Bomber Harris,
p. 318, citing the official history.

use of “baste”: Definitions from
Collins English Dictionary
(British ed., 1998). David Irving is the chief accuser, and clearly believes Churchill was using a culinary metaphor. He remarks that, since Breslau was a fortress, “the retreat was entirely an evacuation of non-combatants. Historians to come will accordingly be pardoned for finding the Prime Minister's choice of words in questionable taste…” See David Irving,
Apocalypse 1945: The Destruction of Dresden
(London, n.d., Focal Point ed.), p. 114.

universal alarm: See Davies and Moorhouse,
Microcosm,
p. 13ff, for the announcement of Russian advance and the consequent panic-stricken evacuation.

his message was clear: Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 114.

retreat to the west: Anthony Beevor,
Berlin, the Downfall
(London, 2002), p. 60f.

main communications centres: Quoted at length in Saward,
“Bomber” Harris,
p. 283.

letter to Harris: Text of Bottomley's letter to Harris reproduced in Sir Charles Webster and Noble Frankland,
The Strategic Air Offensive against Germany 1939–45,
vol. 4;
Annexes and Appendices
(London, 1961), p. 301.

“Evacuation Areas”: PRO, London, CAB 121/003. 189 the fate of Hamburg and Kassel: Groehler,
Der Bombenkrieg gegen Deutschland,
p. 398f. Also for the discussion of casualty figures.

“hinder the enemy”: NARA, Washington, D. C., RG 43, World War II Conferences, Yalta (Crimea) Conference, Box 4, appendix including translation of General Antonov's Statement.

“very much involved”: Hugh Lunghi's statement in interview for CNN series
Comrades,
July 1996 (text online at the George Washington University National Security Archive website), confirmed by Major Lunghi in telephone conversation with the author, April 2002.

Portal's signal: Text of signal in Saward,
“Bomber” Harris,
p. 287f.

Harris was so displeased: See Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 127. The latter is a reported statement, having been retailed to Irving by a third-party witness. Saundby, Harris's deputy, also later told a Canadian television interviewer that the bombing of Dresden had been queried.

Chapter 16: Intimations of Mortality

“huge losses”: Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht
, pp. 27–29.

this was the 111th alarm: Information from comprehensive list of air raid alarms in Dresden printed in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 403ff.

numerous detonations: See Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht,
p. 37 for details of the damage.

“rumbling and rushing in the air”: Klemperer,
Klemperer Diaries
, p. 797.

officially, no bombs: See Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht
, p. 42. See also Klemperer,
Klemperer Diaries
, p. 798.

“no islands of peace”: Quoted in Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht
, p. 42.

“we could not help ourselves”: Hoch, interview.

“I prefer the bombers”: Klemperer,
Klemperer Diaries
, p. 799.

“worries me greatly”: Klemperer,
Klemperer Diaries
, p. 801.

“back on the offensive”: See
Dresdner Zeitung
, December 23, 1944. 199 “free and open gaze”:
Gendarmerieposten
Dresden-Gittersee, police reports quoted in Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht,
p. 63.

special coupons: Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht,
p. 63.

“the only Christmas trees”: Klemperer,
Klemperer Diaries
, p. 815.

that final Christmas: From correspondence of Dora Baumgärtl, April 7, 1945, in Stadtarchiv Dresden, Collection of 13. Februar e. V.

October and January raids: See Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht,
p. 67ff. and Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 62ff, for this and the details of the Second Bomber Division's attack on central Germany.

a mix of high-explosive and incendiary bombs: Bombing details from Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 64f.

no mention: Cited in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 65.

the Americans' own photographic evaluation: See Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 67.

“life is granted”:
Dresdner Zeitung,
January 29, 1945.

fantastic article: “Unvorstellbar, was London auszuhalten hat,”
Dresdner Zeitung,
January 19, 1945.

“like a doll's house”: John and Lang, interview.

Dresden's flak: For the rise and fall of flak in Dresden, 1940–45, see the chapter in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg
, p. 48ff.

Steffen was hospitalized: Steffen Cüppers, interview by author, Dresden, February 2001. Cüppers's gun was converted to ground use and acted as conventional artillery in the “Ruhr pocket” during April 1945. They fought to the last. On April 17 the emplacement—manned entirely by eighteen-and nineteen-year-olds—was overrun by American infantry. Two boys were killed, both still registered as pupils at Dresden high schools.

yet Chemnitz too: Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 56.

high fatality rate: Groehler,
Der Bombenkrieg gegen Deutschland,
p. 396ff. See also Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt,
The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book
(Leicester, 2000), p. 653.

“a latter-day Carthage”: Burleigh,
Third Reich,
p. 755.

Chapter 17: Time and Chance

February bombings: Details of RAF operations from Middlebrook and Everitt,
Bomber Command War Diaries,
p. 662.

official history reported: Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, eds.
The Army Air Forces in World War II,
vol. 3 (Chicago, 1951), p. 729 and for the following details.

Churchill's travels: Details of Churchill's living arrangements at Yalta from Lord Moran,
Winston Churchill: The Struggle for Survival 1940–1945
(London, 1966), p. 244, and life aboard the
Franconia,
p. 255ff.

“all the work”: Lesley “Uncle Will” Hay, interview by author, Weybridge, Surrey, April 2002.

unwelcome news: Miles Tripp,
The Eighth Passenger: A Flight of Recollection
and Discovery
(London, 1969, rev. ed. 1993), p. 76. Sadly, Mr Tripp died in 2000, as the author was beginning work on this book.

a shortage of high-explosive bombs: See Harris,
Bomber Offensive,
p. 238f. See also his letter to Sir Norman Bottomley of March 29, 1945: “All H. E. is seriously limited in supply. Incendiaries are not. All these factors must therefore also be considered…” This and the other letters reproduced in full in Saward,
“Bomber” Harris,
p. 292ff.

the most powerful forces: Figures from Middlebrook and Everitt,
Bomber Command War Diaries
, summaries of raids for the above period.

“less than two hundred heavies”: Memorandum of February 17, 1945, PRO, London, AIR 24/309.

cloud cover was expected: Forecast from Bomber Command Report on Night Operations 13th/14th February 1945, March 22, 1945, PRO, London, AIR 24/309.

approval for the night raid: Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 129.

“a military necessity”: Harris,
Bomber Offensive,
p. 242.

the Dresden briefing: Hay, interview.

aircraft going in the first wave: General details on Five Group from the official RAF historical website, www.raf.mod.uk.

lethal effectiveness: Middlebrook and Everitt,
Bomber Command War Diaries,
p. 580. See also the chapter on the bombing of Darmstadt in Hastings,
Bomber Command
, p. 303ff.

“reason for the raid”: John Aldridge, interview by author, Norfolk, September 2002.

Dresden target information files: Zone map and information sheets, PRO, London, AIR 40/1680.

separate target information sheet: Target Information Map for Dresden (Südvorstadt), PRO, London, AIR 34/595.

its own target file: Target Operation GS 257, PRO, London, AIR 34/602.

“met officer comes on”: Hay, interview.

“a better target”: Aldridge, interview.

“we knew our job”: Hay, interview. Descriptions from Hay interview and others.

the procedure: Hay, interview.

the middle of the squadron: 49th Squadron Reports and Operations Record Book, PRO, London, AIR 27/483.

feints and decoy screens: Hay, interview.

Freya: An early-warning radar, which provided the German defenders the presence and course of the incoming bombers, but not their altitude.

Mandrel screen: A radar-jamming facility, ground-or air-borne. Like window, it had been around for some time, but by 1945 likewise served as just another trick in the bombers' bag.

according to the operational reports: Information and quotations from No. 6 Group (RCAF) Operations Record Book, p. 22, in PRO, London, AIR 25/131, and No. 8 Group (Pathfinders) Operations Record Book, p. 987 (
Attack on Braunkohle Benzin AG, Böhlen)
, in PRO, London, AIR 25/154.

Chapter 18: Shrove Tuesday

a question of pracicality: Information about the
Verteidigungsbereich Dresden
in Hermann Rahne, “Die ‘Festung Dresden' von 1945,” in
Dresdner Hefte
41, p. 19ff.

Elbe line: Quoted in Rahne, “Die ‘Festung Dresden' von 1945,” p. 20.

article that took the form of a dialogue: “Taktik für Hausfrauen,”
Der Freiheitskampf,
February 14, 1945.

safe assembly points: See Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 103.

no permit to reside in Dresden: See Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht,
p. 72f.

“short-term accommodation”: Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht,
p. 73.

“on the station”: Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 212ff, for this and his following observations.

“complete fantasy”: Gotz Bergande interview by author, Berlin, October 2001.

“city was not overflowing”: Frau Annerose Hennig, letter to Dresden City Museum, April 17, 1993, as reproduced in Friedrich Reichert, ed.,
Verbrannt bis zur Unkenntlichkeit: Die Zerstorung Dresdens 1945
(Dresden, 1994), p. 51.

experiences with refugees: Hoch, interview. Christoph Adam tells of his experience as a welfare worker, interview by the author. Dresden, November 2001.

“refugees, yes”: Freundel, interview.

deportation order: Facsimile of deportation order in Haase, Jersch-Wensel, and Simon, eds.,
Die Erinnerung hat ein Gesicht
, p. 180.

an interview with the Gestapo: Brenner, “
Das Lied ist aus
,” p. 69f.

“last of the fighter-bombers”: Account of Günter Jäckel's experiences in France from his memoir, “Die Dunkle Zeit: France-Comté 1944,” in
Ostragehege 3,
p. 64ff. Details of his wound and his return to Dresden, based on Jäckel, interview.

“lay a Rhinelander”: Jäckel, interview.

Hannelore Kuhn was born the middle child: Author interview with Fritz and Hannelore Kuhn. Dresden, October 2001.

there was no school: Author interview with Nora Lang.

almost exactly the same situation: Author interview with Anita Kurz. 239 “Dresden had been preserved”: Adam, interview.

“my friend Fritz”: Details from an untitled memoir by Günther Kannegiesser originating from the early 1990s, supplemented by an interview by the author, Dresden-Wachwitz, February 2002.

“large numbers of enemy aircraft”: Like many other boys of the time, Günther
and Fritz used to tune in to the Flak Radio Station Vom Horizont and had cracked its grid code (which used a combination of letters and numbers—hence Martha Heinrich 8 for Dresden). If they were home, they would use this to plot the enemy aircraft movements in their school atlas.

Chapter 19: “Tally-Ho!”

the master bomber's duties: Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 141.

most likely target: Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 156.

“enemy combat units”: Sequence of Local Air Raid Leadership's communications and warnings taken from Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 125ff. Also the following references of this kind unless otherwise indicated.

downed by unknown fire: The first represents Irving's view in
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 156, the second Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 128. In fact, Bergander thinks it possible that all the flak had actually been wthdrawn from Klotzsche.

“Achtung! Achtung!”: Quoted in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 126.

sector bombing: Described in Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 84.