Dresden (57 page)

at less than eight hundred feet: See Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 159f, and Cooper,
Target Dresden,
p. 150.

“the first bombs dropped”: Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 126.

“an arc of thirty-two degrees”: Hay, interview.

all of 49 squadron: Details of 49 Squadron's attack in squadron and individual aircraft reports in PRO, London, AIR 27/483.

Chapter 20: “Air Raid Shelter the Best Protection”

Nora and Anita's recollection: John and Lang, interview.

Günther and Siegfried's: experiences Kannegiesser, interview. At seventy-two, he still has headaches from the tiny pieces that embedded themselves in his temples almost sixty years ago.

“very good air raid shelter”: Bergander, interview.

“series of whistling sounds”: Griebel,
Ich war ein Mann der Strasse,
p. 254f.

some passengers were trampled: See Reichler,
Dresden Hauptbahnhof
, p. 54.

undershooting: Sir Arthur Harris,
Despatch on War Operations 23 February, 1942, to 8 May, 1945,
ed. Sebastian Cox (London, 1995), p. 81.

bomb loads: Figures regarding bomb loads and mix of bombs from
Bomber Command Intelligence Narrative of Operations No. 1007 (Night 13th/14th February),
PRO, London, AIR 14/3422.

“even in those places”: “Kann der Selbstschutz auch Grossbrände bekämpfen?” in
Der Freiheitskampf
, October 23, 1943.

“the best protection”: “Tagesspiegel: Luftschutzkeller bester Schutz” in
Der Freiheitskampf,
December 21, 1944.

Birke's eerie journey: Cited in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 168. Bergander edited Herr Birke's recollections.

shut down the night shift: Brenner, “
Das Lied ist aus,”
p. 86.

Birke's interrogation: Cited in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 166. Also for Georg Feydt's observations.

the deteriorating situation: Quoted in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 166.

the raid was over: The Wolf family's experiences of the night Dresden was bombed are recounted in Brenner, “
Das Lied ist aus,”
p. 88ff.

ordered to another location: Quoted in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 168, from Walter Weidauer,
Inferno Dresden
(Berlin, 1965), p. 106. Weidauer, an East German source, simply cites “im Staatsarchiv Dresden” and shows a photograph of the document. Neither Bergander nor this author has seen the document.

Mutschmann's whereabouts: See Weidauer,
Inferno Dresden,
p. 102. Though a highly tendentious and propagandizing writer—Weidauer was Communist high burgomaster of Dresden for many years and a leading Communist Party activist—he did have access to many documents and eyewitness accounts. He asserts that many of these locate the elusive gauleiter in his bunker at home rather than “at the head of his troops” in the air raid command shelter. Clearly, Mutschmann would not have been keen to advertise the fact that he had spent the raid safely ensconced with his family in their state-of-the-art private bunker while tens of thousands of their fellow Dresdeners died terrible deaths.

Johannstadt hospital complex: Annette and Jenni Dubbers,
Johannstadt: Aus der Geschichte eines Stadtteils
(Dresden, 2000), p. 39f.

nurses did their best: See the article “Erkannt am rosa Kärtchen” in
Sächsische Zeitung,
February 13, 2002, which launched an appeal by two women who were orphaned that night. The publication of the article resulted in other children who had been saved—but who had lost their mothers—being brought together. A website, www.ueberlebendekinderdresden.de, is at the center of the ongoing project and presents several personal stories.

“curtains were burning”: John, interview.

“my parents decided”: Lang, interview.

“this first attack”: Adam, interview.

“on the Striesener Strausse”: Kannegiesser, interview and memoir. Bad Schandau is a small town on the Elbe about twenty miles southeast of Dresden. According to the fire officer Alfred Birke, quoted by Götz Bergander, all of this group perished in the second attack. Their known movements put the time young Günther saw them at after 1
A.M
.

“Dresden was an inferno”: This description is from Herr Kühnemund's letter to Alexander McKee for his book
The Devil's Tinderbox: Dresden 1945
(London,
1982, 2000). The letter is in Mr. McKee's papers in the Imperial War Museum, London. McKee's partial quotation, cited here, is in
Devil's Tinderbox,
p. 140f.

“there's a fire”: Hannelore Kuhn, interview.

“fire-fighting forces”: Rumpf quoted in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 166.

“young woman had her baby”: Nora Lang, quoted in Matthias Neutzner, ed.,
Lebenszeichen: Dresden im Luftkrieg 1944/45
(Dresden, 1994), p. 9f.

Chapter 21: The Perfect Firestorm

cheered Miles Tripp: Tripp,
Eighth Passenger
, p. 80f.

Derek Jackson's recollections: letter and telephone interview with Derek Jackson, Manchester, July 2002.

watch and wait: Hay, interview.

further confusion: See Bomber Command Report on Night Operations 13th/14th February 1945 (Report No. 837), PRO, London, AIR 24/309. Other details of the second wave's approach from Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 132f, Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 174f, and Cooper,
Target Dresden,
p. 158.

“new bomber force”: Quoted in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 133.

some disappointment felt: Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 175.

number of bombs: Figures collated (slightly differently) in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 368f. Originals in Bomber Command Intelligence Narrative of Operations No. 1007 (Night 13th/14th February), PRO, London, AIR 14/3422.

“forty miles from Dresden”: Tripp,
Eighth Passenger,
p. 83.

sixty or seventy miles: Cooper,
Target Dresden,
p. 158f.

waiting vainly for orders: Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 136.

signaling to the British: Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 179f.

Tripp made a decision: Tripp,
Eighth Passenger,
p. 83.

so he didn't: McKee in
Devil's Tinderbox
also cites (p. 202) Tripp's account, but assumes that like Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen, Tripp set a “blind eye” to the master bomber's instructions. Tripp denied this vehemently in a later edition of his own book. De Wesselow's silence, he felt, enabled him to follow his conscience and not wreak further havoc in a city already beyond salvation (though there is actually no indication that he did “miss” the city). Tripp is, however, adamant that he would have followed specific instructions from the master bomber, no matter how personally unpalatable. In fact, Tripp's opinions about the bombing of Dresden were complex. He by no means belonged to the “war crime” camp on the issue.

Hicks's trial under fire: Doug Hicks, interview by author, Oshkosh, July 2002 and subsequent correspondence.

the second wave's work: Bomber Command Intelligence Narrative of Operations No. 1007 (Night 13th/14th February), PRO, London, AIR 14/3422.

Chapter 22: Catastrophe

Interview with and written memoir from Rudolf Eichner, Dresden, February 2002.

died of simple asphyxiation: See Neutzner, “Der Wehrmacht so nah verwandt,” p. 216.

“through a long passage”: Cited in Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 226.

Gertraud Freundel's family: Freundel, interview and correspondence.

“sea of flame”: Berthold Meyer, “Flucht durch die brennende Blochmannstrasse,” in
Dresdner Hefte 41, Dresden—Das Jahr 1945,
p. 49. Meyer, born in 1921, was bombed out of his homes in Bremen and Hannover and came to Dresden as a student at the Technical University. His report was written in the early part of 1945.

Anita escapes from the basement: John and Lang, interview.

Margret's escape: Margret Freyer, cited in Alexander McKee,
Devil's Tinderbox,
p. 171.

Hans Schröter's letter: Letter from Hans Schröter to Frau Ganze, August 5, 1945, reproduced in Reichert, ed.,
Verbrannt bis zur Unkenntlichkeit,
p. 50f.

the vast tank: Description of the Altmarkt reservoir and the events of the night from Max Seydewitz,
Die unbesiegbare Stadt: Zerstörung und Neuaufbau von Dresden
(Berlin, 1955, rev. ed. 1982), p. 76ff.

out of a water container: Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 251.

Margret's search: Margret Freyer, cited in McKee,
Devil's Tinderbox,
p. 175.

destroyed by enemy aircraft fire: One of several references to “strafing” during the British raids. None of the RAF aircraft at Dresden was designed or equipped to do this, and by this stage in the night such an undertaking would have been not just impossible but utterly suicidal. Several Lancasters did crash in the city, however, and perhaps one such doomed aircraft had screamed overhead at low altitude just as a bomb struck the fire truck, creating the impression of an attack.

the commander's report: HStaD
Feuerwehrpolizei Bereitschaft 9
reports.

Berthold's journey to the river: Quoted from Meyer, “
Flucht durch die brennende Blochmannstrasse,”
p. 49f.

“explosions went on”: Kannegiesser, interview.

ruins of the “B” wing: Seydewitz,
Die unbesiegbare Stadt
, p. 93f.

Vogelwiese: The Vogelwiese (bird meadow) was an area of the riverside meadows where fairs, amusements, and sporting activities were staged.

Günther's journey to the Elbe: Kannegiesser, memoir.

“much more shocking”: Nora Lang, quoted in Neutzner, ed.,
Lebenszeichen,
p. 10.

Nora reaches the Elbe: Lang, interview.

“We experienced the second attack”: Adam, interview.

“soon we realized”: Brenner,
“Das Lied ist aus,”
p. 92.

they hurried downstairs: Klemperer,
Klemperer Diaries,
p. 836f.

“no one could get them out”: Brenner, “
Das Lied ist aus,”
p. 88.

“after nine o'clock”: Turner, interview.

notorious “T4” program: See Thomas Schilter,
Unmenschliches Ermessen: Die nationalsozialistische “Euthanasie”-Tötungsnastalt Pirna-Sonnenstein 1940/41
(Leipzip, 1999).

orchestra and the choir: See Seydewitz,
Die unbesiegbare Stadt,
p. 41.

at the Universelle factory: See Traute Richter, “Die Schliessung des Theaters (Briefe an die Eltern September 1944)” in
Dresdener Hefte Nr 41,
p. 41ff.

“Sarrasani management announced”: Details of Sarrasani and quotations from Ernst Günther,
Sarrasani, Wie er wirklich war
(Berlin, 1991), p. 290ff.

the Chinese acrobat: Interview with the acrobat's widow included in the German documentary series
Der Jahrhundertkrieg
, episode on the bomber war against Germany.

“middle of the square”: Irving,
Apocalypse 1945,
p. 215, for the quotation and his own remarks.

“scarcely got into the hiding place”: Prince Ernst Heinrich von Sachsen,
Mein Lebensweg,
p. 283.

Chapter 23: Ash Wednesday

“breakfast of bacon and eggs”: Quoted in McKee,
Devil's Tinderbox,
p. 209.

an awful lot of American aircraft: Figures in Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 140.

the bomb loads to be carried: Bomb loads from Bergander,
Der Luftkrieg in Dresden,
p. 139.

“Dresden Marshaling Yard”: Report in NARA, Washington, D. C., First Air Division, Intops Summary No. 290.

“marshaling yard in Chemnitz”: Narrative Reports of Bomber Groups in NARA, Washington, D. C., First Air Division, Intops Summary No. 290. 318 definitive report: First Division report of Operations, Dresden, February 14, 1945, NARA, Washington, D. C.

“reason I remember”: Quoted in McKee,
Devil's Tinderbox,
p. 213.

“like an embryo”: Quoted in McKee,
Devil's Tinderbox,
p. 214f.

the dogfights that ensued: Returning from this mostly successful operation, more than three hundred German aircraft were shot down by their own artillery. Someone had forgotten to tell the German antiaircraft defenses about the Bodenplatte project.

“we were not briefed”: Major Alden P. Rigby, telephone interview by the author, October 2002.

a supposedly temporary detour: For the saga of First Bombardment Wing's “detour,” see Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 141f.

“I was awoken”: Günther Kannegiesser, personal memorandum Dresden, February 2002.

“a bust of Hitler”: Fritz and Hannelore Kuhn, interview by the author.

where there was less smoke: Intops Summary No. 290, NARA, and Report 41st CBW “A” Group, in NARA, Washington, D. C.

“thirty-six A/C”: Narrative Report of Mission (plus individual reports of aircrew) for 303rd Bombardment Group, NARA, Washington, D. C.

some confusion ensued: Re: Field Order No. 629, 457th—Dresden—February 14, 1945, NARA, Washington, D. C.

“due to dense contrails”: This account on the trials of the 305th from Report of Operation, Dresden, of February 25 from HQ First Division, plus report 40 CBW February 16, 1945, both in NARA, Washington, D. C.

“standing in the factory yard”: Bergander, interview.