Editing Bombing of Dresden (section)

====Marshall inquiry====
An inquiry conducted at the behest of U.S. Army Chief of Staff, General [[George C. Marshall]], stated the raid was justified by the available intelligence. The inquiry declared the elimination of the German ability to reinforce a counter-attack against Marshal [[Ivan Konev]]'s extended line or, alternatively, to retreat and regroup using Dresden as a base of operations, were important military objectives. As Dresden had been largely untouched during the war due to its location, it was one of the few remaining functional rail and communications centres. A secondary objective was to disrupt the industrial use of Dresden for munitions manufacture, which American intelligence believed was the case. The shock to military planners and to the Allied civilian populations of the German counterattack known as the [[Battle of the Bulge]] had ended speculation that the war was almost over, and may have contributed to the decision to continue with the aerial bombardment of German cities.{{sfn|Taylor|2004|p=196}}

The inquiry concluded that by the presence of active German military units nearby, and the presence of fighters and anti-aircraft within an effective range, Dresden qualified as "defended".<ref name=USAFHD/><!--Probably for compliance with the Draft Convention for the Protection of Civilian Populations Against New Engines of War. Amsterdam, 1938. Art 2.  http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/0/910f79361f226492c125641e004057ed?OpenDocument --> By this stage in the war both the British and the Germans had integrated air defences at the national level; the tribunal argued that this meant no German city was undefended.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Marshall's tribunal declared that no extraordinary decision was made to single out Dresden (for instance, to take advantage of a large number of refugees, or purposely terrorise the German populace), arguing that the area bombing was intended to disrupt communications and destroy industrial production. The American inquiry established that the Soviets, under allied agreements for the United States and the United Kingdom to provide air support for the Soviet offensive toward Berlin, had requested area bombing of Dresden to prevent a counterattack through Dresden, or the use of Dresden as a regrouping point following a German strategic retreat.<ref name="HABD_paragraph33-34">[[#References|USAF]], II. Section ANALYSIS: Dresden as a Military Target, ¶ 33, 34.</ref>