Editing Bombing of Dresden (section)

====U.S. Air Force Historical Division report====
{|class="wikitable floatright" style="text-align:right;"
|+align="bottom" style="caption-side:bottom; text-align:center; font-weight:normal;"|U.S. Air Force table showing tonnage of bombs dropped by the Allies on Germany's seven largest cities during the war;<ref name=USAFHD/> the final column shows that of the seven cities, the tonnage dropped on Dresden was the lowest per capita.
|-
!rowspan=2|City!!rowspan=2|Population<br />(1939)!!colspan=3|Tonnage!!rowspan="2"|Tonnage<br /> per 100,000<br /> inhabitants
|-
!American!!British!!Total
|-
|[[Berlin]]||4,339,000||22,090||45,517||67,607||1,558
|-
|[[Hamburg]]||1,129,000||17,104||22,583||39,687||3,515
|-
|[[Munich]]||841,000||11,471||7,858||19,329||2,298
|-
|[[Cologne]]||772,000||10,211||34,712||44,923||5,819
|-
|[[Leipzig]]||707,000||5,410||6,206||11,616||1,643
|-
|[[Essen]]||667,000||1,518||36,420||37,938||5,688
|-
|[[Dresden]]||642,000||4,441||2,659||7,100||1,106
|}

A report by the U.S. Air Force Historical Division (USAFHD) analysed the circumstances of the raid and concluded that it was militarily necessary and justified, based on the following points:<ref name=USAFHD/>
# The raid had [[Military necessity|legitimate military ends]], brought about by exigent military circumstances.
# Military units and anti-aircraft defences were sufficiently close that it was not valid to consider the city "undefended".
# The raid did not use extraordinary means but was comparable to other raids used against comparable targets.
# The raid was carried out through the normal chain of command, pursuant to directives and agreements then in force.
# The raid achieved the military objective, without excessive loss of civilian life.

The first point regarding the legitimacy of the raid depends on two claims: first, that the railyards subjected to American precision bombing were an important logistical target, and that the city was also an important industrial centre.<ref name=USAFHD/> Even after the main firebombing, there were two further raids on the Dresden railway yards by the USAAF. The first was on 2 March 1945, by 406 B-17s, which dropped 940 tons of high-explosive bombs and 141 tons of incendiaries. The second was on 17 April, when 580 B-17s dropped 1,554 tons of high-explosive bombs and 165 tons of incendiaries.<ref name=USAFHD/>

As far as Dresden being a militarily significant industrial centre, an official 1942 guide described the German city as "...{{nbsp}}one of the foremost industrial locations of the Reich," and in 1944, the [[German Army High Command]]'s Weapons Office listed 127 medium-to-large factories and workshops that supplied materiel to the military.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=169}} Dresden was the seventh largest German city, and by far the largest un-bombed built-up area left, and thus was contributing to the defence of Germany itself.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2005|p=3}} quoting an RAF Group briefing paper.</ref>

According to the USAFHD, there were 110 factories and 50,000 workers supporting the German war effort in Dresden at the time of the raid.<ref name=USAFHD/> These factories manufactured fuses and bombsights (at Zeiss Ikon A.G.),{{sfn|Grant|2004}} aircraft components, [[88 mm gun|anti-aircraft guns]], [[field gun]]s, and [[small arms]], [[Chemical warfare|poison gas]], [[gear]]s and [[Differential (mechanical device)|differentials]], electrical and X-ray apparatus, electric gauges, [[WWII gas mask|gas mask]]s, [[Junkers (Aircraft)|Junkers]] aircraft engines, and [[Messerschmitt]] fighter cockpit parts.<ref name=USAFHD/>

The second of the five points addresses the prohibition in the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Hague Conventions]], of "attack or bombardment" of "undefended" towns. The USAFHD report states that Dresden was protected by anti-aircraft defences, antiaircraft guns, and searchlights, under the Combined Dresden (Corps Area IV) and Berlin (Corps Area III) [[Organization of the Luftwaffe (1933–45)#Operational level|Air Service Commands]].<ref name=USAFHD/>

The third and fourth points say that the size of the Dresden raid—in terms of numbers, types of bombs and the means of delivery—were commensurate with the military objective and similar to other Allied bombings. On 23 February 1945, the Allies [[Bombing of Pforzheim in World War II|bombed Pforzheim]] and caused an estimated 20,000 civilian fatalities. The most devastating raid on any city was on [[Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)|Tokyo on 9–10 March]] (the ''Meetinghouse'' raid)<ref>Crane, Conrad C. "[https://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5229.htm The War: Firebombing (Germany & Japan)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602225435/http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5229.htm|date=2 June 2017}}." [[PBS]]. Accessed 24 August 2014.</ref> which caused over 100,000 casualties, many civilian. The tonnage and types of bombs listed in the service records of the Dresden raid were comparable to (or less than) [[Throw-weight|throw weights]] of bombs dropped in other air attacks carried out in 1945. In the case of Dresden, as in many other similar attacks, the hour break in between the RAF raids was a deliberate ploy to attack the fire fighters, medical teams, and military units.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=8}}

In late July 1943, the city of [[Hamburg]] was bombed during [[Operation Gomorrah]] by combined RAF and USAAF strategic bomber forces. Four major raids were carried out in the span of 10 days, of which the most notable, on the night of 27–28 July, created a devastating [[firestorm]] effect similar to Dresden's, killing an estimated 18,474 people. The death toll for that night is included in the overall estimated total of 37,000 for the series of raids.{{sfn|Overy|2013|p=335}} Two-thirds of the remaining population reportedly fled the city after the raids.<ref>[http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/hamburg.html Hamburg, 28 July 1943] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402052154/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/hamburg.html|date=2 April 2009}} RAF Bomber Command. Retrieved 7 January 2007</ref>

The fifth point is that the firebombing achieved the intended effect of disabling the industry in Dresden. It was estimated that at least 23 per cent of the city's industrial buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. The damage to other infrastructure and communications was immense, which would have severely limited the potential use of Dresden to stop the Soviet advance. The report concludes with: {{blockquote|The specific forces and means employed in the Dresden bombings were in keeping with the forces and means employed by the Allies in other aerial attacks on comparable targets in Germany. The Dresden bombings achieved the strategic objectives that underlay the attack and were of mutual importance to the Allies and the Russians.<ref name=USAFHD/>}}
<!-- Please provide page numbers from "Der Brand" -- the online references cited here do not seem to support these points, and in any case are not the book itself -- Also, if the position being advanced here is that the raid was militarily unnecessary, then we need to provide reliable mainstream published sources who specifically make that point for us. For example, if a source says the Luftwaffe was short on fuel or aircraft, using that to conclude the raid was unnecessary would be synthesis, per WP:SYNT –
Countering the claim Dresden was a significant military target, Friedrich's earlier book, ''Der Brand: Deutschland im Bombenkrieg 1940–1945'' focuses on evidence showing German forces were in full retreat by February 1945. He argues the impact on civilians was out of all proportion to the military goal, reiterating the argument Allied forces were aware of the destruction caused by incendiary bombs. Friedrich also argues that the Allies had known that future attacks were likely to cause ever-increasing numbers of civilian deaths.<ref>Douglas Peifer [http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/GENOCIDE/reviewsw159.htm A review of ''Der Brand''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050310082103/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/GENOCIDE/reviewsw159.htm|date=10 March 2005}} Published in November 2003, by H-German, a member of [[H-Net]] Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine.</ref> The Allies were reportedly in complete control of the air,<ref name="OM"/> and Germany had committed all its fighters originally dedicated to air defence at the [[Battle of the Bulge]].{{sfn|Davis|2006|p=473}} -->