Editing Bombing of Dresden (section)

===Military and industrial profile===
[[File:1945-02-15GerWW2BattlefrontAtlas reworked.jpg|thumb|European front lines during Dresden raids. {{legend|white|German controlled territory}}{{legend|#f2ad9e|Allied territory}}{{legend|#a30f0f|Recent Allied advances}}{{legend|#cdcfce|Neutral}}]]
According to the RAF at the time, Dresden was Germany's seventh-largest city and the largest remaining unbombed, built-up area.{{sfn|Ross|2003|p=180}} Taylor writes that an official 1942 guide to the city described it as "one of the foremost industrial locations of the [[Nazi Germany|Reich]]" and in 1944 the [[German Army High Command]]'s Weapons Office listed 127 medium-to-large factories and workshops that were supplying the army with [[materiel]]<!--Not a spelling mistake. This is from the French and used for military material. -->.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=169}} Nonetheless, according to some historians, the contribution of Dresden to the German war effort may not have been as significant as the planners thought.{{sfn|Addison|Crang|2006|loc=Chapter by [[Sonke Neitzel]] "The City Under Attack" p. 76}}

The [[Air Force Historical Research Agency|US Air Force Historical Division]] wrote a report, which remained [[Classified information|classified]] until December 1978,{{sfn|Ross|2003|p=184}} in response to international concern about the bombing. It said that there were 110 factories and 50,000 workers in the city supporting the German war effort at the time of the raid.<ref>{{harvnb|Angell|1953}}: Cites "Dresden, Germany, City Area, Economic Reports", Vol. No. 2, Headquarters [[U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey]], 10 July 1945; and "OSS" London, No. B-1799/4, 3 March 1945.</ref> According to the report, there were aircraft components factories; a [[poison gas]] factory (Chemische Fabrik Goye and Company); an [[anti-aircraft]] and [[field gun]] factory (Lehman); an optical goods factory ([[Zeiss Ikon]] AG); and factories producing electrical and X-ray apparatus ({{interlanguage link|Koch & Sterzel|de}} AG); gears and differentials (Saxoniswerke); and electric gauges (Gebrüder Bassler). The report also mentioned barracks, hutted camps, and a [[munitions]] storage depot.<ref>{{harvnb|Angell|1953}}: Cites "Interpretation Report No. K. 4171, Dresden, 22 March 1945", Supporting Document No. 3.</ref>

The USAF report also states that two of Dresden's traffic routes were of military importance: north-south from Germany to [[Czechoslovakia]], and east–west along the [[central European uplands]].<ref name=ChambersUSAFHD>{{harvnb|Angell|1953}}: Cites [[Chambers Encyclopedia]], New York, 1950, Vol. IV, p. 636,</ref> The city was at the junction of the [[Berlin]]-[[Prague]]-[[Vienna]] railway line, as well as the [[Munich]]-[[Breslau]], and [[Hamburg]]-[[Leipzig]] lines.<ref name=ChambersUSAFHD/> Colonel Harold E. Cook, a US [[Prisoner of war|POW]] held in the [[Friedrichstadt (Dresden)|Friedrichstadt]] marshaling yard the night before the attacks, later said that "I saw with my own eyes that Dresden was an armed camp: thousands of German troops, tanks and artillery and miles of freight cars loaded with supplies supporting and transporting German [[Military logistics|logistics]] towards the east to meet the Russians".{{sfn|Miller|2006b|p=435}}

An RAF memo issued to airmen on the night of the attack gave some reasoning for the raid:

{{blockquote|Dresden, the seventh largest city in Germany and not much smaller than [[Manchester]] is also the largest unbombed builtup area the enemy has got. In the midst of winter with [[refugee]]s pouring westward and troops to be rested, roofs are at a premium, not only to give shelter to workers, refugees, and troops alike, but to house the administrative services displaced from other areas. At one time well known for its [[Porcelain|china]], Dresden has developed into an industrial city of first-class importance ... The intentions of the attack are to hit the enemy where he will feel it most, behind an already partially collapsed front, to prevent the use of the city in the way of further advance, and incidentally to show the Russians when they arrive what [[RAF Bomber Command|Bomber Command]] can do.{{sfn|Ross|2003|p=180}}{{sfn|Longmate|1983|p=333}} }}

In the raid, major industrial areas in the suburbs, which stretched for miles, were not targeted.{{sfn|McKee|1983|p=62}} According to historian [[Donald L. Miller|Donald Miller]], "the economic disruption would have been far greater had Bomber Command targeted the suburban areas where most of Dresden's manufacturing might was concentrated".{{sfn|Miller|2006a|p=437}}

In his biography of Attlee and Churchill, Leo McKinstry wrote:<ref>Leo McKinstry, "Attlee and Churchill: Allies in War, Adversaries in Peace", Atlantic Books, 2019, Ch 22.</ref>
{{blockquote |text=When Churchill arrived at Yalta on 4 February 1945, the first question that Stalin put to him was: 'Why haven't you bombed Dresden?' His enquiry reflected the importance that the Soviet Union attached to an attack on the city, following intelligence reports that Germany was moving large numbers of troops towards the [[Siege of Breslau|Breslau Front]]. Churchill assured Stalin that an Allied attack was imminent.}}