Editing Bombing of Dresden (section)

==The attacks==
===Night of 13/14 February===
[[File:De Havilland Mosquito-DK338-1942.jpg|thumb|[[de Havilland Mosquito|Mosquito marker aircraft]] dropped target indicators, which glowed red and green to guide the bomber stream]]

The Dresden attack was to have begun with a [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]] [[Eighth Air Force]] bombing raid on 13 February 1945. The Eighth Air Force had already bombed the railway yards near the centre of the city twice in daytime raids: once on 7 October 1944 with 70 tons of [[high-explosive]] bombs killing more than 400,<ref>Hahn, Alfred and Neef, Ernst. ''Dresden. Werte unserer Heimat''. Bd. 42. Berlin 1985.</ref> then again with 133 bombers on 16 January 1945, dropping 279 tons of high-explosives and 41 tons of [[Incendiary device|incendiaries]].<ref name="USAFHD"/>

On 13 February 1945, bad weather over Europe prevented any USAAF operations, and it was left to [[RAF Bomber Command]] to carry out the first raid. It had been decided that the raid would be a double strike, in which a second wave of bombers would attack three hours after the first, just as the rescue teams were trying to put out the fires.{{sfn|De Bruhl|2006|pp=203–206}} As was standard practice, other raids were carried out that night to confuse [[Defense of the Reich|German air defences]]. Three hundred and sixty heavy bombers ([[Avro Lancaster|Lancasters]] and [[Handley Page Halifax|Halifaxes]]) bombed a synthetic oil plant in [[Böhlen]], {{cvt|60|mi}} from Dresden, while 71 [[de Havilland Mosquito]] medium bombers attacked [[Magdeburg]] with small numbers of Mosquitos carrying out nuisance raids on [[Bonn]], Misburg near [[Hanover]] and [[Nuremberg]].{{sfn|De Bruhl|2006|p=205}}<!-- RAF bomber command diary says Dortmund not Nuremberg -->

When Polish crews of the designated squadrons were preparing for the mission, the [[Yalta Conference#Conference|terms of the Yalta agreement]] were made known to them. There was a huge uproar, since the Yalta agreement handed parts of Poland over to the Soviet Union. There was talk of mutiny among the Polish pilots, and their British officers removed their side arms. The Polish Government ordered the pilots to follow their orders and fly their missions over Dresden, which they did.<ref>{{cite book|author=Halik Kochanski|title=The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge|year=2012|page=498|isbn=978-0674068148}}</ref>

[[File:Lancaster I NG128 Dropping Blockbuster - Duisburg - Oct 14, 1944.jpg|thumb|left|[[Avro Lancaster|Lancaster]] releases a {{cvt|4000|lb}} HC [[Blockbuster bomb|"cookie"]] and 108 {{cvt|30|lb}} "J" incendiaries. (over Duisburg 1944)]]

The first of the British aircraft took off at around 17:20 hours [[Central European Time|CET]] for the {{convert|700|mi|km|adj=on}} journey.{{efn|All raid times are [[Central European Time|CET]]; Britain was on [[double summer time]] in early 1945, which was the same time as CET.}} This was a group of Lancasters from Bomber Command's [[No. 83 Squadron RAF|83 Squadron]], [[No. 5 Group RAF|No. 5 Group]], acting as the [[Pathfinder (RAF)|Pathfinders]], or flare force, whose job it was to find Dresden and drop [[magnesium]] parachute flares, known to the Germans as "Christmas trees", to mark and light up Dresden for the aircraft that would mark the target itself. The next set of aircraft to leave England were twin-engined Mosquito marker planes, which would identify target areas and drop {{convert|1000|lb|adj=on}} [[target indicator]]s (TIs){{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=6}} that marked the target for the bombers to aim at.{{sfn|De Bruhl|2006|pp=203–4}} The attack was to centre on the [[Ostragehege]] sports stadium, next to the city's medieval ''Altstadt'' (old town), with its congested and highly combustible timbered buildings.{{sfn|De Bruhl|2006|p=209}}

The main bomber force, called ''Plate Rack'', took off shortly after the Pathfinders. This group of 254 Lancasters carried 500 tons of high explosives and 375 tons of [[Incendiary device|incendiaries]] ("fire bombs"). There were 200,000 incendiaries in all, with the high-explosive bombs ranging in weight from {{cvt|500|to|4000|lb}} —the two-ton [[Blockbuster bomb|"cookies"]],{{sfn|De Bruhl|2006|p=209}} also known as "blockbusters", because they could destroy an entire large building or street. The high explosives were intended to rupture water mains and blow off roofs, doors, and windows to expose the interiors of the buildings and create an air flow to feed the fires caused by the incendiaries that followed.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=287, 296, 365}}{{sfn|Longmate|1983|pp=162–164}}

The Lancasters crossed into France near the [[Somme (river)|Somme]], then into Germany just north of [[Cologne]]. At 22:00 hours, the force heading for Böhlen split away from Plate Rack, which turned south-east toward the Elbe. By this time, ten of the Lancasters were out of service, leaving 244 to continue to Dresden.{{sfn|De Bruhl|2006|p=206}}

The sirens started sounding in Dresden at 21:51 (CET).{{efn|During the Second World War, Britain was on summer time and [[double summer time]] or UTC+1 and UTC+2, the same as CET and CET+1}}{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=4}} The 'Master Bomber' [[Wing Commander (rank)|Wing Commander]] Maurice Smith, flying in a Mosquito, gave the order to the Lancasters: "Controller to Plate Rack Force: Come in and bomb glow of red target indicators as planned. Bomb the glow of red TIs as planned".<ref name=Burleigh>{{cite news|last=Burleigh|first=Michael|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/history/0,6121,1142632,00.html|title=Mission accomplished (review of ''Dresden'' by Frederick Taylor)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080606085222/http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/history/0,6121,1142632,00.html|archive-date=6 June 2008|work=The Guardian|date=7 February 2004|url-status=live}}</ref>

The first bombs were released at 22:13, the last at 22:28, the Lancasters delivering 881.1 tons of bombs, 57% high explosive, 43% incendiaries. The fan-shaped area that was bombed was {{cvt|1.25|mi}} long, and at its extreme about {{cvt|1.75|mi}} wide. The shape and total devastation of the area was created by the bombers of No. 5 Group flying over the head of the fan ([[Ostragehege]] stadium) on prearranged compass bearings and releasing their bombs at different prearranged times.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/bombercommanddresdenfebruary1945.cfm|title=Dresden, February 1945|publisher=RAF|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323063250/http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/bombercommanddresdenfebruary1945.cfm|archive-date=23 March 2012|work=Bomber Command Famous Raids}}</ref>{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=277–288}}

The second attack, three hours later, was by Lancaster aircraft of [[No. 1 Group RAF|1]], [[No. 3 Group RAF|3]], [[No. 6 Group RAF|6]] and [[No. 8 Group RAF|8]] [[List of Royal Air Force groups|Groups]], 8 Group being the Pathfinders. By now, the thousands of fires from the burning city could be seen more than {{cvt|60|mi}} away on the ground{{snd}}the second wave had been able to see the initial fires from a distance of over {{cvt|90|mi}}.<ref name=BBCOnthisDay>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/14/newsid_3549000/3549905.stm "14 February 1945: Thousands of bombs destroy Dresden"]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811071519/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/14/newsid_3549000/3549905.stm|date=11 August 2010}}, BBC ''On this Day'', 14 February 1945. Retrieved 10 January 2008.</ref>{{sfn|Beevor|2014|pp=716–717}} The Pathfinders therefore decided to expand the target, dropping flares on either side of the firestorm, including the {{lang|de|[[Dresden Hauptbahnhof|Hauptbahnhof]]}}, the main train station, and the {{lang|de|[[Großer Garten]]}}, a large park, both of which had escaped damage during the first raid.<ref>{{Cite book|last=De Balliel-Lawrora|first=Johannes Rammund|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/961260826|title=The Myriad Chronicles : a "German-American world advocacy project!" ; documentary of the German-American World Historical Society, Inc. ; "what the media and the U.S. government does not want you to know!"|year=2010|publisher=Xlibris Corporation |isbn=978-1453505281|oclc=961260826}}</ref> The German sirens sounded again at 01:05, but these were small hand-held sirens that were heard within only a block.{{sfn|De Bruhl|2006|p=206}}{{dubious|reason=the main sirens were powered by gasoline engines, not electricity|date=January 2023}} Between 01:21 and 01:45, 529 Lancasters dropped more than 1,800 tons of bombs.

===14–15 February===
On the morning of 14 February 431 [[United States Army Air Force]] bombers of the [[Eighth Air Force]]'s 1st Bombardment Division were scheduled to bomb Dresden near midday, and the 457 aircraft of 3rd Bombardment Division were to follow to bomb [[Chemnitz]], while the 375 bombers of the 2nd Bombardment Division would bomb a [[Brabag|synthetic oil]] plant in [[Magdeburg]]. Another 84 bombers would attack [[Wesel]].{{sfn|De Bruhl|2006|p=218}} The bomber groups were protected by 784 [[North American P-51 Mustang]]s of the Eighth Air Force's [[VIII Fighter Command]], 316 of which covered the Dresden attack – a total of almost 2,100 Eighth Army Air Force aircraft over Saxony during 14 February.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=364}} The smoke plume over Dresden by now reached {{cvt|15000|ft}} and was plainly visible to the approaching raid.{{sfn|Beevor|2014|pp=716–717}}

[[File:B-17 Flying Fortress.jpg|thumb|USAAF [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]] bombers over Europe]]

Primary sources disagree as to whether the aiming point was the [[marshalling yard]]s near the centre of the city or the centre of the built-up urban area. The report by the 1st Bombardment Division's commander to his commander states that the targeting sequence was the centre of the built-up area in Dresden if the weather was clear. If clouds obscured Dresden but Chemnitz was clear, Chemnitz was the target. If both were obscured, they would bomb the centre of Dresden using [[H2X radar]].{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=365}} The mix of bombs for the Dresden raid was about 40 per cent incendiaries—much closer to the RAF city-busting mix than the USAAF usually used in precision bombardment.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=366}} Taylor compares this 40 per cent mix with the [[Bombing of Berlin in World War II#March 1944 to April 1945|raid on Berlin]] on 3 February, where the ratio was 10 per cent incendiaries. This was a common mix when the USAAF anticipated cloudy conditions over the target.{{sfn|Davis|2006|pp=425, 504}}

[[File:96bg-b17.jpg|thumb|B-17s similar to some of the Dresden raiders, with [[H2X radar]]s extended from the belly where a turret would normally have been. Other B-17s relied on signals from those with radar]]
316 [[B-17 Flying Fortress]]es bombed Dresden, dropping 771 tons of bombs.{{sfn|Addison|Crang|2006|p=65}}{{sfn|Davis|2006|p=504}} The remaining 115 bombers from the stream of 431 misidentified their targets. Sixty [[Bombing of Prague in World War II|bombed Prague]], dropping 153 tons of bombs, while others bombed [[Most (city)|Brüx]] and [[Plzeň|Pilsen]].{{sfn|Davis|2006|p=504}} The 379th bombardment group started to bomb Dresden at 12:17, aiming at marshalling yards in the Friedrichstadt district west of the city centre, as the area was not obscured by smoke and cloud. The 303rd group arrived over Dresden two minutes after the 379th and found their view obscured by clouds, so they bombed Dresden using H2X radar. The groups that followed the 303rd (92nd, 306th, 379th, 384th and 457th) also found Dresden obscured by clouds, and they too used H2X. H2X aiming caused the groups to bomb with a wide dispersal over the Dresden area. The last group to attack Dresden was the 306th, and they finished by 12:30.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=374}}

No evidence of [[strafing]] of civilians has ever been found, although a March 1945 article in the Nazi-run weekly newspaper ''[[Das Reich (newspaper)|Das Reich]]'' claimed this had occurred.{{efn|Civilian strafing was in fact a regular practice of the Luftwaffe throughout the war.{{sfn|Neitzel|Welzer|2012|pp=57–58}} }} Historian Götz Bergander, an eyewitness to the raids, found no reports on strafing for 13–15 February by any pilots or the German military and police. He asserted in ''Dresden im Luftkrieg'' (1977) that only a few tales of civilians being strafed were reliable in detail, and all were related to the daylight attack on 14 February. He concluded that some memory of eyewitnesses was real, but that it had misinterpreted the firing in a dogfight as deliberately aimed at people on the ground.{{sfn|Bergander|1998|pp=204–209}} In 2000, historian Helmut Schnatz found an explicit order to RAF pilots not to strafe civilians on the way back from Dresden. He also reconstructed timelines with the result that strafing would have been almost impossible due to lack of time and fuel.<ref>Helmut Schnatz, ''Tiefflieger über Dresden? Legenden und Wirklichkeit'' (Böhlau, 2000, {{ISBN|3-412-13699-9}}), pp. 96, 99</ref> Frederick Taylor in ''Dresden'' (2004), basing most of his analysis on the work of Bergander and Schnatz, concludes that no strafing took place, although some stray bullets from aerial dogfights may have hit the ground and been mistaken for strafing by those in the vicinity.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|loc=Appendix A. "The Massacre at Elbe Meadows"}} The official historical commission collected 103 detailed eyewitness accounts and let the local bomb disposal services search according to their assertions. They found no bullets or fragments that would have been used by planes of the Dresden raids.{{sfn|Neutzner|Schönherr|Plato|Schnatz|2010|pp=71–80}}

On 15 February, the 1st Bombardment Division's primary target—the [[Böhlen]] synthetic oil plant near [[Leipzig]]—was obscured by clouds, so its groups diverted to their secondary target, Dresden. Dresden was also obscured by clouds, so the groups targeted the city using H2X. The first group to arrive over the target was the 401st, but it missed the city centre and bombed Dresden's southeastern suburbs, with bombs also landing on the nearby towns of [[Meissen]] and [[Pirna]]. The other groups all bombed Dresden between 12:00 and 12:10. They failed to hit the marshalling yards in the Friedrichstadt district and, as in the previous raid, their ordnance was scattered over a wide area.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=392, 393}} Railroad operations at Dresden resumed within three days.{{sfn|Levine|1992|p=179}}

===German defensive action===
Dresden's air defences had been depleted as anti-aircraft guns were requisitioned for use against the Red Army in the east, and the city lost its last massive flak battery in January 1945. The Luftwaffe was largely ineffective, with planes that were unsafe to fly due to lack of parts and maintenance and a critical shortage of aviation fuel; the German radar system was also degraded, lowering the warning time to prepare for air attacks. The RAF also had an advantage over the Germans in the field of electronic radar countermeasures.{{sfn|Biddle|2008|pp=418, 421}}

Of 796 British bombers that participated in the raid, six were lost, three of those hit by bombs dropped by aircraft flying over them. On the following day, only a single US bomber was shot down, as the large escort force was able to prevent Luftwaffe day fighters from disrupting the attack.{{sfn|Addison|Crang|2006|pp=66–68}}

===On the ground===
[[File:Fotothek df ps 0000047 Eine Mutter über dem Kinderwagen ihrer Zwillinge im Tode.jpg|thumb|Bodies, including a mother and children]]
 {{blockquote|"It is not possible to describe! Explosion after explosion. It was beyond belief, worse than the blackest nightmare. So many people were horribly burnt and injured. It became more and more difficult to breathe. It was dark and all of us tried to leave this cellar with inconceivable panic. Dead and dying people were trampled upon, luggage was left or snatched up out of our hands by rescuers. The basket with our twins covered with wet cloths was snatched up out of my mother's hands and we were pushed upstairs by the people behind us. We saw the burning street, the falling ruins and the terrible firestorm. My mother covered us with wet blankets and coats she found in a water tub."

"We saw terrible things: cremated adults shrunk to the size of small children, pieces of arms and legs, dead people, whole families burnt to death, burning people ran to and fro, burnt coaches filled with civilian refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many were calling and looking for their children and families, and fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm threw people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from."

"I cannot forget these terrible details. I can never forget them."|Lothar Metzger, survivor.<ref name=Metzer>"Timewitnesses", moderated by Tom Halloway, ''[http://timewitnesses.org/english/~lothar.html The Fire-bombing of Dresden: An Eyewitness Account] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926230058/http://timewitnesses.org/english/%7Elothar.html|date=26 September 2006}}'' Account of Lothar Metzer, recorded May 1999 in Berlin.</ref>}}

The sirens started sounding in Dresden at 21:51 (CET).{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=4}} Frederick Taylor writes that the Germans could see that a large enemy bomber formation—or what they called "{{lang|de|ein dicker Hund}}" (lit: a fat dog, a "major thing")—was approaching somewhere in the east. At 21:39 the Reich Air Defence Leadership issued an enemy aircraft warning for Dresden, although at that point it was thought Leipzig might be the target. At 21:59 the Local Air Raid Leadership confirmed that the bombers were in the area of Dresden-[[Pirna]].{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=278, 279}} Taylor writes the city was largely undefended; a night fighter force of ten [[Messerschmitt Bf 110]]Gs at [[Dresden Airport|Klotzsche airfield]] was scrambled, but it took them half an hour to get into an attack position. At 22:03 the Local Air Raid Leadership issued the first definitive warning: "Warning! Warning! Warning! The lead aircraft of the major enemy bomber forces have changed course and are now approaching the city area".{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=280}} Some 10,000 fled to the great open space of the Grosse Garten, the magnificent royal park of Dresden, nearly {{convert|1.5|sqmi}} in all. Here they were caught by the second raid, which started without an air-raid warning, at 1:22&nbsp;a.m.<ref>{{Cite web|title=a:\dresden.HTM|url=http://www.faem.com/edward/dresden.htm|access-date=2021-03-09|website=www.faem.com}}</ref> At 11:30&nbsp;a.m., the third wave of bombers, the two hundred and eleven American Flying Fortresses, began their attack.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z0309-310, Zerstörtes Dresden.jpg|thumb|Over ninety per cent of the city centre was destroyed.]]
{{blockquote|To my left I suddenly see a woman. I can see her to this day and shall never forget it. She carries a bundle in her arms. It is a baby. She runs, she falls, and the child flies in an arc into the fire.

Suddenly, I saw people again, right in front of me. They scream and gesticulate with their hands, and then—to my utter horror and amazement—I see how one after the other they simply seem to let themselves drop to the ground. (Today I know that these unfortunate people were the victims of lack of oxygen.) They fainted and then burnt to cinders.

Insane fear grips me and from then on I repeat one simple sentence to myself continuously: "I don't want to burn to death". I do not know how many people I fell over. I know only one thing: that I must not burn.|Margaret Freyer, survivor.<ref>Margaret Freyer, survivor, cited in Cary, John. "The Bombing of Dresden," in ''Eyewitness To History''. New York: Avon Books, 1987, pp. 608–11. Also see [http://www.spartacus-educational.com/2WWdresden.htm "Bombing of Dresden"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709092153/http://spartacus-educational.com/2WWdresden.htm|date=9 July 2014}}, Spartacus Educational, retrieved 8 January 2008.</ref>}}{{Blockquote|text=Suddenly, the sirens stopped. Then flares filled the night sky with blinding light, dripping burning phosphorus onto the streets and buildings. It was then that we realized we were trapped in a locked cage that stood every chance of becoming a mass grave.|author=[[Victor Gregg]], survivor.|source=}}[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-60015-0002, Dresden, Denkmal Martin Luther, Frauenkirche, Ruine.jpg|thumb|left|Statue of [[Martin Luther]] with ruined Frauenkirche]]

There were few public [[air raid shelter]]s. The largest, beneath the main railway station, housed 6,000 refugees.{{sfn|Taylor|2004|pp=243–4}} As a result, most people took shelter in cellars, but one of the air raid precautions the city had taken was to remove thick cellar walls between rows of buildings and replace them with thin partitions that could be knocked through in an emergency. The idea was that, as one building collapsed or filled with smoke, those sheltering in the basements could knock walls down and move into adjoining buildings. With the city on fire everywhere, those fleeing from one burning cellar simply ran into another, with the result that thousands of bodies were found piled up in houses at the ends of city blocks.{{sfn|De Bruhl|2006|p=237}}
A Dresden police report written shortly after the attacks reported that the old town and the inner eastern suburbs had been engulfed in a single fire that had destroyed almost 12,000 dwellings.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=408}} The same report said that the raids had destroyed the [[Wehrmacht]]'s main command post in the [[Taschenbergpalais]], 63 administration buildings, the railways, 19 military hospitals, 19 ships and barges, and a number of less significant military facilities. The destruction also encompassed 640 shops, 64 warehouses, 39 schools, 31 stores, 31 large hotels, 26 public houses/bars, 26 insurance buildings, 24 banks, 19 postal facilities, 19 hospitals and private clinics including auxiliary, overflow hospitals, 18 cinemas, 11 churches and 6 chapels, 5 consulates, 4 [[tram]] facilities, 3 theatres, 2 market halls, the zoo, the waterworks, and 5 other cultural buildings.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=408}} Almost 200 factories were damaged, 136 seriously (including several of the Zeiss Ikon precision optical engineering works), 28 with medium to serious damage, and 35 with light damage.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=409}}

An RAF assessment showed that 23 per cent of the industrial buildings and 56 per cent of the non-industrial buildings, not counting residential buildings, had been seriously damaged. Around 78,000 dwellings had been completely destroyed; 27,700 were uninhabitable, and 64,500 damaged but readily repairable.<ref name=USAFHD/>

During his post-war interrogation, [[Albert Speer]], [[Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production|Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production]], said that Dresden's industrial recovery from the bombings was rapid.<ref>Robin Cross (1995) ''Fallen Eagle: The Last Days of the Third Reich''. London, Michael O' Mara Books: 106</ref>

===Fatalities===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-08778-0001, Dresden, Tote nach Bombenangriff.jpg|thumb|Bodies awaiting cremation]]
According to the official German report {{lang|de|Tagesbefehl}} (Order of the Day) no.&nbsp;47 ("TB47") issued on 22 March, the number of dead recovered by that date was 20,204, including 6,865 who were cremated on the ''Altmarkt'' square, and they expected the total number of deaths to be about 25,000.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=42}}{{sfn|Evans|1996|loc="[http://www.hdot.org/en/trial/defense/evans/5-3.html The Bombing of Dresden in 1945]; [https://www.hdot.org/evans/#evans_5-2-d Falsification of statistics: The real TB 47]}} Another report on 3 April put the number of corpses recovered at 22,096.{{sfn|Addison|Crang|2006|p=75}} Three municipal and 17 rural cemeteries outside Dresden recorded up to 30 April 1945 a total of at least 21,895 buried bodies from the Dresden raids, including those cremated on the ''Altmarkt''.{{sfn|Neutzner|Schönherr|Plato|Schnatz|2010|pp=38–39}}

Between 100,000 and 200,000 refugees{{sfn|Biddle|2008|p=420}} fleeing westward from advancing Soviet forces were in the city at the time of the bombing. Exact figures are unknown, but reliable estimates were calculated based on train arrivals, foot traffic, and the extent to which emergency accommodation had to be organised.<ref name="Evans-Chapter-5.2.vii">{{harvnb|Evans|1996|loc=[http://www.hdot.org/en/trial/defense/evans/520dvii.html (vii) Further misuse of figures: refugees, burials, and excavations]}}.</ref> The city authorities did not distinguish between residents and refugees when establishing casualty numbers and "took great pains to count all the dead, identified and unidentified".<ref name="Evans-Chapter-5.2.vii"/> This was largely achievable because most of the dead succumbed to suffocation; in only four places were recovered remains so badly burned that it was impossible to ascertain the number of victims. The uncertainty this introduced is thought to amount to no more than 100 people.<ref name="Evans-Chapter-5.2.vii"/> 35,000 people were registered with the authorities as missing after the raids, around 10,000 were later found alive.<ref name="Evans-Chapter-5.2.vii"/>

A further 1,858 bodies were discovered during the reconstruction of Dresden between the end of the war and 1966.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|loc=last page of Appendix B p.509}} Since 1989, despite extensive excavation for new buildings, no new war-related bodies have been found.{{sfn|Taylor|2005|p=509}} Seeking to establish a definitive casualty figure, in part to address propagandisation of the bombing by far-right groups, the Dresden city council in 2005 authorised an independent Historians' Commission (''Historikerkommission'') to conduct a new, thorough investigation, collecting and evaluating available sources. The results were published in 2010 and stated that between 22,700<ref name="Shortnews">{{citation|author=Shortnews staff|date=14 April 2010|url=http://www.shortnews.de/id/826593/alliierte-bombenangriffe-auf-dresden-1945-zahl-der-todesopfer-korrigiert|title=Alliierte Bombenangriffe auf Dresden 1945: Zahl der Todesopfer korrigiert|language=de|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221230517/http://www.shortnews.de/id/826593/alliierte-bombenangriffe-auf-dresden-1945-zahl-der-todesopfer-korrigiert|archive-date=21 February 2014}}</ref> and 25,000 people<ref name="Rolf">{{citation|editor-first=Rolf-Dieter|editor-last=Müller|editor2-first=Nicole|editor2-last=Schönherr|editor3-first=Thomas|editor3-last=Widera|title=Die Zerstörung Dresdens: 13. bis 15. Februar 1945. Gutachten und Ergebnisse der Dresdner Historikerkommission zur Ermittlung der Opferzahlen.|publisher=V&R Unipress|year=2010|isbn=978-3899717730|language=de|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=02xJmNFrjY0C&pg=PA48 48]}}</ref> had been killed.