Editing Winston Churchill (section)

====Area bombing controversy====
{{main|Bombing of Dresden}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1994-041-07, Dresden, zerstörtes Stadtzentrum.jpg|thumb|The destruction of Dresden, February 1945]]
On the nights of 13–15 February 1945, 1,200 British and US bombers attacked [[Dresden]], which was crowded with wounded and refugees from the Eastern Front.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|pp=777–778}}{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=262–264}} The attacks were part of an [[area bombing]] campaign initiated by Churchill in January with the intention of shortening the war.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=777}} Churchill came to regret the bombing because initial reports suggested an excessive number of [[civilian casualties]] close to the end of the war, though an independent commission in 2010 confirmed a death toll of about 24,000.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8574157.stm |title=Up to 25,000 died in Dresden's WWII bombing |publisher=BBC News |date=18 March 2010 |location=London |access-date=2 May 2020 |archive-date=5 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205054434/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8574157.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> On 28 March, he decided to restrict area bombing{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=778}} and sent a memo to [[General Ismay]] for the [[Chiefs of Staff Committee]]:{{sfn|Taylor|2005|pp=430–431}}{{Sfn|Marr|2009|pp=423–424}}

{{blockquote|The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing.... I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives.... rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive.}}

Historian [[Frederick Taylor (historian)|Frederick Taylor]] has pointed out that the number of Soviets who died from German bombing was roughly equivalent to the number of Germans who died from Allied raids.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel-interview-dresden-bombing-is-to-be-regretted-enormously-a-341239.html |last=Hawley |first=Charles |title=Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously |newspaper=Der Spiegel |date=11 February 2005 |publisher=Spiegel-Verlag |location=Hamburg |access-date=2 May 2020 |archive-date=21 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621235051/http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,341239,00.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Jenkins asks if Churchill was moved more by foreboding than by regret, but admits it is easy to criticise with the hindsight of victory. He adds that the area bombing campaign was no more reprehensible than [[President Truman]]'s use of the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|second atomic bomb on Nagasaki]] six months later.{{sfn|Jenkins|2001|p=778}} [[Andrew Marr]], quoting [[Max Hastings]], says that Churchill's memo was a "calculated political attempt...to distance himself...from the rising controversy surrounding the area offensive".{{sfn|Marr|2009|pp=423–424}}