- MichelleMedenblik
FRAGMENTS | Dresden
On February 13-15, 1945, 722 British RAF bombs and 522 American Air Force bombs dropped 3,900 tons of explosives on Dresden. About 25,000 were killed in those bombings and immediately after them a debate was sparked as to whether the bombings were necessary or not. Those who argued in favor emphasized that it was a location for railroads and communications, which included 110 factories and 50,000 workers in the war service. Critics of the bombings argued that Dresden was a cultural area of no strategic importance and that the bombings were dropped indiscriminately and without the proportion that justified their usefulness.
In March 1945, the German government ordered the media to inflate the death toll between 200,000 and 500,000. The city authorities estimated the death toll at 25,000 and another study conducted in 2010 confirms this number.