Missing The Boat: War Stories of Thomas Alan Dirkin

33 The bombing of Dresden was massive compared to Coventry. While the targeting of Dresden was publically explained as a strategic manufacturing target, it was hoped that the annihilation of Dresden, fully knowing that there would be high civilian casualties, would demoralize Germany and bring the end of war quickly. Most statistical estimates on the death toll at Dresden were 22- 25,000 people. However, there were huge numbers of undocumented refugees and POWs in Dresden at the time of the bombing. Given the complete destruction, the death toll was likely to have exceeded that of Hiroshima, after the nuclear bomb was dropped. Some have suggested retrospectively, that the decision to bomb Dresden knowing the impact on civilian deaths, was a war crime. Certainly this conscious action was an awful act that brought untold death and misery. Hitler’s position was that all loyal Germans should be prepared to die for the cause. The probability of this single action resulting in ending the war was low. My father’s role in clean-up after the bombing, and his witnessing of the raids in February 1945 must have created multiple, vivid, horrific memories for him. I listened to my Dad’s firsthand accounts of the firestorm, created by the intense heat of the bombings in general, and from the use of incendiary bombs specifically. A British POW, who was in Dresden during the bombing, told of how people attempting to cross the road stepped into melted asphalt. It was running like lava. People who stepped into the asphalt would instantly catch on fire and their bodies literally explode. The POW also described how people would be sucked into the air by the backdraft from the fires, catch on fire in the air and explode, vaporized. My father’s description of hacking free the bodies of those stuck into the asphalt of melted, but once again solidified streets, was accurate.