From: wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Ray Saintonge
We should learn about these and other tragedies and say
"NEVER AGAIN!"
I visited Dresden last summer.
I was thinking about Dresden this morning. I was skyping with a German friend and he mentioned an upcoming visit to Dresden, which he described as being a city full of history. I couldn't speak for a few moments because I was thinking of what I knew of Dresden's history.
"The firebombing consisted of by-then standard methods; dropping large amounts of high-explosive to blow off the roofs to expose the timbers within buildings, followed by incendiary devices (fire-sticks) to ignite them and then more high-explosives to hamper the efforts of the fire services. This eventually created a self-sustaining firestorm with temperatures peaking at over 1500°C. After the area caught fire, the air above the bombed area became extremely hot and rose rapidly. Cold air then rushed in at ground level from the outside and people were sucked into the fire." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II