70 years ago today since Dresden was bombed, killing over 25,000 civilians.I,ve been there a few times and was impressed with the way the city has and still is being rebuilt. I read something very interesting, the son of a pilot who took part in the bombing was the craftsman who rebuilt the cross and orb for the church of Our Lady which was destroyed then.
donald

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1465293/Cross-of-RAF-pilots-son-crowns-rebuilt-church-in-Dresden.html

This bombing was example of bad commands. Cologne Cathedral, a massive building, which took 600 years to build, was left unscathed, probable by agreement, while a small place like Dresden, making beautiful china & figurines by crafts people was razed to the ground.

Why?

Some of the survivors came to Ireland & opened a small factory to carry on the craft. A little shop used to sell these treasures. I bought a few which are a joy to have & admire.

Unfortunately it closed & was a big loss to the city, don't know if any other shops survive, I know Dresden was sold in up market shops in Dublin too. Never see any now.

Such a shame of War, the bombing of Dresden. Pat

So too was the bombing of London, Coventry, Plymouth and many other towns in UK long before Dresden.

I visited Dresden a few years ago while on a tour and Rhine Cruise and was really impressed by the place it was hard to believe that the city had been completely wiped out towards the end of the 2nd world war on I believe Churchill's orders by the RAF at night and the US Air Force by day. In contrast to that city Southampton in England which was also severly bombed but also rebuilt with the exception of a church in the south end of the city which to this day is there as a bombed out reminder of the horror of war. Mauri

Lowroader,
Those who can do nothing to prevent such atrocities are always the worst off. Rudyard Kipling comes to mind, when I read about such things.
"It,s Tommy this, it,s Tommy that, it,s Tommy go away, but thank you Mr Atkins when the band begins to play"!
Those involved always on all battle fronts had to do their duty and follow orders otherwise they would have been arrested and executed as traitors. Someone once said that a mule was worth more than a soldier because a mule had to be purchased and the price of a soldier was the postage stamp for his call-up papers.
Similar to the mines throughout the world, a beast of burden had to be bought a miner could be hired. In the 19th century when a miner died in a mine accident those colleges who carried his body home were deducted wages for the time they were absent from their place of work.
donald

The price of a soldier,sailor,airman,marine was sure as hell worth more than a postage stamp, who ever said that didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Personnel in these services had to be trained, fitted out with uniforms, weapons and of course clothed and fed, multiply this by thousands and the mules would be a heck of lot cheaper. Mauri

If my contribution is read correctly the person who said this meant how much it cost to acquire such a person or mule and not how much it cost to maintain them.Perhaps it would be advantageous if some contributors, before they answer,contradict or ridicule read the posts more carefully.
donald

To anyone conversant with the english lanuage the term price of a soldier,sailor,airman,marine clearly means the total price which includes everything on top of the postage stamp including transportation to his basic training school,barracks,airbase etc which I forgot to mention. Mauri

Anyone conversant with the English language should also know that English is written with a capital E
donald

pat,
i was spammed on my reply, but shorter post? cologne cathedral was spared because it was a referance for allied bombers

now now children settle. I have to say , there are some total ******* on this forum and none of them are female. this is why I lurk.

oops I see I've been censored again. i'll cleverly disguise it this time. substitute britches for ******** mea culpa.

Low Roader,

I agree with all you say about London etc.

My point was that Dresden was destroyed by 24 hour bombings in 1945 when the War was almost over.

Why was that necessary. Why so severe that the tarmac on the roads were on fire, wild animals from the Zoo roamed the city, nothing was left, what did that prove.?


Even the cities you mention did not suffer 24 hour bombings. I agree that England & even Ireland were victims of great hardship, I make no excuses for any War, but Dresden is a bombing everyone remembers, as it was at the end of the War.

Pat

Tom,

Surely a sacrilege, a Cathedral being used as a reference for destruction.

Pat

Pat,
Dresden got it because it was a great industrial area.
You are quite right,London, Plymouth etc did not get 24 hour bombing, they got weeks of it.
The only reason that the Nazis did not go 24 hours was a fear of being met by the RAF.Dresden's 24 hour blitz was possible only because the Luftwaffe had been decimated and was no longer able to cause any more mayhem. The people of south eastern England were subjected to totally indiscriminate attacks by doodle bugs for a long time after Dresden so try telling them that the war was effectively over at that time.
Please do not forget that the Hitler regime was a democratically elected (by a very large majority) government. The Nazis were not some small minority party but by far the largest party in Germany voted into power by the vast majority of its citizens.

"as you sow, so shall ye reap". Those words are still so true today.
God Bless
LR

http://www.rense.com/general85/ddes.htm
LR read tis
donald

Donald,
Opinions are like heads - everybody has one.
The simple fact remains that Germany took the world to war twice in the last century.
The Nazis tried to bomb the UK into submission and failed miserably, but in the process, they were responsible for death and destruction on a scale which could not even be imagined. Dresden was the direct result of Hitler's desire to turn every country in Europe into a satellite state of the Third Reich.
Thank God they failed, else you and I would not be having this discussion in a free democracy.
I can only repeat what I said to Pat "as you sow , so shall you reap"

Hallo all ye who are discussing the WAR. It's over thank God. Has man learned anything??????? With the state of the world today, I don/t think so. Pam

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message203562/pg1

Lowroader
Didn´t Churchill say " We slaughtered the wrong pig"?
When one sees what is happening today in Ukraine I am inclined to give him right. In the 70s when I came here to the Vaterland I had many German fellow workers who were soldiers in WW11. I never heard one ever remark he preferred to fight a war instead of staying at home with his family.They were called up and had to go. Not all Germans (in fact very few ) were Nazis, in fact I never experienced any hatred of foreigners, British or otherwise during the 44 years I have been here despite being a British citizen whose fellow countrymen were at war with Germany.
donald

BBC ONE - BREAKFAST, 13/02/2015.
DO NOT MISS!

Please, please watch that 7 minute video, in which a 95 year old veteran tells it how it was. A heart-breaking story of war, and its evil.

I have to say that Germany especially around munich and all of Austria is without a shadow of a doubt some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. the only problem is that theres too many germans in it. what a waste.

Eamon,
'Forgive us our trespasses' is intended even for bigots.

dabbler I think im a racist not a bigot. any way my comment is an in joke intended for herr vaters. I thought he would have responded promptly. probably drinking augisteiner whilst browsing mein kamp.

I was off-line this morning and my telephone was not working, probably some foreigners mucking about with the connection, very ungerman.I cannot read " Mein Kampf as I am unable to understand the old German print.
donald

Does anyone remember the late Alice Goodman? She was a German lady who worked in the Netting Department. I recall my Aunt Annie saying that during the war the said Alice used to proclaim, "O the poor Fuhrer' when Germany was getting the worst of it. I don't think anyone took offence, but gave her a fool's pardon. I often wonder how Alice came to live in the Low Road or even Lisburn. She rented a mill house, a large white semi, at the top of Victory Street. She was always late for work and was locked out more often than not. Anyone remember her?

Low Roader,

I take your point, but if the Lutwaffe was decimated why was 24 hour destruction necessary?. Why is the story of Dresden included as an example of the horrors of the last war to this day?

I totally admire & respect the fighting spirit of the English people (PEOPLE) including the troops, they were determined & courageous in Wartime.

But

2 wrongs don't make a right, fight clean, if someone is down, don't
destroy them just because we can or we are no better than them.

I also do not forget that despots & blackguards are sometimes the choice of a large majority of people as recent history tells us.

God is slow but He is sure. God bless. Pat

Ann
I remember her but thought she came as a war bride from Germany after the war. When I worked in the mill in 1959 she worked in the Examining dept.She was a very quiet lady. A brother of Harry Mullholland who was a builder bought the house. Another German was the gate man in the mill called Wilkie. I remember reading that Ireland, after WW11 collected over 1,000,000 Pounds for relief of war victims in Germany and Irish families took thousands of orphan children into their homes through the Red Cross. In Dublin there is a monument, donated to those families by the German Government to acknowledge this. That,s why there are so many German names today in Ireland. When I was attending a trade scholarship in the "big tech" in 1961 we had a German as metalwork instructor. He had been a POW and remained there after the war.
donald

Pamela,
To quote a scholar:
‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’

George Santayana

for goodness sake somebody start talking about pubs again. this is getting out of hand. pint of augusteiner or a schnapps anyone? ein prosit.

Donald,
I can only repeat what I have said before"Hitler was voted into power by a huge majority of the German people".
If, as you suggest the German people were against Hitler's agenda, it is very strange that the SS existed, that there were no shortage of guards for the extermination camps or that the anti - Semetic progrom existed without the knowledge of the populace.
LR