File:De Havilland Mosquito (35635945053).jpg

Third part of Bombing of Dresden series: “Reality, myth, or war crime?”

The Bombings of Dresden is a controversial topic that must be treated with caution. First, it is widely known that Dresden has been used and manipulated by Nazis, with false propaganda estimations of 250,000 perished civilians after the attack. However, that doesn’t mean that the attack was in fact exempt from guiltiness. Concerning the possibility of a war crime and international law, these bombings could not be taken to martial court due to little amount of laws concerning air bombings. Nevertheless, this article is part of the Hague Convention of 1907 would directly condemn the attack. “Article 27: In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes.” The British, who actually did commit almost any war crime during the conflict announced the plane’s sights were the reason why centre areas were bombed. This has been widely disapproved by Historians, since even though it’s true optical sights could create errors, it’s impossible that they failed in such long distances which could even be measured in kilometres. Sir Arthur “Butcher” Harris, commander of the RAF, would later claim “I would have destroyed Dresden again”. This action, of course, has always been appointed as a command from high rank staff, sometimes considered a “revenge” for other attacks, such as the Battle of Britain. Hiding beneath the ashes, the Semperoper, the Dresden state opera house, was destroyed during the bombing, and rebuilt in 1985. It opened exactly 40 years after the bombing on 13 February with the same opera that was last performed before its destruction, Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber. So maybe war isn’t always the end. -- Here depicted a Mosquito on 6 December 1942. The De Havilland Mosquito aircraft were responsible for marking the targets with luminous flares.