Sorry...I posted the above link before realizing we have revisited Dresden again and again, more recently with the help of Martin Gilbert, and this is out current standard email reply to questions on the matter:
Here are several documents to read, which include primary and secondary sources, some from the teacher/educator sections of our website. Many teachers are curious about Dresden—and the myth that Churchill bombed the city out of spite for the German bombing of England: 1) Our own comments on the subject, in our series, “Leading Churchill Myths” http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/myths/myths/he-bombed-dresden-as-payback-for-coventry 2) “ ‘Are We Beasts?’ Churchill and the Moral Question of World War II ‘Area Bombing,’” by Christopher C. Harmon. Churchill was the only leader to question the morality of bombing. http://www.winstonchurchill.org/images/pdfs/for_educators/Harmon__Are%20We%20Beasts___np1[1].pdf 3) “Churchill on Bombing Policy”: The Fifth Churchill Lecture by Sir Martin Gilbert, 2005. This is an overview of Churchill’s involvement with air power and bombing for half a century: http://www.winstonchurchill.org/images/pdfs/for_educators/Gilbert%20TCC%20Lecture%20CHURCHILL%20AND%20BOMBING%20POLICY.pdf 4) An excerpt on Dresden from Sir Martin’s official biography, Winston S. Churchill, vol. VII http://www.winstonchurchill.org/images/pdfs/for_educators road_to_victory_part_1and2excerpts.pdf 5) A review by Professor David Freeman of Pat Buchanan’s book, Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War, which contains numerous false statements and charges, including the one about Dresden. http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/books-about/we-read-them-so-you-dont-have-to/a-polemic-not-a-history My favorite story about this subject was related by Sir Martin Gilbert himself, who went to Moscow to lecture about the Soviet-British war effort, and told the story of Dresden. When Sir Martin revealed these facts—that the Dresden bombing request had some from the Soviets—to an audience of high-ranking Soviet officials, there was a long silence. And then a highly decorated officer stood up, bedizened in medals, introducing himself as a key aide to the Soviet leadership at that time. He turned to his colleagues and said, “Everything Doctor Gilbert says is true.” -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en.
