1945: Dresden devastated
On 13 February 1945, hundreds of bombers launch a massive Allied air raid against the city of Dresden, Germany. Over a three-day period, 3,900 tons of explosives and incendiaries were dropped by 1,300 British and American aircraft, reducing much of the city to smoldering rubble and killing between 35,000 and 135,000 civilians.
Some Allied officials were against the decision to bomb Dresden as Germany was clearly on the verge of collapse, and Dresden was not a German war-production city. The planners of the attack claimed that by bombing Dresden they were disrupting important lines of communication that would have hindered the Soviet offensive in the east. However, many suspected that the raid was part of an ongoing effort to terrorize the German population and thereby force an early surrender.
Dresden had been famous for its historic buildings and artwork until it became the victim of the single most destructive air raid of the European war.
http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/this_day_in_history/
1633 – Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before the Inquisition.
1635 – The Boston Public Latin School was established. It was the first public school building in the United States.
1900 – The Anglo-German accord of 1899 was ratified by Reichstag, in which Britain renounced rights in Samoa in favor of Germany and the U.S.
1920 – The League of Nations recognized the continued neutrality of Switzerland.
1920 – The National Negro Baseball League was organized.
1935 – In Flemington, New Jersey, a jury found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of the kidnapping and death of the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Hauptmann was later executed for the crimes.
1945 – During World War II, the Soviets captured Budapest, Hungary, from the German army.
1945 – During World War II, Allied aircraft began bombing the German city of Dresden.
1960 – France detonated its first atomic bomb.
1971 – South Vietnamese troops invaded Laos. They were backed by U.S. air and artillery support.
1984 – Konstantin Chernenko was chosen to be general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party’s Central Committee, succeeding the late Yuri Andropov.
1990 – In Ottawa, the United States and its European allies forged an agreement with the Soviet Union and East Germany on a two-stage formula to reunite Germany.
2000 – Charles M. Schulz’s last original Sunday “Peanuts” comic strip appeared in newspapers. Schulz had died the day before.
I think there are many times when it would be most efficient to use nuclear weapons. However, the public opinion in this country and throughout the world throw up their hands in horror when you mention nuclear weapons, just because of the propaganda that’s been fed to them.
Curtis Lemay
They sowed the wind and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.
Arthur Harris
The Trail 
Recent Comments