redlightning
Banned
If the atomic bomb had been readied say in the summer of 1944, how would the Allies choose to target Germany and the Axis?
It is very likely that Dresden would become a target, for much the same reason it was subjected to degree of over-bombing IOTL. It would provide the Soviets an object lesson on WAllied air power.
It is very likely that Dresden would become a target, for much the same reason it was subjected to degree of over-bombing IOTL. It would provide the Soviets an object lesson on WAllied air power.
It is very likely that Dresden would become a target, for much the same reason it was subjected to degree of over-bombing IOTL. It would provide the Soviets an object lesson on WAllied air power.
Was Dresden really bombed only to provide the Soviets a lessen? Is there any evidence to support this?
In the midst of winter wit refugees pouring westwards and troops to be rested, roofs are at a premium... Dresden has developed into an industrial city of first-class importance... its multiplicity of telephones and rail facilities is of major value for controlling the defence of that part of the front now threatened by Marshal Konev's offensive... The intentions of the attack are to hit the enemy where he will feel it most, behind an already partially collapsed front... and incidentally to show the Russians when they arrive what Bomber Command can do.
What about somewhere in the Ruhr, like Essen?
Bonus symbolism points for being the home of Krupp. Maybe nuke the start of the Rhine and let the radiation spread down to the factory towns
The official reason for targeting the City was a Soviet request to provide support Red Army operations. There were a number of legitimate targets in the city, numerous factories and smaller manufacturing site that produced materials for the Wehrmacht. There is also considerable anecdotal evidence that it was seen as an opportunity to remind the Soviets that the Anglo/Americans were not to be underestimated (this exists to the degree that it even appears in the World at War TV programs).
The bombing, however, was controversial almost from the moment it started, with the politicians scurrying away from it as rapidly as they could. It was perhaps the most severe case of over-bombing in the entire war. The City absorbed four separate raids in a two day period (originally scheduled for five raids, but weather scrubbed the daylight strike on the 13th), starting with a two heavy RAF incendiary strikes on February 13/14 (same night, raids spaced three hours apart, the better to review BDA and to catch first responders in the second wave) against the urban area followed by two day light raids on the marshalling yards on the 14th and 15th (63 aircraft from the daylight raid on the 14th got lost and bombed Prague by mistake). The 8th AF returned twice more, in March and then in April to pound the yards again. As a result of the almost unbelievable damage, and the decision to allow reporters unusually free access, there was some fairly serious negative response among the Allied civilian population. Whatever secondary reasons that existed were rapidly buried by a series of "investigations" that concluded that the attacks were militarily sound. Any other considerations and memos are still buried in the archives and will remain there for at least five more years (75 years after the attacks).
That they Combined Bomber Offensive literally devoted all of Bomber Command and the 8th Air Force, for two days, to hitting one set of targets, over and over, was, to say the least, unusual.
Until April 1945, Dresden held the distinction that Hiroshima held in Japan of largest unbombed city. There's a theory that this isn't coincidence... or then again, it was deep in Germany and hard to reach, so maybe not.
I find it unlikely that the target would be selected on purely symbolic grounds; something of strategic value would be preferred. But a target would probably be selected that would demonstrate the atomic bomb to its' full effect and to an audience capable of appreciating the significance.
That means an industrial city or transport nexus, preferably one that was relatively undamaged. Dresden ticks the right boxes, as does Chemnitz; there are doubtless others. Berlin is of course possible on the grounds of 'screw it, just go for the capital', but may not actually have the desired effect. Especially if Hitler isn't in Berlin at the time. Depending on timing, leaving Hitler but killing Himmler, Goering et al might actually do the Nazis a favour.![]()