At least 25,000 inhabitants died in the terrifying firestorm and
thirteen square miles of the city's historic centre, including
incalculable quantities of treasure and works of art, lay in
ruins. In
this portrait of the city, its people, and its
still-controversial
destruction, Frederick Taylor has drawn on
archives and sources only
accessible since the fall of the East
German regime, and talked to
Allied aircrew and survivors, from
members of the German armed services
and refugees fleeing the
Russian advance to ordinary citizens of
Dresden.
>At 9. 51 p. m. on Tuesday 13th February 1945, Dresden's air-raid sirens
'In narrative power and persuasion, he has
paralleled in Dresden what Antony Beevor achieved in Stalingrad'
Independent on Sunday 'A well-written, scholarly account' Guardian
'Well-researched and unpretentious ... fascinating ... Taylor
skilfully interweaves various personal accounts of the impact of the
raids' Michael Burleigh, Guardian 'Impressive ... Taylor weaves a
chilling narrative from eyewitness accounts and painstaking
documentary research, particularly with German sources. He explains
the conceptual and strategic background with admirable clarity. His
account of the air operation itself is quite superb' The Times
> sounded as they had done many times during the
Second World War. But
this time was different. By the next
morning, more than 4,500 tons of
high explosives and
incendiary devices had been dropped on the
unprotected city.
At least 25,000 inhabitants died in the terrifying firestorm and
thirteen square miles of the city's historic centre, including
incalculable quantities of treasure and works of art, lay in
ruins. In
this portrait of the city, its people, and its
still-controversial
destruction, Frederick Taylor has drawn on
archives and sources only
accessible since the fall of the East
German regime, and talked to
Allied aircrew and survivors, from
members of the German armed services
and refugees fleeing the
Russian advance to ordinary citizens of
Dresden.
>At 9. 51 p. m. on Tuesday 13th February 1945, Dresden's air-raid sirens
