BBC News Coverage of Dresden Bombing

[Downwind.Maddl-Land]

Anyone else notice the 4 mins+ coverage of the Dresden bombing 60 years ago on the BBC News on Friday 11 Feb 05, as compared to the 0 mins coverage on the 60th anniversary of the Dams Raid in 2003?:(

Mustn't recall anything to be proud of, must we BBC; after all you might encourage some national pride and self esteem and that would never serve your Masters would it.....:yuk:

[Vox Populi]

Are you serious???

Did the d-day, Dunkirk, Battle of Britain anniversary's pass you by? Have you noticed the plans for VE and VJ day later this year?

( BBC People's War (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/) )

Not to mention the annual remembrance day programme.

I suspect the bbc has dedicated a lot more time to London Blitz stories over the years than it has to Dresden, so a little coverage (4 mins did you say?) hardly seems worthy of castigation.

vp

[Bright-Ling]

Despite the terrible loss of life at Dresden (not unlike Coventry, London and my home town of Plymouth) it is somewhat unbelievable to worry about a war WE didn't start.

(Ex Flt Lt.......)

[pr00ne]

Bright-ling,

As a matter of fact it was US who declared war on Germany, in fact Germany has never declared war on Britian, on both occasions we declared war on them.

I know that wasn't your point.


Downwind.Maddl-Land,

I thought the coverage was even handed and reflected the events rather well, if you recall the fuss David Irving caused some years ago it could have been a lot worse and far more hysterical.

[Vortex what...ouch!]

The UK did indeed declare war on Germany in 1939, however Germany declared war on the US after Pearl Habour.

[Jackonicko]

I thought that a 'State of War' came about because Germany failed to address Chamberlain's ultimatum over Poland?

On the original point, I thought the BBC reports were a bit unbalanced. Dresden is a complex argument, and while it was hardly Harris' finest hour, nor was it the war crime so often portrayed, and nor was Dresden without some value as a target.

[gashcan]

The father of a very close friend of mine was a bomber pilot during WW2 and ended it alive and with a DFC. When I was a small waste paper basket, he helped teach me to fly and inspired me to join the RAF.

I recently read Bomber Harris' biography and forwarded it to him in New Zealand where he now lives. he sent me the following reply:

"Dear Gashcan & family. I've left it a while to thank you for the book "Bomber Harris" because I haven't finished it yet. The reason for the delay was that I wanted to read and digest it first. Not that there was any chance of my agreeing with his critics. They either forget or never knew of our feelings during the war & the years beforehand. I well remember reaching my 18th birthday in 1941. I couldn't wait to get along to the aircrew recruiting office, and any means of beating them were perfectly acceptable. I certainly don't remember hearing about Dresden with any pity. I hope you still enjoy your flying - I've nearly lost the bug & can drive past an airfield and resist the turning of the steering wheel inwards. Hope to hear from you someday. Best wishes"

I think that sums up Dresden from the perspective of the time. It's easy to look back with different views when armed with the knowledge of hindsight - we shouldn't stand and judge so harshly those who fought (and those who died) for our freedom.

[hyd3failure]

Good Post. Makes you think eh?

[pr00ne]

JN,

I thought the coverage was fairly good, the best way to describe the event is perhaps as a tragedy rather than a crime, war itself is a crime against humanity, the bombing of Dresden was just one more tragedy in a whole series of tragedies, perhaps the real crying shame is that was most probably totally unneccessary.

[Downwind.Maddl-Land]

VP - Can't let that go I'm afraid. You are not comparing apples with apples. I'm trying to compare the coverage given to one notable raid on the News (about a sixth of the news time slot) with another (nothing), presumably because one is infamous and the other merely famous. My beef is that the infamous always seems to get the nod, especially if something slightly less than wholesome can be raked up.

I'll freely admit that the other events have been well covered - as they damn well should have been! The coverage of the Dams raid has been interesting over the years, with some programmes being excellent and others pi$$ poor.

Finally, the Dresden raid seems to be looked at with 20/20 hindsight. In Feb '45 there were 3 months of bloody fighting left, not that anyone knew that then. The Nazis were still fighting hard and thousands died in the remaining time. Those that now say 'the war was all but over' are not being realistic and putting themselves in the situation apertaining then. Suppose the Nazi Regime had developed an A-Bomb in those last 3 months - do you honestly believe that they wouldn't have used it?

[BEagle]

In fact much of the fissile material produced by the Nazis was on its way to Japan when Germany surrendered. It ended up being abosorbed into the Manhattan Project and was ultimately delivered to Japan in rather a different manner...

I've been to Dresden several times recently working with Elbefluzeugwerke and no-one has ever commented on the raid. They are busily sorting the place out after years of Communist neglect and it is a very thriving and forward-looking modern city.

The only leg-pulling has been by some of the West Germans against some of their former East German colleagues!