Genghis,
but when I heard and saw what my country had done to Dresden I was shocked.
Were you not shocked when you read of what the Germans did to London and the cities that Kev mentions?
The sacrifice that allied Bomber crews went through deserves marking but is not, I'd argue, any reason to not openly discuss the damage they did, or the reasons why.
So, have read Norman Longmate, Len Deighton, Max Hastings and so many more who will give you chapter and verse on the subject. Why, who and wherefore.
From my perspective I was 9 years old when the Germans were dropping on us high explosives, incendiaries, aerial mines and butterfly bombs all to one purpose - to kill and maim. It was the docklands areas and the east end of London that was blasted night after night. Each attack designed to corrupt our major supply lines and, inevitably, to kill thousands of civilians. Does anyone think the Germans were sorry? Does anyone think it was the luck of the draw? I recall the fear of being woken up and then taken to our garden shelter night after night. We lived near three major war production factories, none were hit, but houses around us were. The devastation is not easy to describe but the fear on people's faces were evident. For children like me it was 'just' frightening but life went on until you went 'down the shelter' again.
I can also recall, quite easily as it happens, the news broadcasts by household names like Alvar Liddell telling us that the RAF had shot down XXX number of bombers or fighters. All the time, even as a youngster, we willed the government, Churchill in particular, to give as good as we got with a massive bonus thrown in for good measure. Two years of bombing was hard to take but the stoicism of the people, yes, and the kids, kept everyone going. Just so that you were told that the bombers were over Germany and giving them as good as we had had.
So as far as Hamburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf and all the major cities that the RAF bombed, I have no feelings for the targets, they were a consequence of terrible toll bought upon us by the Germans. They should not have expected anything else.
Then there is Dresden. Much has been said about its destruction but I don't mind. I still mind that that Prince Andrew went to Dresden to say sorry though but pray tell me who has come over to London to say sorry?
But why should I mind, and people like me, after the destruction that was wrought on me as one poor child caught up in a war not of our making. It would be inhuman to say that I don't have sympathy for the people who were killed, I do. But I have more for the friends and relations I lost as a result of war and of the thousands who were killed by just being at home!
Then there is the RAF. A brilliant bunch of BoB pilots who saved us from the tyranny of the Nazi's and the bomber crews who died giving back what Hitler did to us. Those crews, 55,000 of them, were killed paying the Germans back. And NOT one medal for any of them for a campaign of unimaginable courage and devotion to duty. Its not too late, but it is still a stain on Churchill's leadership.
IFR