"What I found particularly shocking however about Dresden was the enormous destruction and loss of life (depending upon estimate anything from 25,000 to about 5 times that - in less than 48 hours), in a largely non-military city, when we were already in Europe and working our way steadily across it. It is very hard to see the military justification compared to e.g. the British bombing of Berlin, or even the German bombing of Coventry which were dreadful events in themselves, but more easily understandable militarily."
The damage and loss of life were indeed appalling, but it is not true to say that Dresden was a non-military target. It was infact the closest railhead to the advancing russian army, through which the German reinforcements and supplies were arriving. The loss of life was vastly increased by the fact that thousands of refugees were also travelling West through Dresden in order to escape the Russians; I suspect shelters were at a premium. The aiming point was, I believe, the marshalling yards. Whilst the loss of life was awful, I find the attack on Dresden to be easier to understand militarily than the attacks on Berlin, which were valuable only in a strategic context. While Dresden was undoubtably a strategic attack, the reasons for its targetting at that particular time involved a degree of tactical thinking.