I have been to Dresden "The Florence on the Elbe" and one of the few cities in the world that truly lives up to its reputation and I have also attended a Handel concert in the Frauenkirche.
I have also helped to recover the remains of Soviet soldiers in the fields outside the city of Stalingrad (Volgograd) on a number of occasions recently and I have stood on the banks of the River Volga to which the German Army pushed the Red Army to within 100 meters and looked across to the eastern bank which geographically is part of Asia.
At one time the Nazis held an empire which spanned from Brittany to the gates of Asia.
Dresden was one of three cities earmarked for destruction together with Chemnitz and Berlin as part of Operation Thunderclap to help the Red Army in its offensive to capture Berlin and at the direct request of the Soviet High Command and with the approval of Marshal Stalin.
Last edited by DC10RealMan; 18th Feb 2013 at 23:16.