The raid on Dresden was a sledgehammer to crack a nut because Churchill wanted to demonstrate to Stalin what Bomber Command could do
Ah Dresden! Like many myths it doesn't stand up to dispassionate analysis.
Early grossly inflated estimates of civilian casualties on the night of 13/14 Feb 45 were as high as 135 000 (More than either of the first 2 nukes - see below). Modern disinterested historians have revised this down to more like 35 000. Of course at the time, the overestimate suited the propaganda machines of
both (all three?) sides.
Still awful, but put it into context:
6 Apr 41 - Luftwaffe on Belgrade (first major, concentrated city bombing of WW2) 17 000 (London Blitz of late 1940/early 1941 took 8 months to kill 30 000 civilians)
23 Aug 42 - Luftwaffe on to Stalingrad - 40 000
28/29 Jul 43 - Allies on Hamburg - 42 000
9/10 Mar 45 - US on Tokyo - 84 000
and of course
Hiroshima - 122 000 (at the time or very soon after. (Although Fat Man a few days later "only" managed 49 000 at Nagasaki).
I would emohasise that these are overwhelmingly the
civilian casualties on a single day/night. I have references for all those figures if anyone's that interested.