Harrowing WW 2 Footage
Harrowing footage from World War Two showing the annihilation of the German city of Dresden by Allied forces has resurfaced on the anniversary of the bombings which killed up to 25,000 people.
Video from 1945, shown as part of an American news report, shows the fearsome bomb attacks undertaken by the RAF on the night of February 13.
One shot from the footage shows an RAF plane being struck by an anti-aircraft gun, which the narrator describes as a ‘scarecrow’ in his voiceover.
The clip also shows American bombers moving over the east German city the following day, where they dropped more bombs in an effort to stop Hitler’s forces fending off the Soviet advance from the east.
At the start of the clip, with the American narrator describing the Allied attacks, British bombers are seen high above the Saxony city.
Dresden is then seen at night, with the aerial view showing the terrifying sound and light of the explosions.
One British plane falls victim to the ‘scarecrow’, which the narrator calls ‘Goebbels’s secret weapon’, with a frightening explosion in the sky.
Some 650,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on Dresden’s transportation lines by RAF Lancaster planes, according to the narrator, hampering the German forces.
The bombings then continue to ravage the city before American bombers from the Eighth Air Force are seen leaving vapour trails behind them as they join in the attack.
Bombs are seen from above as they fall on the German territory far below, with incongruously upbeat music finishing the news report as the narrator reports the success of the operation.
At the time Dresden was Germany’s largest city to not have been directly targeted by the Allies.
With some Soviet troops as close as 70 miles from Berlin at the start of February the western Allies decided to help them in their drive forward by disrupting efforts to move armaments to the Eastern front.
The narrator said the Allied airmen were ‘linking up their attacks with Marshal Stalin’s army’.
The bombings were also intended to cause a state of alarm and panic in the civilian population and weaken the German war effort.
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