Re: [Marxism] It's the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden

[William Quimby <wquimby@xxxxxxx>]

For those of you who subscribe to, or otherwise
have access to, the New York Review Of Books, I
recommend looking at this recent review article by
Ian Buruma title The Destruction of Germany dated
Volume 51, Number 16, October 21, 2004.
Unfortunately it is not freely available on the web.

Something that has flashed through my mind
recently - what if Germany had NOT formally
surrendered on May 7th, 1945? We had the bomb (the
first test was two months later on July 16th,
1945) - and used it just a short time later on
Hiroshima - August 5, 1945. What would the world
be like now if we had used it - instead of the
potentially less powerful fire bombs - on one of
the grand cities of Europe?

- Bill

------------------------------------------
The Destruction of Germany
By Ian Buruma
Der Brand: Deutschland im Bombenkrieg
1940–1945(The Fire: Germany in the Bombing War,
1940–1945)
by Jörg Friedrich

Berlin: Propyläen Verlag, 592 pp., $25.00
Brandstätten: Der Anblick des Bombenkriegs(Scenes
of Fire: A View of the Bombing War)
by Jörg Friedrich

Berlin: Propyläen Verlag, 240 pp., $25.00

From the cockpit of an RAF Lancaster bomber, the
approach to a major German city at night in 1943
must have been a bit like entering a brightly lit
room stark naked—a moment of total vulnerability.
Trapped in the blinding web of searchlights,
tossed about by flak explosions, terrified of
fighter planes attacking from above, freezing in
temperatures well below zero, exhausted through
lack of sleep and constant tension, limbs aching
from having to sit in the same cramped position
for many hours, ears tormented by the screaming
engines of a plane fighting for its life, the
pilot knew he might be blown to bits at any time.
And that is indeed what happened to the more than
55,000 airmen in Bomber Command who lost their
lives somewhere over Germany.





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