George,

Thanks for [posting] the article Revisiting Dresden.

I would add two comments. Had the Jews tried to exterminate the Germans that would not have made the holocaust justifiable but it would have made it understandable. The only reason the German air attacks did not kill more people is because the bombers and bombs in the early part of the war were not as efficient. This certainly makes the allied air war against Germany understandable. I have read that the allied bombing was in essence a second front since it tied up a million Germans in air defenses. It also tied up tens of thousands of 88 millimeter guns, which although used for anti-aircraft purposes was also one of the best anti-tank guns produced in the war. It is arguable had the air war not raged that the Germans may have been successful in their attack on the USSR.

That does raise the question whether by early 1945 a mentality of being in a war to the death that certainly gripped Britain could not have been moderated by a concern for the "enemy". I have often wondered whether among some of the older leaders if they were influenced by WW1. That war was never fought on German soil and hence Germany did not suffer as they did in the low countries and especially in France from the devastation to the country itself from the direct effects of war.

There is one other important distinction for the air crews involved compared to the guards in the concentration camps. The likelihood of being killed (even by fire) was much higher for the air crews than it was for German civilians. These were very brave men.

Walter Murray (electronic mail, October 22, 2003)