Dresden (55 page)

second great example: For the German invasion of Holland and Belgium, see Len Deighton,
Blood, Tears and Folly: An Objective Look at World War II
(London, 1993), p. 185f. Deighton also presents a cool, commonsense analysis of the bombing of Rotterdam (p. 365).

attempts by British bombers: See Richards,
Hardest Victory,
p. 45ff (also for the May 15/16 raid against German industrial targets); Deighton,
Blood, Tears and Folly,
p. 363f.

heroes' welcomes: Quoted from the essay by Hermann Rahne, “Zur Geschichte der Dresdner Garnison im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939 bis 1945” in
Verbrannt bis zur Unkenntlichkeit: Die Zerstörung Dresdens 1945,
ed. Friedrich Reichert (Dresden, 1994), p. 127.

“colossal anger”: Goebbels's reaction quoted in Jörg Friedrich,
Der Brand: Deutschland im Bombenkrieg
(Munich, 2002), p. 69.

“a splendid propaganda device”: Goebbels,
Tagebücher,
September 11, 1940, entry.

Chapter 10: Blitz

“fire gained ground”: Norman Longmate,
Air Raid: The Bombing of Coventry
(London, 1976), p. 93.

the Warwickshire Hospital: These and other details of the raid from Longmate,
Air Raid, passim
but especially p. 85f for the destruction of the cathedral.

568 civilians died: Figures from Longmate,
Air Raid,
p. 181f. (details of bombs dropped) and p. 190 (casualty figures).

“a concentrated attack”: Quote from the postwar autobiography of Sir Arthur Harris,
Bomber Offensive
(London, 1947), p. 83.

“though the flames licked”: From
Britain under Fire
(London, 1941), p. 12.

according to Albert Speer: Albert Speer,
Inside the Third Reich
(London, 1970), p. 388f.

Arthur Harris wrote: Harris,
Bomber Offensive,
p. 51f.

average daily death toll: German casualty figures for 1944 and 1945 in Friedrich,
Der Brand,
p. 68.

Chapter 11: Fire and the Sword

Mr. Southam explained: Quotes from the author's interview with Vaughan Southam B. Sc. (Cantab.), interview by author, Bristol (England), May 2001.

two hundred heavy bombers: Quoted in Max Hastings,
Bomber Command
(London, 1979, rev. ed. 1999), p. 111.

the morale of the enemy: Quoted in Martin Middlebrook,
The Battle of Hamburg: The Firestorm Raid
(London, 1980), p. 24.

Harris's schooling: See Dudley Saward,
“Bomber” Harris
(London, 1984), p. 4ff, and Henry Probert,
Bomber Harris, His Life and Times
(London/Mechanicsburg, 2001), p. 23ff.

“he had learned”: Probert,
Bomber Harris,
p. 31, and p. 36ff for Harris's career with the RFC.

Harris made a reputation: Harris,
Bomber Offensive,
p. 19ff for his account of the Northwest Frontier fiasco and Iraq, including quotations.

Harris had optimistically believed: For his high hopes and subsequent disappointment, see Harris,
Bomber Offensive,
pp. 92–95.

“the first German city”: Harris's comments in Harris,
Bomber Offensive,
p. 105. Description of the raid in Richards,
Hardest Victory,
p. 119f.

“the Führer declares”: Goebbels,
Tagebücher,
April 27, 1942, entry. 128 “Baedeker Raids”: Quoted in Niall Rothnie,
The Baedeker Blitz: Hitler's Attack on Britain's Historic Cities
(Shepperton, 1992), p. 11.

“The Thousand Plan tonight”: Longmate,
Bombers,
p. 220.

damage to Cologne: Quoted in Longmate,
Bombers,
p. 224. See also the slightly less impressive account of the thousand-bomber raid's effect on Cologne in Friedrich,
Der Brand,
p. 87ff.

“we have stationed”: Goebbels,
Tagebücher,
May 31, 1942, entry.

window: Account of the approach and sequence of attack from Middlebrook,
Battle of Hamburg,
p. 117ff. unless otherwise indicated. For further accounts of Hamburg ref. Martin Middlebrook
passim
and Longmate,
Bombers,
p. 256ff.

“a glass marble in a barrel of peas”: Quotation from Middlebrook,
Battle of Hamburg,
p. 128.

damage to Hamburg: Longmate,
Bombers,
p. 269.

“to a total halt”: Speer,
Inside the Third Reich,
p. 389.

“the destruction of a metropolis”: Goebbels,
Tagebücher
July 29,1943, entry.

panic that resulted: See Olaf Groehler,
Der Bombenkrieg gegen Deutschland
(Berlin, 1990), p. 199.

Chapter 12: The Reich's Air Raid Shelter

the sirens began to wail: Information on early alarms and stray bombs from Götz Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg: Vorgeschichte, Zerstörung, Folgen
(Würzberg, 1998, rev.ed.), p. 9ff.

Dresden had been excluded: Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 95.

air raid security gone crazy: Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 96.

“I do not dispute”: Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg,
p. 99ff, for the correspondence between Obergruppenführer von Woyrsch (SS chief for the Upper Elbe, based in Dresden) and Reichsführer Himmler, August 1943 onward.

the December attack: Groehler,
Der Bombenkrieg gegen Deutschland,
p. 205.

the firestorm in Kassel: Details and figures of the Kassel raid from Friedrich,
Der Brand,
p. 117ff.

Rumpf's report: Quotes from Rumpf and the economic warfare officer from Groehler,
Der Bombenkrieg gegen Deutschland,
p. 208. For other details see this and a lecture by Olaf Groehler reprinted in “Bombenkrieg gegen Leipzig 1940–1945,” in
Texte des Leipziger Geschichtsvereins e. V. Heft 4
(1994).

civilian casualties…were much lower: Groehler, “Bombenkrieg gegen Leipzig,” p. 18.

“danger exists”: Quote and the story of the failed evacuation of Dresden's children in Matthias Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht: Dresden 1944/45
(Dresden, 2000), p. 23ff.

“I want to be where you are”: Frau Anita (Kurz) John and Frau Nora Lang, interview by author, Dresden-Johannstadt, February 2002.

Rhenania Ossag: For details of the Freital-Gittersee raid of August 24, 1944, Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg
p. 25ff.

Robert Lee commented: Robert Lee's recollections of Dresden and his time as a POW in Freital from papers donated to Imperial War Museum, London.

“trust in the leadership”: Gittersee
Lagebericht
of August 30, 1945, quoted in Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht,
p. 45.

Chapter 13: A City of No Military or Industrial Importance?

three-letter manufacturing codes:
Oberkommando des Heeres: Liste der Fertigunskennzeichen für Waffen, Munition und Gerät
(Berlin 1944, reprinted 1977 and 1999).

“very incomplete”: Starke, “Vom Werkstättenareal zum Industriegelände,” p. 181.

“from 1923 I worked”: Interview with Rolf W. for IG “13. Februar” e. V. reproduced in Neutzner, ed.,
Martha Heinrich Acht,
p. 53.

including torpedo parts: Notes regarding the company's prewar business in Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden (references, HStaD)
Findbuch,
p. IIf. Report of
March 27, 1944, regarding changeover to armament production in HStaD Fa. Maschinenfabrik Richard Gäbel, Dresden, 1888–1947 Nr 46., correspondence with torpedo-testing station in Gotenhafen (Gdynia) Nr. 26.

wartime instructions included: Memorandum in company file in HStaD Nr 46.

J. C. Müller profits: See Beiträge zur Betriebsgeschichte VEB Tabak und Industriemaschinen Dresden (1956) in HStaD 11683 Nr 27. 150 fabulously rich Quandt family: Goebbels was married to the former wife of a member of this dynasty, to which his stepson, Harald Quandt, was one of the heirs. The Quandt family survived the war, unlike many of their employees. Its members remain at time of writing the largest private shareholders in the BMW motor company.

“not to a good place”: Ilana Turner, telephone interview by author, Tel Aviv, September 2002.

craftsmen at Hellerau: Information regarding the war production at Hellerau from Dr. Olaf Przybilski, Technical University, Dresden, with reference to essay by Virginie Przybilski, “Fremdund Zwangsarbeit in Dresden zur Zeit des Zweiten Weltkrieges,” on which he collaborated.

Radio-Mende's workforce: For the story of Radio-Mende see Starke, “Vom Werkstättenareal zum Industriegelände,” p. 178ff. 153 “City Disinfecting Institution”: Haase, Jersch-Wenzel, and Simon, eds.,
Die Erinnerung hat ein Gesicht,
p. 10.

Klemperer's views of the armaments Jews: Klemperer,
Klemperer Diaries,
p. 610.

fate of the Hellerberg Jews: Haase, Jersch-Wenzel, and Simon, eds.,
Die Erinnerung hat ein Gesicht,
p. 184f and p. 186ff for reproduction of the list of the so-called Ostabwanderung (east emigration) of Dresden Jews on March 3, 1943, kept in the records of the Dresden Jewish Community.

“everyone would still be alive”: Heinz Meyer to Rudolf Apt 9.9. 45 quoted in Haase, Jersch-Wenzel, and Simon, eds.,
Die Erinnerung hat ein Gesicht,
p. 135.

“twenty-minute journey”: Haase, Jersch-Wenzel, and Simon, eds.,
Die Erinnerung hat ein Gesicht,
p. 136.

“fine human being”: Quote from Brenner, “Das Lied ist aus,” p. 59.

Henny Wolf's eyesight: Information about close work at Zeiss-Ikon from Frau Henny Wolf Brenner, interview by author, Weiden October 2001. 158 closing of the Jewish Department: For the documents regarding this discussion at the RSHA in Berlin, see Haase, Jersch-Wenzel, and Simon, eds.,
Die Erinnerung hat ein Gesicht,
p. 140f.

“the fear was worse”: Brenner, “Das Lied ist aus,” p. 85.

size of the Dresden directorate: See Matthias Neutzner, “‘Der Wehrmacht so nahe verwandt'—Eisenbahn in Dresden 1939 bis 1945” in
Dresdner Geschichtsbuch 5
(Altenburg, 1999), p. 199ff.

“work rhythm of Dresden”: Neutzner, “Der Wehrmacht so nahe verwandt,” p. 205.

this was an important junction: Generalbetriebsleitung (Ost). The Generalbetriebsleitungen (East, West, South, and North) represented the tier of railway management above the directorates, and were responsible for coordinating long-distance rail movements. The Generalbetriebsleitung (Ost) in Berlin was the structure mainly responsible for the movements to and from the concentration and extermination camps.

“would shuttle five times”: Neutzner, “Der Wehrmacht so nahe verwandt,” p. 211.

“no sympathetic gaze”: Prisoner quoted in Heiner Lichtenstein,
Mit der Reichsbahn in den Tod
(Cologne, 1985), p. 81.

twenty-eight military trains: Neutzner, “Der Wehrmacht so nahe verwandt,” p. 203f.

“Dresden was an armed camp”: Letter from Colonel Harold E. Cook to the
Vancouver Sun
, n.d., reprinted in Alan Cooper,
Target Dresden
(Bromley, 1995), p. 245.

“a good target”: From a document of the railway directorate quoted in Neutzner, “Der Wehrmacht so nahe verwandt,” p. 213.

inspection of the air raid shelter arrangements: See Peter Reichler,
Dresden Hauptbahnhof
(Egglham, 1998), p. 54.

“air raid shelter of the Hauptbahnhof”: Neutzner, “Der Wehrmacht so nahe verwandt,” p. 214.

“by the last winter”: Bergander,
Dresden im Luftkrieg
, p. 108. Also for the succeeding quotation.

Chapter 14: Ardennes and After

lost forty-seven thousand men: Friedrich,
Der Brand,
p. 145f.

a lengthy analysis: Probert,
Bomber Harris,
p. 289, for this and subsequent arguments regarding Bomber Command's support role in Overlord.

“effects of strategic bombing”: Harris's memorandum on “The Employment of the Night Bomber Force in Connection with the Invasion of the Continent from the UK” of January 13, 1944, quoted at length in Saward,
“Bomber” Harris,
p. 247. The paper was circulated to Portal, Leigh-Mallory, and General Montgomery.

Martin Middlebrook's words: See Martin Middlebrook,
The Berlin Raids: RAF Bomber Command Winter 1943–44
(London, 1988), p. 306ff for the figures on casualties, p. 325 for his verdict.

ULTRA: ULTRA signified—to those “in the know”—material gained from German (and Japanese) coded radio communications. The British had early in the war cracked the German “ENIGMA” code, and were therefore privy to much secret information of enormous, even decisive, benefit in their wartime decision making.

“your very good letter”: Correspondence between Harris and Churchill quoted in Probert,
Bomber Harris,
p. 305.

cities that remained unbombed: Probert,
Bomber Harris,
p. 308.

“the lack of success”: Harris's letter to Portal, January 18, 1945, quoted in Probert,
Bomber Harris,
p. 311.

crisis when it came to fuel supplies: See Ronald C. Cook and Roy Conyers Nesbit,
Target: Hitler's Oil—Allied Attacks on German Oil Supplies 1939–45
(London, 1985), p. 165ff.

“attack on Germany's oil industry”: Ralph Bennett, author of
Behind the Battle: Intelligence in the War with Germany 1939–45
, quoted in Probert,
Bomber Harris,
p. 313.

“education of a bomber crew”: Harris,
Bomber Offensive,
p. 98.

Chapter 15: Thunderclap and Yalta

Bill Cavendish-Bentinck: For the background of Cavendish-Bentinck, see Patrick Howarth,
Intelligence Chief Extraordinaire: The Life of the Ninth Duke of Portland
(London, 1986), p. 9ff.