Destruction of Dresden and Hiroshima In World War II, the American and British allies often used the method of bombing other countries in order to advance; the usage of incendiary bombs, and even atomic bombs, were common occurrences. However, two main bombings that resulted in utter despair and the highest death counts were in Dresden, a city in Germany, and Hiroshima, a city in Japan. While tactics such as bombing counted to most people as acceptable actions within war, the motivation behind these particular attacks may not have been strong enough to account for the deaths of thousands, and it is a controversy still prevalent today. Kurt Vonnegut, an author held prisoner of war in Dresden, discusses his experience and knowledge gained from the Dresden firestorm in his novel Slaughterhouse Five, which alludes to the point that all bombings such as these, are unnecessary. Late at night on February 13, 1945, the city of Dresden experienced a horrific massacre that would result in the death of the inhabitants of almost the entire city, done by the Royal and American air forces. Due to what the Americans and British refer to as, “negative intelligence,” at that time, to them Dresden was known to be “an important industrial area, producing electric motors, precision instruments, chemicals, and munitions,” (Irving, 69). It was supposedly a center for communication and transportation, containing German postal and telegraph systems also, which is another reason why the allies felt it was an intelligent strategy to obliterate the city (Irving, 72). However, in reality, Dresden was the center of arts, containing theaters and museums. Also, according to the International Red Cross, it housed civilian hospitals, military dressing stations, and approximately 26,620 prisoners of war, including 2,207 Americans (Irving, 83).
