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  • BBC History Magazine

    Reduced to rubble

    Feb 20, 2020 4 minutes

    In mid-February 1945, British and American air forces bombed the German city of Dresden. Over the course of three days – with the main raid occurring on the night of 13 February – they dropped around 4,000 tons of explosives and incendiaries on a city that had previously been renowned for its beauty and cultural importance. Dresden was all but destroyed, engulfed in a hellish firestorm in which an estimated 25,000 people were killed.

    The bombing of Dresden has long been controversial and has long been exploited by those with an axe to grind. Its death toll has been mendaciously inflated by apologists for

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