Firebombing of Dresden, German by Allied Air Forces February (1945)
1945 · Short film · 19 min
Synopsis
Storm of Fire'' was produced by Cadre Films by Dr. R.C. Raack, faculty member of the History Department at California State University Hayward (0:17-0:26). Cadre was founded in part as an effort to reshape educational films and media, by telling marginalized stories, or stories that ran counter to accepted narratives. This particular documentary tells the story of the bombing of Dresden, which at the time it was conducted was justified as part of wartime Allied strategy, but which post-war observers came to believe was unjustified and at best immoral, and at worst a war crime. the film's narrative, in part, examines the brutal crimes against humanity that were committed by the German Fascists, and shows how those crimes helped create the environment that led to the firebombing of Dresden. The fact that civilians supported the Fascists and then were victims of the bombing campaign, is also part of the narrative. The attack itself was a joint British and American operation which consisted of four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945. The targets were major rail transport and communications centers, and factories supporting the German war effort. Over 1200 heavy bombers dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city. According to official post-war estimates that were confirmed by the city of Dresden itself in 2010, 22,700-25,000 people were killed in the resulting firestorms. (It's important to note that the German government published…
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Details
- Running time
- 19 minutes
- Collection
- Ephemeral Films
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Kurt Zweig
- Cadre Films
- History Department
- California State University Hayward
- German Fascists
- Elbe River
- Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
- Marshal Edward Rydz
- Polish Corridor
- Engineering Battalion