The 1942 Dresden Yearbook stated:

Anyone who knows Dresden only as a cultural city...would be rightly surprised to be made aware of the extensive and versatile industrial activity, with all its varied ramifications, that make Dresden...one of the foremost industrial locations of the Reich.

Dresden was a functioning centre of enemy administration, industry, communications, transport, and logistics. In Autumn 1944, the Dresden military district was the most popular site for dispersed industry because of its perceived relative safety from air attack.

In October 1944, 28 military trains passed through per day, each train carrying more than 15,000 men. It was a key junction not only for east/west but also north/south, not just for troop movements but also to and from concentration camps such as Belzec and Auschwitz up to five times per day, with approximately 2,000 Jews each trip.

It produced precision glass for weapon sights, telex terminals for the Wehrmacht, torpedo parts for the Navy, as well as field telephones, radios, artillery observation devices, fuses, machine guns, searchlights, aircraft parts, directional guidance equipment, and ammunition. There were 127 different factories which contributed directly to the war, as well as countless smaller workshops and suppliers.

In January 1945, Guderian declared Dresden a "military defence point." It was expected to defend itself, with no surrender.