Hello everyone I am currently an undergrad Working on a research project for my 496 class. I am looking into the bombing of Dresden, specifically the actual military targets they were there and whether that warranted an attack on the city that late into the war. I have been going through everything from The New York Times articles during and after the bombing to many books about the bombing. I am trying to find some more good primary sources. I was going to get some documents from the United states air force historical archives but through an error on my part they wont be able to get me the documents I need in time. My question was if anyone had or new some good places to find either U.S.A.F or RAF maps or directives from the time to see what their targets were or anything else like first hand accounts from someone involved in the raids. Any help or point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank You
The National Archives at Kew hold RAF records, and look to have a number of Central Interpretation Unit reports on Dresden: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_aq=dresden&_dss=range&_sd=1944&_ed=1945&_ro=any&_ps=60
Unfortunately, unless you can get to Kew, I fear it'll be rather pricey to get them digitised. They should also have the [Operations Record Books] (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/raf-operations-record-books.htm) for the individual squadrons that were involved, which mostly look to be digitised already, but the sheer numbers involved probably make that prohibitively expensive as well, sorry.
References your library may have or Interlibrary Loan
TAIL-END CHARLIES The Last Battles of the Bomber War 1944-1945 by Nichol and Rennell
Luck and a Lancaster by Harry Yates
Bread And Butter Bomber Boys by Arthur White
This is not a primary document.
But, this is a USAF review, done 9 years later.
It's going to be hard to find actual target analysis documents, as they may still be classified. http://www.afhso.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-130523-051.pdf
Hijacking the thread because relevant subject.
Is that true that some german city, late in the war, were designed as target just because "they have not been bombed yet" ?
This is a secondary source rather than a primary, but it is the most up-to-date major study done by the city of Dresden itself. It's a pdf and in German but it seems to be quite good (from what my poor German skills can glean).