Dresden

At 9.51 p.m. on Tuesday 13 February 1945, Dresden's air-raid sirens sounded as they had done many times during the Second World War. But this time was different. By the next morning, more than 4,500 tons of high explosives and incendiary devices had been dropped on the unprotected city. At least 25,000 inhabitants died in the terrifying firestorm and thirteen square miles of the city's historic centre, including incalculable quantities of treasure and works of art, lay in ruins. In this portrait of the city, its people, and its still-controversial destruction, Frederick Taylor has drawn on archives and sources only accessible since the fall of the East German regime, and talked to Allied aircrew and survivors, from members of the German armed services and refugees fleeing the Russian advance to ordinary citizens of Dresden.

“'Well-researched and unpretentious ...; fascinating ...; Taylor skilfully interweaves various personal accounts of the impact of the raids'”

'In narrative power and persuasion, he has paralleled in Dresden what Antony Beevor achieved in Stalingrad' Independent on Sunday 'A well-written, scholarly account' Guardian 'Well-researched and unpretentious ... fascinating ... Taylor skilfully interweaves various personal accounts of the impact of the raids' Michael Burleigh, Guardian 'Impressive ... Taylor weaves a chilling narrative from eyewitness accounts and painstaking documentary research, particularly with German sources. He explains the conceptual and strategic background with admirable clarity. His account of the air operation itself is quite superb' The Times

Frederick Taylor was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School, and read History and Modern Languages at Oxford, and did postgraduate work at Sussex University. He edited and translated The Goebbels Diaries 1939-41.

At 9.15 p.m. on Tuesday, 13 February 1945, Dresden's air-raid sirens sounded as they had done many times in the previous five years, until then almost always in false alarm. By the next morning, 796 RAF Lancasters and 311 USAAF Liberators had dropped more than 4500 tons of high explosives and incendiary devices. More than 25,000 inhabitants (possibly many more) perished in the terrifying firestorm, and thirteen square miles of the city's historic centre, including quantities of treasure and works of art, lay in ruins. It was Ash Wednesday, 1945...Almost a lifetime later, the name of the city continues to echo uneasily in our collective memory, and controversy about Dresden's destruction persists. In this fascinating and meticulous new study, Frederick Taylor has intensively researched the German, British and American archives, and talked to the allied air crew and to the city's survivors - whether Jews working as slave labourers in the munitions and radar factories, refugees, members of the German armed services, or civilians - to reveal the most complete portrait of the city and its fate ever attempted.

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