The Archbishop of Canterbury has come in for a lot of criticism in the past few days because he dared to express regret for the Allied bombing of Dresden. It has been widely reported that he apologised for the bombing, which he has denied.
The BBC has also been criticised for referring to the bombing of Dresden seventy years ago as a war crime. Some critics have mentioned the sacrifice of the Allied bomber crews, but I can't recall ever hearing those people mention the sacrifice of German bomber crews during the Second World War. The word hypocrisy comes to mind.
It is true that more than 55,000 mostly British crewmen died in the bombing raids, but that was during the entire war. By contrast, around 25,000 people were killed by Bomber Command in just four raids on Dresden. Furthermore, the bomber crewmen who were killed were engaged in murder, whereas the citizens of Dresden had committed what crime exactly?
If very single one of the Allied bombers had been shot down on their very first raid, then a lot of innocent human lives would have been spared.
Related previous posts include:
Have you seen the Bomber Command thug?
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