[Newsbot]

Title: BBC's insult to hero pilots: Veterans rage over Dresden coverage
Category: History
Posted By: N_Fiddledog
Date: 2015-02-13 18:21:21

[Regina]

http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vo6/no2/br-cl-eng.asp

[Thanos]

$1:

War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.

- William Tecumseh Sherman

[andyt]

Thanos Thanos:

$1:

War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.

- William Tecumseh Sherman

Sure, but each side only says it when they themselves have done something shitty. When they other side does it they are inhuman, which of course makes it easier to kill them with extreme prejudice.

[Zipperfish]

Thanos Thanos:

$1:

War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.

- William Tecumseh Sherman

Great quote.

[Thanos]

I respect the guys that served and am more than willing to call them heroes. Sometimes heroes have to do terrible things though, and then live with it the rest of their lives. I see nothing particularly honourable in aerial bombing a city. Only a genuine fool would think that only bad guys and war industries would get hit by the bombs and not women & kids or civilian-only infrastructure. So, no, bombing Dresden was not honourable, but it was still probably a necessity. And not even for the alleged damage it was causing to Nazi industry but because the incessant bombing campaign tied down tens of thousands of anti-aircraft artillery pieces that could have been switched over to an anti-tank role and deployed to the front lines The bombing also occupied the attention of the bulk of German fighter planes that also would have been used to devastating effect against the Allies on the battlefield.

Germany and Japan had given themselves over, and quite willingly too, to evil forms of government. Mega-death was a certainty the second Hitler entered the Reichstag as Germany's freely elected leader in 1933. That evil literally had to be burnt out of them. Such is history and such is war.

[martin14]

The BBC is light years ahead of everyone else with their nonsense revisionist version of history.

I'm sure the CBC will catch up one day.

[Jabberwalker]

One bit of revisionism that has crept up about Dresden is that they have dramatically reduced the casually rate of record down to 25,000. Back in the days that Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse Five everyone was going on about 100,000 dead. It was the Germans themselves who made the correction.

They could have easily interspersed information about Coventry to balance out the some of the notions around it. Coventry and Dresden are not unrelated and one led directly to the other. The Nazis opened Pandora's box and ultimately got bitten by the contents.

[Xort]

Was anything the BBC said factually incorrect?

[Jabberwalker]

"Facts" out of context ... thus is the nature of propaganda.

[Xort]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

"Facts" out of context ... thus is the nature of propaganda.

Does the context of bomber command having 50% casualties make taking vengeance on a civilian population any different?

[andyt]

$1:

The bombing of Dresden has always been a controversial episode. On Thursday evening the main BBC News bulletins reflected this and featured interviews with British veterans in coverage of preparations for the commemoration. On Friday we covered the commemoration ceremony in Dresden, which understandably reflected on the German experience.’

Can't have that now, can we. What's the point of winning the bloody war if we can't suppress any other viewpoints of it except our own.

[Regina]

martin14 martin14:

The BBC is light years ahead of everyone else with their nonsense revisionist version of history.

I'm sure the CBC will catch up one day.

Although the CBC didn't have anything to do with the writing or production, it was them who aired the controversial documentary "The Valour and the Horror" back in the early 1990's. Veteran tried to launch a Class Action suit against them and there was even a Senate Inquiry of the series. Quite a shit show from what I recall. The series is available online at www.nfb.ca

[Regina]

Before anyone make great claims and knowledge on the Dresden bombings, they should at least read a well researched book like the one I've previously linked to. It is one of the more recently published books on the bombing since the end of the cold war.

DRESDEN: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1945
by Frederick Taylor

$1:

While some historians are not necessarily above writing countering myths as a means of merely gaining attention, Taylor’s thoroughly researched Dresden clearly proves its worth amongst the large body of literature addressing the bombing. Indeed, with three lengthy appendices and more than 450 meticulous endnotes, Dresden is perhaps best used as an academic counterweight against the mythical and fictional accounts. While one might argue that the absolute truth regarding the notorious attack and its aftermath can never be wholly known, Taylor’s book nonetheless takes the reader extraordinarily close to the heart of a firestorm which, after more than 60 years, continues to burn in infamy.

[Regina]

Regina Regina:

martin14 martin14:

The BBC is light years ahead of everyone else with their nonsense revisionist version of history.

I'm sure the CBC will catch up one day.

Although the CBC didn't have anything to do with the writing or production, it was them who aired the controversial documentary "The Valour and the Horror" back in the early 1990's. Veteran tried to launch a Class Action suit against them and there was even a Senate Inquiry of the series. Quite a shit show from what I recall. The series is available online at http://www.nfb.ca

After I posted that by memory I googled the series to refresh my thoughts. The CBC did it's own investigation as well.

$1:

Investigation
The CBC Ombudsman, William Morgan, and his office investigated the series, and had historian S.F. Wise prepare a report on it.The report's findings concluded that some claims were untrue; material was presented out of context so that it was misleading; information differing from the producers’ views were ignored; and that the series cannot be considered history rather, at best, editorializing. The CBC Ombudsman then issued a report noting that The Valour and the Horrorhas serious problems with accuracy in particular “various interpretations and assertions which the producers were unable adequately to support with documentary evidence and which were questioned or challenged by the historians consulted, including those recommended by the program makers themselves.”The report further noted that The Valour and the Horror “is flawed and fails to measure up to the CBC’s demanding policies and procedures.