HardThrasher
Published 20 Jan 2026Was Dresden a war crime or a late-war military decision made in cold blood? The firebombing of Dresden (13–14 Feb 1945) remains one of the most infamous episodes of the WW2 history: a firestorm, a shattered city, and a death toll that still sparks argument today.
But most of what “everyone knows” about Dresden is wrong. In Part 1 of this two-part series, you and I will dig into the real reasons Dresden became a target. We also ask the uncomfortable questions: Was Dresden an “innocent” city? How Nazi was it? And what does Dresden reveal about the logic — and limits — of strategic bombing? And because this is my video and I’ll do as I damn well please, we’ll also do a quick overview of nearly 1,000 years of history, because why not. Thus in this you will also get the Northern Crusades, a discussion of pottery, a smattering of Central European history and long discussion of how the Nazis subverted power and used it to abuse people whilst being wildly incompetent at the basics
00:00 – Start
04:39 – Part 1 – A Brief History of Everything in Central Europe
17:36 – Rise of the Nazis and the Nuremberg Laws
30:25 – Military and Industrial Dresden
34:03 – Failure to Prepare for War
40:37 – How did it become a target?
52:37 – Survivor’s Club
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TikTok – @lordhardthrasheri) Dresden, Taylor, Bloomsbury Books, 2004 (Electronic version 2011), p.19
ii) Taylor, Ibid, p.53
iii) Taylor, Ibid, p.87
iv) The Hitler Years – Holocaust – 1933-1945, Frank McDonough, Bloomsbury, 2025, p.24
v) Taylor, op. cit., p.65
vi) McDonough, op. cit., p.30 and on.
vii) McDonough, op. cit., p.43 and on
viii) Taylor, op. cit., p.68
ix) Taylor, op. cit., p.95-97
x) Taylor, op. cit., p.100
xi) McDonough, op. cit., p. 371
xii) Railways in Dresden 1939 to 1945, Neutzner (1999)
xiii) The Bombing War in Europe, Overby, Penguin, 2014 p.35
xiv) Taylor, op. cit., p.188 and on
xv) Taylor, op. cit., p.188
xvi) Taylor, op. cit., p.252-254
xvii) Overby, op. cit., p.390
xviii) Carl A Spaatz and the Air War in Europe, Richard G. Davis, Centre for Air Force History, 1993, p.543
xix) Davis, Ibid, p.550
xx) Taylor, op. cit., p.236
xxi) Davis, op. cit., p.552
xxii) Bomber Offensive, Arthur Harris, Pen & Sword Aviation, Kindle Edition p.315
January 22, 2026
Dresden Part 1 – Targets, Tangents & Genocide
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In Inferno and Escape from Hell, Niven and Pournelle put the planners of the Dresden fire-bombing in Hell. Seems appropriate.
Comment by Clayton Barnett — January 22, 2026 @ 08:21
Did they also put the Nazi Gauleiter in charge of the city/region in there too? His deliberate work to frustrate the immediate pre-attack evacuation of women and children absolutely increased the eventual death toll in the firestorm. Hardthrasher also points out how his total unwillingness to learn from the experiences of other German cities under attack was also a key contributor to the carnage.
Comment by Nicholas — January 22, 2026 @ 15:26