![]() ![]() Part of strategic bombing during World War IIħ aircraft (1 B-17 and 6 Lancasters, with crews)ĭresden viewed from the Rathaus (city hall) in 1945, showing destruction. The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city. The bombing and the resulting firestorm destroyed more than 1,600 acres (6.5 km 2) of the city centre. Three more USAAF air raids followed, two occurring on 2 March aimed at the city's railway marshalling yard and one smaller raid on 17 April aimed at industrial areas. Post-war discussions about whether the attacks were justified – with the death toll inflated to 200,000 by propaganda in Nazi Germany and repeated for decades after – led to the event becoming one of the moral causes célèbres of the war. Allied intelligence assessments at the time were not aware of Nazi Germany's challenges in its effort to maintain resistance in the closing months of the war, rumours of the establishment of a Nazi redoubt in Southern Germany were taken seriously, and there was uncertainty amongst the Allies over the ability of an ongoing Russian advance from the east – which was suffering heavy Red Army casualties – to maintain momentum. It would be another three months before Nazi German military units began to sign off on a German Instrument of Surrender, and another month thereafter before the Nazi government was officially removed. Next week, hopefully, we'll find out what happened to of our other favorite boys.The Allies saw the Dresden operation as the justified bombing of a strategic target during ongoing hostilities, which United States Air Force reports, declassified decades later, noted as a major rail transport and communication centre, housing 110 factories and 50,000 workers in support of the continued Nazi German war effort. According to Smithsonian, he reportedly arrived back at base that day and joked, "Are they all this rough?" What a killer. A significant amount of time is dedicated to Rosenthal's harrowing return this episode, and he's easily the surprise highlight of Masters as we head into the second half of the miniseries. For now, let's just say you should prepare to fall in love with ol' Rosie as the show goes on.Īs the only pilot to return from Münster, Rosenthal reports that he still dropped his payload despite losing two engines and his plane’s oxygen system. I don't want to give too much away about this man just yet, but I'm excited to finally be able to write about this character. He's the 100th's dark horse-and arguably the most legendary member of the group. Played by Nate Mann ( Licorice Pizza) in Masters of the Air, Rosenthal is our late-game hero. All your favorite heroes may be in the wind, but let me introduce you to Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal. Miraculously, only one aircraft from the 100th Bomb Group returned to base following the raid on Münster. "Rosie" (Nate Mann) finally makes his debut. at At the end of the episode, he is deep in a bog, hiding from an armed German man who is searching for him. Egan safely parachutes into enemy territory, however. Egan and co-pilot John Brady (Ben Radcliffe) are both forced to jump out of their plane, the M’lle Zig Zag, as German forces rain hell on their formation. As the real-life Egan told the National World War II Museum, "It was a dream mission to avenge the death of a buddy."īut as we know from Cleven's downfall, flying 30,000 feet in the air and firing bullets at enemies is a surefire way to find yourself back down on the ground-and quickly. While many of the pilots were horrified by the thought of killing innocent people, others-like Egan-saw it as a chance to honor their fallen friends. The focal point of the assault would be a cathedral in the center of the city, when Sunday mass concluded. Whereas the 100th Bomb Group previously focused on military targets, their next mission was to hit a highly-populated civilian area in Münster. If the pilot is even alive, he still has to get out of Germany somehow. Callum Turner’s John Egan is ready for revenge.īefore that shell shock that was episode 5, we saw a deeply distraught Egan learning that his best friend's plane was shot down. ![]()
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