Beneath Us (contains flashing images)

My Second World War poetry series continues with an examination of the controversial area bombing of Dresden and other German cities by the Allies.

These raids were championed by figures such as the head of RAF Bomber Command, Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris, and killed tens of thousands of civilians. Dresden in particular had a low military and industrial significance (certainly in the historical city centre). Harris was keen to emphasise that killing and terror of the civilian population was the intention of such attacks. He wasn't entirely mistaken, of course.

The area bombing also exposed many airmen to arguably unnecessary danger. The raid on Nuremburg on 30th March 1944 lost 94 bombers, for instance. Aside of the moral question, many other strategists at the time did not see area bombing as militarily effective.

Poem by Ed Pond, Copyright 2014
Newsreel footage used for educational, non commercial purposes
Recording of Franz Liszt's Totentanz (Dance of the Dead) from public domain