„Anyone who has lost the ability to weep learns it again at the destruction of Dresden.”
Gerhard Hauptmann
During the bombing campaign, there was often little chance of escape. Air raids could strike almost anyone, at almost any time and place, with devastating force.
Women, children and elderly people in the cities were particularly exposed. People were killed by blast and fragmentation, burned by phosphorus and incendiaries, buried in cellars, suffocated by fire and smoke, or drowned in floods caused by breached dams.
Bodies were sometimes so badly burned, contracted or fragmented that human remains had to be collected in zinc tubs or large containers. In some places, the number of corpses was so great that bodies were cremated in the open because of the risk of disease.
Many survivors were left with lifelong physical and psychological injuries, including mutilation, blindness and deafness.
500,000 dead
During the Second World War, a total of about 1.4 million tons of bombs were dropped on German cities. The figures presented here include roughly 68,000 aerial mines, 800,000 high-explosive bombs and 83,433,000 delayed-action bombs and other types of ordnance.
Explosive bombs
Aerial mines (1.8 t)
Allied aerial mines, often called “blockbusters”, produced enormous blast pressure capable of rupturing lungs and eardrums. They demolished buildings and tore roofs from houses over a wide area. Incendiary bombs were then dropped into exposed, dry roof spaces, setting entire neighbourhoods ablaze. About 68,000 aerial mines were dropped on Germany.
Explosive bombs (between 225-9900 kg)
High-explosive bombs used a relatively thin casing around a large explosive charge, while fragmentation bombs contained a smaller charge within a thicker steel casing. When they detonated, the casing shattered into high-velocity fragments that penetrated walls and caused severe injuries. About 800,000 such bombs were dropped on Germany during the air war.
Delayed-action bombs
Some bombs were fitted with delayed-action fuzes and exploded minutes or even hours after the raid. They posed a particular danger to firefighters, rescue workers and medical personnel entering the bombed areas.
Fire bombs
Canister bombs
These containers, filled with a rubber-phosphorus mixture, broke open on impact and ignited on contact with oxygen. In one major early use, 30,000 were dropped on Wuppertal, contributing to a vast conflagration.
Liquid bombs
These approximately 13 kg incendiary bombs contained a viscous mixture of benzene and rubber together with an explosive charge that scattered the burning material. Water could not easily extinguish the compound, which caused severe and often fatal burns. Roughly three million such liquid incendiaries were dropped on Germany during the bombing campaign.
Flame jet bombs
A related type was the flame-jet bomb. Its mixture of magnesium, petrol and rubber burned with a long jet or cascade of flame. About 413,000 bombs of this type were used during the Second World War.
Stick-type incendiary bombs
Long, narrow incendiary bombs with a hexagonal profile were dropped in enormous numbers — around 80 million in total. Their thermite filling, including about 650,000 dropped on Dresden alone according to the figures cited here, ignited large urban areas and helped generate firestorms. From 1942 onwards, some were fitted with additional fragmentation charges that endangered firefighters and rescue workers.
"The pilot cannot help seeing a war map from the sky..."
