BBC News Online: World: Europe

Dresden strafing a myth claims historian

War expert Helmut Schnatz has thrown into doubt one of the most bitterly contested legends of the Second World War.

He has received death threats as a result of the controversy.

The bombing of Dresden on the night of 13-14 February 1945 is regarded as one of the most notorious events of the war.

An allied force of 1,000 strategic bombers destroyed the city, killing at least 35,000, and according to some accounts, fighter aircraft escorting the bombers flew low and fired at civilians fleeing the devastation.

Some witnesses testified to pilots circling treetops and training their machine guns on refugees.

Power of suggestion

However, Mr Schnatz charted flight paths of all the aircraft sent from Britain on the bombing mission. and concluded that such accounts are probably untrue.

He found that none of the pilots were flying low enough and would not have had enough time to attack civilians because of fuel limitations.

The intensity of the firestorm would have also reduced visibility, making it impossible to make out people on the ground.

He believes that many Dresdeners testified to the strafing through panic and the power of suggestion.

In the midst of an air raid, he believes that some may have mistaken overhead gunfire and explosions as being directed at the fleeing civilians.

He also points to far-right historians such as David Irving using the story to show that Britain and the US also committed wartime atrocities.