On this day in 1945, the most controversial episode in the Allied air war against Germany began. Hundreds of British bombers loaded with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs descended on Dresden, a historic city located in eastern Germany.

What's an Incendiary Bomb? A bomb filled with highly combustible chemicals such as magnesium, phosphorus or petroleum jelly (napalm), which are dropped in clusters over a specific target.

Why Dresden? Dresden was an odd choice. It was neither a war production city nor a major industrial center. Before the air raid, it had not suffered a major Allied attack. It was one of Europe's great centers for art and culture, a city that had become a hospital center for German, American and British wounded. It housed thousands of allied prisoners of war and had become a haven to refugees fleeing the red army. But on this day in 1945, Dresden was bombed into oblivion.

The Morning After. By February 15, the city was a smoldering ruin and an unknown number of civilians ~ somewhere between 35,000 and 135,000 ~ were dead.

The Times. For all practical purposes Germany was already defeated. Italy, and Germany's other European allies, had fallen by the wayside. In the west, Adolf Hitler had launched a desperate counteroffensive against the Allies in Belgium's Ardennes forest. It ended in total failure. In the east, the Red Army had captured East Prussia and reached the Oder River, a mere 50 miles from Berlin. The Luftwaffe ~ once a fearsome airforce ~ was a skeleton of its former self. The Allies already ruled the skies over Europe, dropping thousands of tons of bombs on Germany every day.

Yalta. From February 4 to February 11, the "Big Three" Allied leaders ~ US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin ~ met at the seaside resort of Yalta in the USSR. There they forged, and compromised, their visions of the world after the war. (See Today Only for February 11). During the talks, Churchill and Roosevelt promised Stalin to continue their bombing campaign against eastern Germany in preparation for the advancing Soviet forces.

A Few Words About Area Bombing. Area ~ or saturation ~ bombing was an important part of the Allied air war against Germany. In area bombing, all enemy industry ~ not just war supplies ~ became targets. Civilian parts of cities were wiped out along with troop areas. Before the atomic bomb ~ still a few months away ~ cities were most effectively destroyed through the use of incendiary bombs, which caused huge fires.

Germany First. Germany was the first to use area bombing tactics during its attack on Poland in September of 1939. The tactics were used again in 1940, during the Battle of Britain.

The Allies... never openly admitted to using saturation bombing strategies; military targets were announced in relation to each attack. The firebombing of Dresden was the exception to this rule.

Beautiful Dresden. Before the war, Dresden was called the Florence of the Elbe. It was considered one the world's most beautiful cities because of its architecture and museums, and was famous for the china produced there.

But On This Evening... hundreds of Royal Air Force bombers swept over Dresden, dropping their cargo all over the city. The 1,478 tons of high-explosive bombs and 1,182 tons of incendiaries created a great firestorm that destroyed most of the city.