Bombing of Dresden - 1995 Mint Imperforate Issue
February 13, 1945 By early 1945, the Red Army had seized Poland and would soon be marching on German soil. Meanwhile, the Allies were still recovering from their setbacks at the Battle of the Bulge. Although the U.S. had been victorious, the fighting had drained their strength, slowing their advances to a crawl. Russian military success had given Stalin a political advantage at the Yalta Conference. The Allies believed that a massive air strike in support of the Russian Army might help influence future dealings with the Soviet leader. Dresden, German’s seventh largest city located 100 miles south of Berlin on the Elbe River, became the obvious target because it lay directly between Russian offensive positions and Berlin. More than 1,300 Allied bombers dropped over 4,000 tons of blockbuster and fire bombs during the three-day raid and a firestorm incinerated 1,600 acres of the city. Because Dresden was overflowing with war refugees, it became impossible to calculate the exact death toll. Some historians believe it was the deadliest air attack in history - even more devastating than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
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