Dresden

In 2011, Victor Gregg published Rifleman about his time on the front line in World War II, but the experience of writing this memoir sparked long buried memories of his experience in Dresden.In four air raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 Lancaster bombers of the British Royal Air Force and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on Dresden. The resulting firestorm destroyed 15 square kilometres, or 6 square miles, of the city centre. 25,000 people, mostly civilians, were estimated to have been killed. Post-war discussion of whether or not the attacks were justified has led to the bombing becoming one of the moral issues of the Second World War.An established soldier turning his uniform to the 10th Parachute Regiment in 1944, Victor Gregg was captured at Arnhem where he volunteered to be sent to a work camp rather than become another faceless number in the huge POW camps....