
These images show the blossoming of Dresden in east Germany from the ruins of the Allied bombings towards the end of World War II.

British and American bombers dropped 3,900 tonnes of explosives on the Saxony city during four raids on 13th-15th February 1945, killing an estimated 25,000 people and reducing the city to rubble.

The bombing, ordered by Royal Air Force marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris, was widely criticised because of 'blanket bombing' which hit civilian areas as well as military targets - killing thousands of innocents.

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‹ Slide me › These images shows the ruing at Theaterplatz square in 1946, still wrecked from the Allied forces' firebombing on February 13-15 1945, and the square today

‹ Slide me › Final stop: People getting on a tram on Moritzstrasse, now Moritzgasse, near the Judenhof palace, now a transportation museum, in 1946, amidst the ruins left by the bombings, and now, pictured last week

‹ Slide me › Building Dresden again: Women are pictured carrying bricks outside the Martin Luther church in 1946, while Dresden was still being rebuilt, and now, pictured today

Over two days and nights in February 1945, 722 heavy bombers of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), turned the city into a sea of flames and rubble.

The resulting firestorm is said to have reached temperatures of over 1,500C (2,700F), destroying over 1,600 acres of the city centre.

The victims - mostly women and children - died in savage firestorms whipped up by the intense heat of 2,400 tons of high explosive and 1,500 tons of incendiary bombs.

It was initially claimed that up to 250,000 civilians lost their lives in the Dresden bombings but an official report released after the war showed the casualty figure was in fact closer to between 22,500 and 25,000.

A police report written shortly after the bombings showed that the city centre firestorm had destroyed almost 12,000 houses, including 640 shops, 18 cinemas, 39 schools, 26s pubs and the city zoo.

‹ Slide me › Out of the ruins: What is left of Neumarkt square is pictured in 1946, and today as the city is being transformed once again

‹ Slide me › Different views: A statue on the tower of City Hall looks out over the ruins of Dresden's city centre following the bombings of February 13, 1945, and the restored statue today, looking out over a vastly different city

‹ Slide me › Rebuilding: Propaganda director Heinz Grunewald, Dresden mayor Walter Weidauer and town architect Dr C. Herbert are seen in the wreckage of Dresden outside City Hall in March 1947, and now, rebuilt again

‹ Slide me › Saving the painting: The Zwinger palace, an art gallery built in Rococo style in central Dresden, pictured in the year after the bombings and today, was destroyed, but much of its collection had been salvaged before the war

‹ Slide me › These images show the ruins of the Frauenkirche, a Lutheran church in Dresden, and the then empty pedestal for a statue of Martin Luther following the February bombings of 1945, as well as the reconstructed church and statue in 2015

The destruction of Dresden has been subjected to much debate in the 70 years since the war.

Although no one has ever been charged over the bombings, several historians both in Germany and former Allied nations hold the opinion that the bombing was a war crime.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, ultimately responsible for the attack, distanced himself from the bombing of Dresden shortly afterwards.

An RAF memo issued to airmen on the night of the attack said:

Dresden, the seventh largest city in Germany and not much smaller than Manchester is also the largest unbombed builtup area the enemy has got. In the midst of winter with refugees pouring westward and troops to be rested, roofs are at a premium, not only to give shelter to workers, refugees, and troops alike, but to house the administrative services displaced from other areas.

'At one time well known for its china, Dresden has developed into an industrial city of first-class importance.... The intentions of the attack are to hit the enemy where he will feel it most, behind an already partially collapsed front... and incidentally to show the Russians when they arrive what Bomber Command can do.'