Geography Question - Where Did It Happen #3?

[AviatorTom]

Here is the next in a new series of Geography questions... with a different category each day.

Monday - Bodies of Water
Tuesday - Buildings and Structures
Wednesday - Mountains
Thursday - Where Did It Happen?
Friday - Bridges
Saturday & Sunday - Random category

Today's category is Where Did It Happen?

Can you name the event and the city and country where it happened?

Here are your clues:
* This event happened in February 1945
* The RAF and USAF dropped 2500 tons of bombs and incendiaries on rail yards in the center of this place
* A firestorm resulted that burned for days and destroyed much of the center of this place
* Initial propaganda reported 200 thousand dead; later realistic estimates are 18 to 25 thousand dead

Please don't cheat by looking it up or seeing what others are posting.

Make your guess in the opinions below.

The correct answer will be given in a few days (Saturday).

Good luck!

Updates

1 y

The correct answer is Dresden Germany.

The bombing was done at night, with the main target being the rail yards in the center of Dresden. Because it was dark and there was no GPS back then, several bombs were dropped way off target, creating the firestorm that devastated a major part of the city.

[abc3643]

You should have asked this question on Veteran's Day, 11 NOV 2022, which happened to be the 100th birthday of Kurt Vonnegut who was in that event - the firebombing of Dresden ("The Florence of the Elbe") - but, as a prisoner of war, survived it as he describes in his most famous novel "Slaughterhouse Five".

[OlderAndWiser]

My initial thought was Berlin but tha would be too obvious. The bombing of Dresden was more controversial so I'll go with that as my final answer.

[SoftCliff]

The bombing raids on the German city of Dresden start. Many thousands of civilian lives would be lost in the firestorm created by the Allied bombers.

by the way isn't thus more of a historical than geographic question?

[AviatorTom]

This topic was suggested by a few GAGers. The questions may be historical with a geographic answer, like this one.

[SaoirseS]

The firestorm clue leads me to believe it was the Allied bombing of Dresden, Germany. I don’t know when during the war it happened.

[SaoirseS]

Thanks for MHO!

[exitseven]

It was the US Capitol on Jan 6th 2021. It was the biggest calamity since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thousands of police lost their lives and many politicians still wear the scars. Somehow the democrats heroically got the election certified and installed a potted plant in the oval office.

[Lliam]

I'd say it was the sadistic bombing of Dresden with incendiary explosives.

[AngryCarl]

Dresden. It's a little inaccurate to say that bombs were dropped on the rail yards. That may have been the nominal target but it wasn't exactly a surgical strike. Bombs fell all over the city.

[docster]

Sounds like Dresden, Germany. Didn't Sonny Bono's character have a Dresden sticker on his suitcase in the film 'Airplane 2' along with Hiroshima?

[SnowedIn]

Where did it happen for $800, Tom. Where is Dresden.

[Snedger____]

RAF? Probably somewhere in Europe

[Cubus]

Drezno?