00:00Did you know one of history's most beautiful cities was turned into hell on earth in just 14
00:04hours? Dresden was called the Florence on the Elba, a cultural duel packed with refugees fleeing
00:11the advancing Soviet army. On February 13, 1945, British bombers appeared in the night sky.
00:18The first wave dropped high explosives, ripping open roofs and shattering windows across the city.
00:23Then came the second wave with thousands of incendiary bombs. The flames reached 1,800
00:29degrees Fahrenheit, creating a massive firestorm that consumed everything. In the air raid shelters
00:34below, civilians suffocated as the fire above sucked out all the oxygen. Hurricane force winds
00:40pulled people directly into the flames. Bodies melted into the asphalt streets like wax.
00:45At the Dresden Zoo, animals burned alive in their cages, unable to escape. When dawn broke,
00:5125,000 civilians were dead. 1,600 acres of the city had been reduced to smoking rubble.
00:56Dresden had no military value. It was pure destruction. A cultural treasure erased from
01:03their existence in one terrible night.
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