After the destruction of Dresden questions were raised, both in Britain and the United States. There were allegations that the Allied air forces had adopted a policy of ‘terror bombing’. Churchill, who had urged the attack on Dresden and other communications centres in eastern Germany, began to have cold feet about the ‘fury’ of the strategic bombing campaign. He sent a minute to the British chiefs of staff, stating that ‘the destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing’. Portal found this deeply hypocritical and demanded that he withdraw it.
