Today in History, February 14, 1945

The British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force today dropped thousands of tons of bombs on Dresden, the capital of the Saxony region of Germany. Dresden had been predominantly constructed out of wood, and the incendiary bombing caused a firestorm that ravaged the city. The inferno reached 2,700 degrees (Fahrenheit) in places and killed an estimated 25,000 to 40,000 civilians.

“The Dresden assault struck the network of rail and highway arteries and depots upon which the Wehrmacht is dependent to supply its front-line forces, now rapidly falling back upon the Saxony capital,” reported the Winnipeg Free Press on February 14, 1945. “[…] Dresden itself was hit by nearly 4,000 R.A.F., Dominion and American bombers last night and today in the first big joint operations supporting the Red army offensive.”

NOTE: Late American author Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner-of-war held in an underground camp in Dresden at the time of the bombings. His novel Slaughterhouse-Five is based on what he experienced during and following the firestorm.

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Today in History, July 5

The Salvation Army

Remember the Poor
Remember the poor: a Salvation Army Christmas box,
New York, New York,
1903.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920

On July 5, 1865, William Booth, an ordained Methodist minister and his wife Catherine, established the Christian Mission in London's poverty-stricken East End. Renamed the Salvation Army in 1878, the Booths were determined to assail the twin enemies of poverty and religious indifference with the efficiency of a military organization. Booth modeled his organization after the British army, labeling ministers "officers" and new members "recruits."

He espoused the religious doctrines subscribed to by mainstream Protestant evangelical denominations at the time. The Salvation Army was unique, however, in its commitment to establishing a presence in the most forsaken neighborhoods and in its provision for the absolute equality of women within the organization.

In 1880, the Salvation Army expanded to the United States. The movement also spread to Canada, Australia, France, Switzerland, India, South Africa, and Iceland. It now serves more than 100 countries.

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