This US Army War College student author looks closely at the events, doctrine, and technical developments of World War II that led to the destruction by area bombing of the city of Dresden and the deaths of 135,000 of its citizens. Prior to U.S. entry into WW II American bombing strategy was intended to employ large numbers of high altitude bombers with heavy defensive firepower, flying in formation in order to accomplish precision daylight bombardment against specifically identified military-related targets. This ethical bombing technique was observed early on in the European Theater, but at some point the ethic changed.