Dresden

At least 30,000 civilians died in the raid, and you can probably double that figure because the population of the city was swollen by a massive influx of refugees from the East, many of them children.

As regards the City’s alleged military and industrial significance, it had none of the former, and of the latter it produced Dresden china – nothing more.

The raid was carried out at the demand of Stalin – enough said.

It was a senseless act of inhumanity that was utterly indefensible, either strategically or morally. I think it is reprehensible of these two correspondents that they should now, when the facts are known, seek to portray it as anything else.

Tony Kelly, Crook.

HUGH PENDER rightly contends that in war the emphasis should be on peace (HAS, Sept 20).

When I asked my father what he did in the war, he looked saddened and then slowly walked from the room.

He was a fireman in Sheffield at the time of the Blitz and later a crew-member of a Lancaster bomber. The experience traumatized him and he kept his silence to his death.

As for N Merry’s excellent and novel letter (HAS, Sept 20) about the recession, I empathsize with her. This Government makes me think of the early Seventies when the likes of Mick McGahey were attempting to topple the Government.

I supported the unions then and would dearly love to see a resurgence of union power leading tothe downfall of Cameron and his cronies.

Chris Wilkins, Scarborough.