Frederick Taylor and Dresden Tuesday 13 February 1945 as a response to Irving

Taylor's book is a distinguishable response to the claims made by David Irving, Alexander McKee and Kurt Vonnegut. This is quite obvious when one considers that his introduction - or in simpler terms a section for an historians aims - specifically mentions these same figures and scornfully cuts down Vonnegut's "account" of the raids as "a figment of the imagination nonetheless." The judgement of Irving and McKee are saved for the 2nd of the 3 Appendices of his book. The 2nd deals with the 'countless' dead in Dresden and offer his opinion on the casualties he does. McKee is dismissed soundly, describing his casualty guesses so, "McKee simply decided to double the number because he didn't think it sound like enough.", a statement considering that if McKee to stated that twice as many died due to the refugee problem. In this he would have to assume that the numbers of refugee equalled or exceeded the original population (3 quarters of a million). This means that the administration would be on it's knees trying to accommodate this improbable influx of bodies, an unlikely situation considering the lack of evidence suggesting this. Taylor's dealing's with Irving involve two myths propagated by Irving, that of the strafing of civilians after the attack{footnote} and of the casualty estimates of the attack that have, rather erroneously, been put forward by Irving. Taylor readily describes Irving as, "a university dropout", Taylor goes on to comment on those of Irving's calibre saying, "Those - still including Irving - who insist in the face of the documentary evidence that the deaths went into six figures."

F. Taylor, Dresden Tuesday 13 February 1945, Bloomsbury , 2005, pp. 219, 490-95, 504-5, 507