More than 1,400 heavy Allied bombers from the west have struck at Dresden, in direct support of Marshal Koniev_ s Russian columns advancing on the city from the east, only 62 miles away. At night, the RAF sent 1,400 bombers over Germany, 800 of them to Dresden, and by day the US Eighth Air Force sent 1,400 Liberators and Fortresses to pound the enemy, 600 of them targeting Dresden. They were escorted by 900 Mustang and Thunderbolt long range fighters. Dresden is the seventh largest city in Germany with an original population of 640,000. It is the major junction for all the main railway lines linking southern and eastern Germany, Berlin, Prague and Vienna, with branches linking Liepzig and other industrial centres. Flight Sergeant Bamley, one of the RAF bomber pilots, noted that the battle raging on the eastern front was clearly visible from his aerial vantage point. The Germans appear to have dug in along the banks of the River Neisse, 53 miles west of Dresden, in an attempt to hold back the rapid advance of Marshal Koniev_ s Russian forces. The Oxford Diecast Headlines Battleship HMS Vanguard made of Diecast Metal/Mazak is Number SC009 in the range.
