Britain and the US bombed small towns in Germany in the final stages of the second world war because they would burn easily and not because they were strategically important, documents found in the public record office reveal.
The documents cast new light on the allied bombing campaign after the razing of Dresden in February 1945 when at least 30,000 people were killed, many of them refugees fleeing from the Russians.
The following month, the RAF dropped more bombs on Germany than in any previous month and more than 30,000 tons fell on towns and cities, including Wurzburg in southern Germany. With a baroque palace, and rich in art and architecture, Wurzburg had little industry of wartime importance. According to the British ministry of economic warfare, it had only one potential target, a power switching station.
