800 British bombers hit Dresden on the night of February 13, 1945. American bombers followed over the next two days. By the time it was over, the city center had been reduced to ash and tens of thousands of people were dead.

What happened next inside the Nazi leadership was not what most people assume. The military response, the political response, and the death toll that got reported to the world were three very different things, and one of them was a deliberate fabrication that is still repeated today.

This video traces every documented reaction from the Nazi regime, from the generals who said nothing to the propaganda office that said too much. It also examines a widely cited Hitler quote that doesn't hold up, and a famous military leaflet that had nothing to do with Dresden at all.