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Germans Demand Queen Apologise for WWII
Dresden after the RAF raid of 1945
The Queen is being urged to apologise to the German people for Allied bombing raids carried out during Second World War.
A major German newspaper piled pressure on the monarch, just days before a state visit, with pictures of the bombing of Dresden and the headline "Will the Queen finally say sorry?"
The inflammatory move is believed to be part of a greater clamour among German politicians and diplomats to get Britain to apologise.
The demands have outraged ex-servicemen and women across the UK, many of whom risked their lives on a daily basis in the fight against Hitler.
War veterans groups were almost unanimous in their condemnation of the Germans' call for an apology.
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Peter Storrar, from the RAF's 610 Squadron Association, said: "They started it and reaped the whirlwind.
"I remember seeing Liverpool absolutely devastated and it was like that all over Britain."
Col John Goodsir, vice-chairman of the Air Crew Association, said: "The majority of our members who served in the Second World War would not favour the idea of the Queen saying sorry."
The Queen, who lived in London during the Blitz, is due to begin a royal visit on Tuesday.
She will attend a charity performance of the Berlin Philharmonic intended to raise cash for the restoration of Dresden Cathedral.
"They started it and reaped the whirlwind"
-Peter Storrar - RAF 610 Squadron Association
The Dresden raids in 1945 claimed about 40,000 German lives.
They were designed to crack German morale with wave upon wave of British and US bombers resulting in firestorms on the ground from which there was no escape.
Supporters say the raids hastened the end of the war, but critics say they may not have been tactically necessary.
the lancaster kicks ass said:i'm sorry but i'm part german and even i think that's rediculus, what would they say if the jews made them apologise?? why should we apologise to them, what did we do that they didn't??