'I was almost ashamed of being British': Dresden remembered 70 years on

Seventy years ago today British and American warplanes began bombing raids over Dresden which left tens of thousands of people dead.

The firestorm killed thousands of civilians and became one of the most controversial attacks of World War II.

ITV News Correspondent Paul Davies reports on today's remembrance services held in memory of those who were killed in World War II's most destructive bombing raids:

Helped by good visibility and a lack of German anti-aircraft guns, British planes pounded Dresden with a lethal mix of explosive and incendiary bombs on the night of February 13, 1945.

Over the next two days US planes joined the attack, hampering efforts to retrieve the dead and wounded.

In a total of four raids, allied forces dropped at least 3,900 tonnes ofbombs.

Former prisoner of war Victor Gregg told ITV News, "What went on at Dresden affected me so much I was almost ashamed of being British because I thought that all this evil was being perpetrated in our names."

Gregg, who was forced to help clear the bodies during the bombings, said he was "certain" those pilots "couldn't have envisaged what was happening".

Bomber Command veteran Frank Tolly, a pilot who dropped bombs during the raids, said they had been told they were targeting retreating German forces.

"We didn't know, obviously, that we were bombing civilians," Tolly said. "All I can say is that it was regrettable".