The Bombing of Dresden......War Crime?

I was sitting talking to a co-worker of mine and the thought of senseless bombings came up and Dresden was the topic. The use of incendiaries to me was an assault on the civilain population and nothing more. There were no factories, airfields or major military buildup. There were railroads nearby that were bombed, but were up and running 2 days later.
Out of 28,410 houses in the inner city of Dresden, 24,866 were destroyed. An area of 15 square kilometres was totally destroyed, among that: 14,000 homes, 72 schools, 22 hospitals, 18 churches, 5 theatres, 50 banks and insurance companies, 31 department stores, 31 large hotels, 62 administration buildings as well as factories such as the Ihageee camera works. In total there were 222,000 apartments in the city. 75,000 of them were totally destroyed, 11,000 severely damaged, 7,000 damaged, 81,000 slightly damaged.
The precise number of dead is difficult to ascertain and is not known. Estimates are made difficult by the fact that the city and surrounding suburbs which had a population of 642,000 in 1939 was crowded at that time with up to 200,000 refugees, and some thousands of wounded soldiers. The fate of some of the refugees is not known as they may have been killed and incinerated beyond recognition in the fire-storm, or they may have left Dresden for other places without informing the authorities. Earlier reputable estimates varied from 25,000 to more than 60,000.
All those inocent woman and children, schools and sick innocent people some actually giving birth in hospitals. I can't imagine growing up in that time being there seeing children as young as mine running, crying and dying.
These are the thoughts I get that make me look for spiritual guidance. Maybe thats why I love the teachings of Meher Baba, I don't know . Maybe I just love life too much to see it just get sensesly destroyed with a decision from someone who doesn't care.