Allied bombing of German cities

British bombing strategy in 1939

Modest force, military targets

• RAF Bomber Command had 23 operational bomber squadrons, with 280 aircraft

  • Modest force gave BR means to immediately strike back at Nazi GER, but only against military targets at first

• Raids against warships + airfields

  • But bombers were easy targets for enemy fighters → heavy losses

• Bombers flew at night, but only to drop prop leaflets

British bombing strategy in 1940

Ineffective strategic night bombing

• After H invasion of FR, RAF began night-time bombing campaign against GER industry, esp synthetic oil production

• Plans to hit specific factories proved impractical as failed to identify factories + refineries in darkness

  • Bombs scattered far and wide

• Bomber Command lacked strength to do serious damage

British bombing strategy in 1941

Battle of Atlantic takes precedence

• Bomber Command stronger, but navigation over blacked-out Europe was still major problem

• Setbacks in Battle of Atlantic meant major effort was needed against GER warships and U-boats

• GER night-fighters + anti-aircraft guns becoming more effective

• Heavy losses caused slump in morale

British bombing strategy in 1942

Harris and ‘area bombing’ of civilians with Lancasters

• Bomber Command received new aircraft, Avro Lancaster, and new leader = Air Chief Marshal Harris

• War Cabinet sanctioned ‘area bombing’ - targeting of whole cities to destroy factories and their workers

  • Was judged necessary to defeat enemy that seemed on brink of victory

British bombing strategy in 1943

Increasing strength with US

• New tactics + tech enabled crews to find + hit targets with increasing precision

• Major attacks launched against GER’s industrial heart in Ruhr Valley

• Attempts to knock out Berlin failed

• US Eighth Air Force joined RAF in ‘round the clock’ (24/7) offensive

British bombing strategy in 1944

Air supremacy

• Combined Allied bomber force began overwhelming GER

  • US escort fighters shot Luftwaffe out of sky

• Successful offensive launched against GER’s vulnerable fuel supplies

• Bombers flew in support of D-Day, softening up coastal defences + hitting railways to block GER reinforcements

• Enemy troops carpet bombed in advance of major Allied ground offensives

British bombing strategy in 1945

Total devastation

• Bomber offensive reached peak destruction

• RAF alone had 108 squadrons with 1500+ aircraft

• Raids against oil + comms most effective

• Starved of fuel, GER military machine ground to halt

• Industrial cities pounded to rubble

• Record 4851 tons of bombs dropped on Dortmund in one night

• Enemy production massively disrupted; ceased in some places

• Locations so far untouched were razed to the ground

Stats of bombing German cities

• 305,000 killed

• 780,000 wounded

• 1.9m homes destroyed

• 4.9 people evacuated

• 20m people deprived of utilities

Cities:

• July 1943, Hamburg: 43,000 dead

• Feb 1945, Dresden: 25,000 dead

• Feb 1945, Pforzheim: 20,000 dead

Impact of bombing on German civilians

• Evacuation + separation of families

• Disease due to lack of clean water + food

• Homelessness

• Large proportions of cities left in rubble; streets blocked to emergency services

• Number of civilian deaths dwarfs the deaths of BR civilians in Blitz

  • e.g. famous Coventry: 554 vs Hamburg: 43,000

  • Dresden estimated 25,000-200,000 deaths

How effective was Allied bombing campaign?

Aim 1: Destruction of GER’s war economy / capacity to fight

Aim 2: Destruction of German civilians’ morale to destabilise Nazi regime

Effectiveness of Allied bombing campaign in destruction of Germany’s capacity to fight

• Attacks on GER’s canals + railways made transportation of war material difficult

• Bombing campaign absorbed significant proportion of GER resources that could’ve been used on East/Western Fronts

• Bombing of GER’s synthetic oil plants + refineries extremely successful + made large contribution to general collapse of GER in 1945

BUT

• Overall GER industrial production increased throughout war, implying that damage to GER war economy wasn’t as great as Allies hoped

Effectiveness of Allied bombing campaign in destruction of German civilians’ morale

• GER population were terrorised by Nazi regime into silence, those accused of defeatism could be arrested

• Regime lied about numbers killed in raids, leaving population unknowing

• Bombing extremely likely to have had profound effect on depressing morale, inducing defeatism, fear, apathy

  • Nazis kept no accurate, quantitative data on effect of bombing on morale, unlike BR

• Increase in resistance to Nazis which coincided with heaviest bombing (1944-45) but can’t be said that this was because of the bombing, as it coincided with other factors

Cost of bombing campaign to Allies

BR only spent 7% of military resources, but:

• 150,000 US + BR servicemen dead

• Allies lost nearly 30,000 planes

Arguments to justify bombing of Dresden

• Red Army advancing towards Dresden, which was major transport hub that could be used for reinforcements

Arguments against bombing of Dresden

• Deprived Allies of moral high ground

  • Nazi prop exploited this, emphasising that Dresden was great cultural centre with no military resources

• Allies knew effects of firebombing + Dresden was full of 300,000 refugees fleeing the advancing Red Army

• Clear by Feb 1945 Allies would win war - bombing Dresden didn’t affect final outcome

• Military + industrial resources in Dresden were on outskirts of city and could’ve been attacked without bombing city