Of all of the aims of strategic bombing throughout the course of World War II, many of them were never reached. Several of the most well-known attempts to bomb large cities are the London Blitz, the bombing of Dresden and Hamburg among other German cities, and the fire-bombing of Tokyo, as well as the atomic bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The preliminary aim of strategic bombing was to destroy infrastructure, however this failed due to the lack of accuracy of these bombs. Aims evolved into attempts to destroy the moral of citizens, yet the insistent bombings failed to achieve this, instead sparking the opposite reaction. Other aims of strategic bombing were to speed up the end of the war and the USA’s attempts to demonstrate their power to the USSR.
The preliminary reason that countries were involved in strategic bombing was to attempt to destroy essential manufacturing and infrastructural areas. They were aimed at factories that produced tanks, ships, ammunition and other military equipment, as well as major transportation areas such as bridges. British journalist Max Hastings states that the British bomber commander, Arthur Harris, aimed to “concentrate all available forces for the progressive, systematic destruction of the urban areas of the Reich, city block by city block, factory by factory, until the enemy became a nation of troglodytes, scratching in the ruins.” (Japan Focus: a Forgotten Holocaust 2007) This particular approach was successful for a short while, yet it was soon realised that no countries had the ability to successfully aim bombs at largely infrastructural areas. A 1940 investigation by the Bomber Command in Britain found that just one in five aircraft was succeeding in dropping bombs within a five mile radius of its target. This was not efficient at all, and resulted in a large loss of resources with little impact on German military success (BBC World Wars History 2011). The lack of progress the attempt of strategically bombing infrastructure achieved spurred both sides of the war to move on to new aims, a main one of these being bombing to reduce moral. The aim of using strategic bombing to target large civilian areas to reduce moral was another aim that failed drastically during World War II. In February 1942, the British Bomber Command shifted their focus onto the “moral of the enemy civil population” (BBC World Wars History, 2011). Both the Allies and the Axis powers believed that by consistently dropping bombs on opposing countries, they could urge citizens to request that their government surrender to stop the conflict. This is explained in Hitler’s instructions to the Luftwaffe High Command on April 14th, 1942, in which he demanded that “when targets are being selected, preference is to be given to those where attacks are likely to have the greatest possible effect on civilian life…” (Japan Focus: a Forgotten Holocaust, 2007) This aimed to destroy the spirit of civilians; however it was not at all successful. In many of these places, the civil devastation did not lead to reduced moral. Instead, as Albert Speer, the Chief of the German War Economy, explains “In the burning and devastated cities… it spurred us to do our utmost . . . the bombing and the hardships that resulted from …show more content…
As Russia, then the USSR, were gaining power in Europe and preparing to take over Germany and Poland (among others), the US knew that the only way to stop their growth was to intimidate them through having superior power. Academic A.C Grayling explains that "the frisson of dread created by the thought of what atomic weaponry can do affects those who contemplate it more than those who actually suffer from it." (Japan Focus: The Forgotten Holocaust, 2007). In this case, it was the USSR who the US aimed to fill with "the frisson of dread", and thus began the development of the two atomic bombs, 'Little Boy ' and 'Fat Man ' that were dropped on Japan in 1945. Dropping these bombs, while arguable in terms of necessity for the war effort, certainly were extremely successful in intimidating the USSR. While perhaps this intimidation aim lead to the Cold War, strategic bombing most certainly succeeded in its aim to demonstrate the USA 's arms power to the
The preliminary reason that countries were involved in strategic bombing was to attempt to destroy essential manufacturing and infrastructural areas. They were aimed at factories that produced tanks, ships, ammunition and other military equipment, as well as major transportation areas such as bridges. British journalist Max Hastings states that the British bomber commander, Arthur Harris, aimed to “concentrate all available forces for the progressive, systematic destruction of the urban areas of the Reich, city block by city block, factory by factory, until the enemy became a nation of troglodytes, scratching in the ruins.” (Japan Focus: a Forgotten Holocaust 2007) This particular approach was successful for a short while, yet it was soon realised that no countries had the ability to successfully aim bombs at largely infrastructural areas. A 1940 investigation by the Bomber Command in Britain found that just one in five aircraft was succeeding in dropping bombs within a five mile radius of its target. This was not efficient at all, and resulted in a large loss of resources with little impact on German military success (BBC World Wars History 2011). The lack of progress the attempt of strategically bombing infrastructure achieved spurred both sides of the war to move on to new aims, a main one of these being bombing to reduce moral. The aim of using strategic bombing to target large civilian areas to reduce moral was another aim that failed drastically during World War II. In February 1942, the British Bomber Command shifted their focus onto the “moral of the enemy civil population” (BBC World Wars History, 2011). Both the Allies and the Axis powers believed that by consistently dropping bombs on opposing countries, they could urge citizens to request that their government surrender to stop the conflict. This is explained in Hitler’s instructions to the Luftwaffe High Command on April 14th, 1942, in which he demanded that “when targets are being selected, preference is to be given to those where attacks are likely to have the greatest possible effect on civilian life…” (Japan Focus: a Forgotten Holocaust, 2007) This aimed to destroy the spirit of civilians; however it was not at all successful. In many of these places, the civil devastation did not lead to reduced moral. Instead, as Albert Speer, the Chief of the German War Economy, explains “In the burning and devastated cities… it spurred us to do our utmost . . . the bombing and the hardships that resulted from …show more content…
As Russia, then the USSR, were gaining power in Europe and preparing to take over Germany and Poland (among others), the US knew that the only way to stop their growth was to intimidate them through having superior power. Academic A.C Grayling explains that "the frisson of dread created by the thought of what atomic weaponry can do affects those who contemplate it more than those who actually suffer from it." (Japan Focus: The Forgotten Holocaust, 2007). In this case, it was the USSR who the US aimed to fill with "the frisson of dread", and thus began the development of the two atomic bombs, 'Little Boy ' and 'Fat Man ' that were dropped on Japan in 1945. Dropping these bombs, while arguable in terms of necessity for the war effort, certainly were extremely successful in intimidating the USSR. While perhaps this intimidation aim lead to the Cold War, strategic bombing most certainly succeeded in its aim to demonstrate the USA 's arms power to the