Comments on: Allied bombing of Europe’s villages and towns leaves complicated legacy

By: Wolfgang Von Unterstein

Wolfgang Von Unterstein — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 13:56:32 +0000

"Questions still linger in some quarters over whether some missions were justified, or if the crews were too tired or cavalier in their jobs." As far as I know, bomber crews took their aircraft where they were told to, and did the job. I've never heard of an incident where a bomber dropped early, except if they were hit and might have a chance of getting back by dumping everything. As for the justification, that rests with the higher command levels. Given the technology of the time, I think the raids did their best to avoid hitting anything that wasn't the target.

By: steve_darlow

steve_darlow — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 10:06:41 +0000

It's a subject matter I cover in great detail in my book 'D-Day Bombers'. Harris warned about the limitations of his bomber force, and the British War Cabinet debated at great length 'acceptable' civilian casualty rates. But underpinning it all was the intention of the bombing – to liberate. There is no justification to state 'Allied-imposed hardships that, in some ways, rivalled the atrocities their Nazi occupiers imposed on them.'

By: Pat Gilliland

Pat Gilliland — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 12:39:02 +0000

"…Allied-imposed hardships that, in some ways, rivalled the atrocities their Nazi occupiers imposed on them."

Were mistakes made? Could planning have been better? Of course.
Do civilians always suffer heavily during armed conflict? Sadly yes.

But let's be clear on one thing, there is no equivalence between the actions of the (Western)* Allies and the Nazis they were driving out of occupied Europe.

When the need for violence passed, the Allies stopped.
They did not round up a significant fraction of the population, with the often less than reluctant assistance of the local Gendarmerie, and send them off to death camps.
They did not take hostages, or shoot hostages in reprisals.
They did not strip the agricultural and industrial production of the occupied areas and send it home.
They did not round up civilians and send them abroad to be forced labour.

*The Soviets were another story, but to paraphrase a Polish colleague of my father who had lived under both regimes: The Russians were bad, yes, but nothing could be as bad as the Germans.