Allied Bombing of Germany in the Autumn of 1942

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The Soviets eventually lost nine million servicemen and women, killed. This was more than 23 times as many as the United Kingdom. The implications for Britain facing Germany alone were terrifying. Churchill could not deny Chief Marshal Portwell's argument that the British Army could do very little. Only the RAF could intervene with the aerial bombardment of targets in Germany. Stalin refused to acknowledge Churchill’s argument that the strategic bombing campaign was a surrogate for the second front,. Yet he consequently showed considerable interest.

No one doubts the bravery of the thousands of men who flew and died in Bomber Command. The death rate was an appalling 44%. And yet until the opening of a monument in Green Park this year they have received no official recognition, with many historians claiming that the offensive was immoral and unjustified. How can it be right, they argue, for the Allies to have deliberately targeted German cities causing the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians? Even on a strategic level the offensive failed to bring about the collapse of civilian morale that was its intention. Others, however, maintain that the attacks made a decisive contribution to the Allied victory. Vast numbers of German soldiers and planes were diverted from the eastern and western fronts, while Allied bombing attacks virtually destroyed the German air force, clearing the way for the invasion of the continent. In this debate from October 2012, philosopher and author A C Grayling and Professor of History at Exeter University Rochard Overy...

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