The Bombing of Coventry

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In 1942, when Arthur Harris took over at Bomber Command, the war was very much going Germany's way. Britain had suffered defeat after defeat in North Africa and our forces were on the defensive inside Russia. It seemed likely that before the summer was out, Hitler would be master of the whole of Europe. So it was a momentous decision to take what is now known as 'area bombing' The RAF could not strike strategically important targets - only towns or cities. And this spent for Americans of the US Army Air Force when they began arriving in Britain,. as the RAF, couldn't hit town with political approval. Why? Only because the alternative was a policy of passivity against those living in

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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