Bomber boys - bbc one

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by PeterPanPan

Are you really saying heroes and villains are defined purely by the outcome of a given conflict, not by the conduct during the conflict? Really? If Nazi Germany had won the war would they have really been heroes? I think if I was being kind I would say your statement is too broad and oversimplified.

erm.. is this a serious question? Do you think the Nazis went around thinking they were the bad guys? They were indoctrinated into a creed that was the only way for them, made of racial pride and will of revenge. Many dissented on Hitler's politics of course, but they either kept it for themselves or got in serious trouble. I'm not saying I don't think they were, but if you were a Nazi you would have ended up agreeing with the mass. The majority believed they were in the right, like any side to a war is, the "evil villains" are just James Bond movie stuff..

The "heroes of the Soviet Union" raping and pillaging on their way to Berlin, area bombing in Europe (done by both sides), atomic bombs, the war crimes committed by Tito in Jugoslavia.. the killing and raping done by Algerian troops whilst advancing in Italy..History is written by the winners, who wins is the good guy.

Think about it, Russia was our ally until 1945, then they went from being the good guys to our enemies, and it's not like their politics changed much until 1989..

Area bombing sure was/is controversial. But it's so easy for us to have negative views of the action taken now from the comfort of our 70 year post war position. I am no military strategist, but, if those in command at the time truly believed that area bombing was the only way to win the war, then who are we (I'm talking as an Englishman) to argue? If all the options were properly considered and it was felt that allied defeat and the invasion/occupation of western Europe, including the UK, was inevitable/very likely without area bombing, then I don't have a problem with the decisions taken. War is a horrible thing - there is no way around it. We just need to understand that.

PPP out

The decision of area bombing was a much controversial one and that didn't get approved on the first spot anyway, because many in the war cabinet argued that it would have been the same as going down to the same level of the Nazis. When it was eventually approved the USAAF firmly detached itself from such policy, saying they would have carried out their daylight operations of pinpoint bombing to damage factories and other strategic objectives (applying a peculiar double standard in 1945 with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.. )

The deliberate bombing of civilian targets was in line with what the Germans did during the Blitz, a form of retaliation disguised as an offensive strategy to win the war, in a time where everybody was tired of the war and propaganda struggled to give positive news that would show there was a definite and effective way to end the war quickly.

Definitely the worst chapter of the RAF history, and again it can't be blamed on the men that executed their orders, but only on their commander and his insistent (as much as wrong) idea that area bombing would have won the war, instead of just being a mass murder.