Mission Targets and Impacts

As we scroll through the “Year of Mission Date” section on the above map, we can see that there are not a lot of bombing missions in 1939, since the war has just started. Moreover, at the beginning of the war, Germany has much greater air power than Britain and they have already started to exercise their strategic bombing when they successfully invade Poland in 1939. On May 15th, 1940, after the Rotterdam Bombings, in which Germany uses to capture Holland, Winston Churchill authorizes bombing raids east of the Rhine, because the bombing hits too close to home. The RAF begins to target Germany’s oil plants, factories, chemical plants, and transportations in order to cut off its supplies. The graph below shows the Allies’ top target industries in Germany, excluding the “Cities, Towns, and Urban Areas”, which are heavily targeted later on for different intentions, the Allies’ focus is on supplies that directly relate to the war effort. The bar chart at the bottom of this page shows more detailed information on the Allies’ targets and how the frequencies change throughout the period of war.

Although Berlin is already a huge industrialized city, most of the Allies’ military targets concentrate on the west side of Germany, such as Witten, a city with iron and steel production facilities, Leverkusen with chemical plants, and Worms with important transportations. In the early phase, the RAF has calculated the bombing targets to minimize the casualties of civilians, but as the war goes on, the line between military targets and civilian habitations begin to blur (Hopkins 11). When Germany starts to bomb London and Britain bombs Berlin in return in 1940, it is no longer easy for the RAF to maintain the initial principle of minimizing civilian casualties, due to the fact that Germany is doing the same thing (13).

Britain’s initial strategic bombing does not prove to be that fruitful, because of the lack of resources and minimum America involvement. The end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942 mark a new stage for Britain. During the summer of 1941, Hitler begins to devote his resources to invade the Soviet Union; in December, Japanese attacks Pearl Harbor; the United States officially enters the war and in February 1942, the course of the air war begins to change as American 8th air force begins to arrive in Britain (13). During the summer of 1942, Allied bombing increases its force and length, and it becomes a continuous event. It first starts from the northern Germany coast, moves to north-west Germany, then the Ruhr-Rhineland area, in the end across the whole Germany (The Bombing of Germany 1940-1945 Exhibition).

1944 to 1945 mark the most intense and tragic period of Allied bombing in Germany, since it is the final stage of the attack after the Normandy campaign. Different than the previous years when the bombing is more focus on targeting industrial cities, the missions for the air force at this time is to provide pre-invasion bombing and support ground offensive, so it becomes targeting all the remaining cities instead of just the supply lines (The Bombing of Germany 1940-1945 Exhibition).

Although the Allies winning World War II results in a lot of factors, it is undeniable that the bombing missions really help to win the war. However, the actual effects and the humane aspects of this campaign still raise a lot of debates among historians. It is agreed upon that prior to 1942, the RAF’s aerial missions are failures, since they do not cause as many damages to the enemies and the RAF loses a lot of resources themselves. As 1942 rolls in, with the upgrade of aircrafts, the United States’ involvement and a clearer mission purpose, the overall missions become more effective and successful (cite 14). Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Arthur Travers Harris “Bomber” believes that the key of destroying Germany is the “Battle of Berlin”. From November until March 1944, the RAF attacks Berlin fiercely. Harris writes that “We can wreck Berlin from end to end.....it will cost us between 400-500 aircraft. It will cost Germany the war”. 9000 Berliners are killed just under the first two nights, and the RAF suffers heavy lost too (21). Bombing the oil plants is successful, as it proves to directly decrease the fuel supply by the staggering degree of 91% (27). The reason for the total destruction across all Germany’s cities is because the switch from bombing the industrial fields to the destroying of Germany’s morale, since there seem to be no signs of Germany’s surrender. The industrial targets are still the priorities, yet combine with cities and urban areas to destroy both physical and moral aspects of Germany. 180,000 tons of bombs are dropped on poorly defended cities (29).