Use of Air Combat in World War - Coursework Example

Beatrice Webb, another eyewitness, also talks of excited men and women who were in the streets watching the zeppelin with excitement because it was not common to see the zeppelin. She says that the civilians were excited by this aircraft and thus morale was not damaged if that was the intention (Webb, 1912-24).

There is a contrast between these in various other sources that have evaluated the impact of World War I. Marr (2009) in his book, the making of modern Britain, talks of shock and panic that spread across Britain at a time when people were trying to get used to bombings from the air. The civilians were always in fear of an attack that would sweep across the land. The raids by Germany were aimed at forcing Britain's airplanes to move out of the western front to paralyze the industries in Britain and kill the morale of the civilian inhabitants (Kennett, 1991). The raids achieved little of military value though they triggered many deaths and property harm (Raymond, 1991).

Levine highlights in his book that the morale of the British people (civilians) in World War I was minor and temporary. The impression made on their leaders however was permanent. This led to massive disappointment among the Germans who had hoped that this would have a great impact on the war. The morale was not damaged but it made Britain play a defensive role in the war (Levine, 1992).

The age of total war came to be in the 20th century. The use of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) was also common in this century (Hall, 1998). The most continual “laboratory” for learning the practice and results of air combat against populated towns took the position during the air combat in European countries, 1939-45 (Levine, 1992).

During World War II according to Andrew Ross who was an eyewitness and a victim of the bombing in Britain, the bombs that hit the civilians were not intended for the civilians but for the Coventry due to low levels of accuracy, there were stray bombs that hit the homes of civilians. In the morning however, King George VI visited each homestead that had been hit by the bomb that night and this was a great boost to the morale of the civilians seeing their king with them in their time of need hence if the bomb was intended to tamper with the morale of the civilians, it did not work this time (Orland, 2012).

During the war, the targets and casualties were majorly civilians. This is because this tactic has been used to inflict massive damage to the morale of the population. This was thus not a new tactic in the World War II proceeding. With the introduction of combat airplanes, there was the continued use of the tactic where the pilots would drop bombs in areas with large populations, and the larger the population the more successful a mission was termed. This attack on civilians who are going on with their normal day-to-day activities was deemed to affect the morale of the civilians and with them demoralized, the opponent considered winning the war would not be a problem In Britain this was not to be because, with the attack by the Germans, there was increased vigilance from roof watchers who did their job to identify the bombers (Anon, 1940).

There was the German strategy that was destined for use in Britain between 1940 and 1941 (Robinson, 2011). The German planes veered from their course and thus bombed cities killing civilians instead of bombing the RAF fields to weaken the defense forces in Britain. The attack on industrial places in Birmingham meant a stumbling block in industrialization in the country (Andrews, 2011). Ports were also hit in Liverpool which would tamper with the shipping out of troops (Richards, 1953). The targeted city was Coventry because it was manufacturing ammunition to weaken the British defense. This was in a bid to destroy the morale of citizens.