Strategic Bombing during the Second World War - Essay Example

Second World War: Characterized by Civilian Killing Strategic bombing (Gentile, Gian P, 2001) during Second World War II is a term which refers to all aerial assaults of a strategic disposition, which took place between 1939 and 1945, involving the counties engaged in Second World War. Strategic bombing consists of the bombing of military forces, railways, harbors, cities (civilian areas), and industrial regions. World War II, or the Second World War, was a worldwide military battle which engaged a majority of the world's nations, including all key powers. During the Second World War, many cities like Warsaw fell prey to a random and limitless aerial assault campaign. The military and industrial regions were the main targets of these bombings, however, the mass bombing targeting the civilians was also a tactic used so as to create psychological pressure on the target nation to surrender for instance, The Blitz campaign in 1940 by German on against UK. As a fight back to German assault, the might of the British bombardment campaign increased steadily and became less hindered, increasingly pursuing civilian regions apart from the industrialized and military ones. Area bombing direc Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively... .Strategic bombing was adopted by majority of participating countries in the World War II with Germany, Great Britain and The United States being at the forefront. Preparation of bomber aircrafts was prioritized with huge investments in terms of finances, raw material as well as manpower deployment (Kennett, Lee, 1982). Prior to war, air power strategies were devised based on the belief that mass bombing achieves far better results with less of soldier casualties than does tactical war. However, an exception was the Germany, initially because the German aviation was restricted from planning for strategic bombing for over a decade due to Versailles Treaty. However, at the beginning of Second World War, Germany went on to dropping huge amounts of bombs on Poland and later used the same as an example to induce surrender. Even though a large emphasis was laid on the ethical issues with mass air bombing, the period of World War II, 1940 onwards saw a merciless bombing campaign especially by Germany and Britain under which several innocent citizen tents collapsed. On an average 300 tons of bombs were dropped with 200 bombers involved at a time leading to the mass killing of 40,000 British and collapse of many historical monuments. United States was also a merciless target of the German bombing. In an effort to fight back, The United States and Great Britain combined forces to initiate a larger bombing canvass (although with different bombing approaches) and a more intense campaign against Germany targeting mainly its prime industries and factories which were the backbone of its industrial capacity. Although, Britain adopted a mass area bombing strategy, the US was hesitant to participate in action that would lead to mass civilian casualties, thus their focus being on faster, more accurate and quicker bombing known as ‘precision bombing’ which leaves the surrounding area with minimal damage (McFarland, Stephen L, 1995). The ethical and moral indication during World War, however, could not withstand long due to the ineffectiveness of ‘precision bombing’ in Japan due to its territorial largesse and erratic weather patterns. The resultant inflammable bombs could be dropped in any weather and also created firestorms in the crowded Japanese cities due to creation of intensely hot fire. These apart, development of nuclear bombs by US scientists in 1945 and their subsequent deployment on the Japanese twin cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a historical example of industrialized civilian killing that characterized the World War II. Use of strategic, tactical and nuclear bombing had aided victory of the host countries. Cities, Neighborhoods, and important buildings were lost (Werrell, Kenneth P, 1996). Prior to the outbreak of Second World War, international humanitarian law so as to govern the aerial warfare was left un-updated despite several diplomatic efforts (Murray, Williamson, 1999). The absence of any such specific international humanitarian law guidelines did not ensure a general agreement of the laws of the war leading to an undeterred resort to aerial bombardment as a tool for aiding victory. Initially the air bombardments and raids were to be targeted only to military populace which was agreed to by the U.S., the French, Britain and Germany as a mutual agreement. However, along the course of time, German air force started its assault on civilian territories as well as refugee camps, towns and cities especially in Poland. As result of the aerial and weaponry bombardment, intense street hostility between German military force and armor troops and Polish infantry and artillery, 10 percent of the structures in the city were ruined, and 40,000 civilians slaughtered. In fact the threat of bombardment was utilized as a tool by Germany to compel enemies to surrender. The Dutch under similar circumstances were on lines to surrender and attempted to delay the blitz. However, 97 tons of bombs were dropped which left the city devastated, killing 1000 civilians and wounding many others. This tactic is very clearly an indication of how these aerial bombardments were a systematic and industrialized pattern during the Second World War. Hitler had although provide directives to German warfare to not attack civilian targets, but, on account of the inferiority of German contemporary bombing forces and the inability to accompany the bombers safely through enemy territories resulted in their resorting to the most effective strategic strike and that was through terror bombing through retaliation weapons and artillery. British historian, Frederick Taylor has rightly pointed out that “the nations Frederick Taylor (historian) Bombarded each other’s cities during the war wherein for instance, half a million citizens of Soviet had died out of German assault during the attack on Russia. The inclination towards resorting to mass area bombing rather than precision target bombing mainly took over due to huge losses in missed targets and inaccuracy of delivery and thus area bombing was agreed upon despite knowing well that it could kill civilians. Frederick Taylor is a British historian and author of such works as Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945 about the bombing of Dresden in World War II.... In conclusion, it can be established that the Second World War indeed was characterized by systematic and industrialized killing of civilians. As already illustrated that, the nations during the 1940s, had the option between tactical bombing and mass bombing with the major difference being that tactical bombing would only be targeted to the specific segment like military and enemy infantry. However, mass bombing was synonymous to the unrestricted and unhindered release of missiles and artillery on the enemy territories without distinguishing the civilians from military or Para-military forces. Although mass aerial bombing did not require the necessity of precision and was thus less convoluted, its cost in the form of thousands of innocent lives and devastated cities was untenable. The initial mutual agreement between the big powers at the time did emphasize strict avoidance of civilian territories, nevertheless, the momentum of the War and dispersal of the central co-ordination existing between powerful, although warring nations, resulted in a washout of the theme and thus the Second World war indeed saw a full throttle of civilian manpower through methodical aerial bombardments and air strikes. Read More