The Bombing War

[Monte Davis]

The Overy book is the best wrap-up to date of what has gradually become
accepted among historians since we (and the UK) got over our Twelve O'Clock
High <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041996/> : that "strategic" bombing of
Germany simply didn't make much difference to the war, and was pursued
mostly because (1) interwar doctrine had grotesquely exaggerated how
accurate and effective it would be, (2) the UK and US had already invested
in large heavy-bomber forces, and (3) there was no other way of striking
directly at Germany from the summer of 1940 to the winter of 1945, and it
was thought psychologically/politically necessary to be doing something.

 

The same factors were at work in Germany's use of the  V1 and V2, once its
armies were in retreat and its remaining aircraft were defending them or the
homeland. And of course, once you accept that Allied bombing of Germany was
as much "terror bombing" as Guernica or Rotterdam or the Blitz or Stalingrad
had been (simply because none of them were accurate enough to be anything
else), the V-weapons of 1944-45 are still new and scary - but basically more
of the same, at least until their technological descendants get nuclear
warheads..

 

The reviewer notes the roots in British colonial campaigns. Given more
recent events, it's good snarky fun to recall Secretary for War Churchill
championing bombing of Iraqi rebels in 1920 (and recommending poison gas).
In  fact, though, the experience of the static, bloody Western Front in WWI
- and the desire not to repeat it -- was much more important. The Germans
emphasized fast-moving armor and tactical air to win before trench lines
could solidify, while the UK (and to some extent the US) hoped to "leap
over" battlefronts and knock out the factories and transport that supplied
the armies.

 

 

From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of rich
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2013 9:49 AM
To: "pynchon-l at waste.org"
Subject: The Bombing War

 

Richard Over's new book, a door-stopper about the air campaign in the second
world war has been getting rave reviews. could shed some insight on things
Pynchon

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/27/bombing-war-europe-richard-over
y-review

If the blitz was the first independent strategic bombing offensive, it was
followed soon by a much larger offensive on the part of the British, where,
exceptionally, military doctrine favoured the independent use of bombers.
The strategy was developed following attempts to suppress colonial
uprisings, where long distances and poor communications had made it
difficult to deploy ground forces effectively. Bomber Command, above all
under Arthur Harris, became, in Overy's words, a "sorceror's apprentice",
whose activities eventually far outran the control of its political masters.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20131017/57bbcb09/attachment.html>