Aerial Warfare Quotes
Some scholars look back at the allied bombing of German Cities in WWII with criticism that it was morally improper to bomb populated cities, and that the use of the adjective “exterminating” indicated that Churchill was more interested in killing Germans than strategic victory. This revisionist history has two failings. First, the Germans had already bombed Coventry, London and other civilian targets in England as well as cities in Holland, Poland and other countries killing many civilians. As a result, under the rules of war, Germany was no longer entitled to protection for their cities. Further, Hamburg and other targets were manufacturing sites of war material and as such lost the protection anyway. Even Dresden, which had very little war manufacturing was the main location for R&R of German Officers and by their military presence in the city converted it into a legitimate target. FDR agreed with Churchill, that the bombing was a good strategy to cause Hitler to fall as they thought the public would rebel. They were wrong however and his grip on the population through the Gestapo and the military was so strong that, it took a land invasion and occupation to put an end to Hitler. However, the devastating bombing all but crippled the German weapons development and deployment. For example. The Germans had developed the Jet Airplane Engine and actually put a few in the fight at the end if the war. Without the bombing, they would have had many more and countered the allied air supremacy. However, it is also true that Churchill and many Englishmen and some Americans believed that the English were morally entitled to retaliation for the innocent civilians killed with the German bombing of civilian targets.
The Seals who conducted the raid captured all the computers and documents that there were in bin Laden’s compound.
There were few military thinkers at that time who would agree with Goebbels on this point.
At the time, most Japanese (and American and worldwide) Naval leaders and strategists believed that it was the battleship that was the critical naval weapon. Yamamoto proved to be correct and ironically, the American Aircraft Carriers and Planes were his undoing.
This appears to be the first public call for Anti-Ballistic Missile Weapons & Systems. To many it is surprising that in 1946, there would be concern about missile defense, however during WWII, the Germans, violating the laws of war, struck London and other English cities with V2 rocket—the first ballistic missiles. England had suffered many civilian casualties and missile defense was a high priority for them.
The Germans saw this concern as partisan party politics and hysteria. See {594618}.
