Strategic Bombing: Decisive Air Power in Modern Warfare

By Fouad Sabry

What is Strategic Bombing

Strategic bombing is a systematically organized and executed attack from the air which can utilize strategic bombers, long- or medium-range missiles, or nuclear-armed fighter-bomber aircraft to attack targets deemed vital to the enemy's war-making capability. It is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. The term terror bombing is used to describe the strategic bombing of civilian targets without military value, in the hope of damaging an enemy's morale.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Strategic bombing

Chapter 2: Battle of Britain

Chapter 3: Bombing of Dresden in World War II

Chapter 4: The Blitz

Chapter 5: Firebombing

Chapter 6: Baedeker Blitz

Chapter 7: Carpet bombing

Chapter 8: Aerial bombing of cities

Chapter 9: Airstrike

Chapter 10: Bombing of Hamburg in World War II

(II) Answering the public top questions about strategic bombing.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Strategic Bombing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Jun 20, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Strategic bombing

Strategic bombing is a military tactic employed in total war with the objective of subduing the opponent by decimating either or both of their economic capacity to create and transport materiel to the theaters of military operations. Using strategic bombers, long- or medium-range missiles, or nuclear-armed fighter-bomber aircraft, it is a methodically planned and carried out aerial strike against targets deemed essential to the enemy's ability to wage war. Terror bombing refers to the deliberate bombardment of civilian objects with little military significance in an effort to lower the morale of an adversary.

Demoralizing the opponent is one of the war's tactics in an effort to make peace or capitulation more appealing than continuing the fight. This has been accomplished by strategic bombing. Near the end of World War II, the term terror bombing entered the English language, and pundits and historians have referred to numerous strategic bombing campaigns and individual missions as terror bombing. Some people, including the Allies of World War II, have chosen to use euphemisms such will to resist and morale bombings instead of the phrase due to its negative connotations.

Between the two world wars, a theoretical division between tactical and strategic air warfare was formed. Leading proponents of strategic air warfare theory during this time included General Billy Mitchell in the United States, the Trenchard school in the United Kingdom, and Italian Giulio Douhet. These thinkers had a significant impact on political thinking about a potential conflict, as evidenced by Stanley Baldwin's 1932 remark that the bomber will always succeed, as well as the military case for a separate air force (such as the Royal Air Force).

Demoralizing the adversary is one of the goals of battle; when faced with constant death and destruction, the option of peace or capitulation could seem more appealing. Between the two world wars, supporters of strategic bombing, such General Douhet, believed that direct bombing raids by strategic bombers on an adversary country's cities would quickly cause a collapse in civilian morale, putting pressure on politicians to quickly file for peace. Such assaults were attempted in the 1930s but failed in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Spanish Civil War. Some air forces, like the Luftwaffe, focused their efforts on providing direct assistance for the troops after commentators noted the shortcomings.

The emotive term terror bombing is used to describe aerial assaults intended to lower or destroy enemy morale.

Since the end of World War II, numerous strategic bombing campaigns and individual aerial strikes have been referred to as terror bombing by commentators and historians; however, some disagree due to the term's negative connotations.

Among the defensive tactics against air strikes are:

attempting to fire down invaders using surface-to-air missiles, fighter aircraft, and anti-aircraft weapons

the protection of the populace through the employment of air raid shelters

air raid sirens

establishing civil defense organizations with air raid wardens, firewatchers, rescue and recovery people, firefighting crews, demolition and repair teams, and other personnel to repair damage

Blackouts: turning off all lights at night to reduce the precision of bombing

War-critical factories being dispersed to locations that are difficult for bombers to reach

War-critical manufacturing is duplicated at shadow plants

constructing industries in bomb-proof tunnels or other underground places

setting up fake targets in rural locations and creating fires to seem like the aftermath of a raid in an urban area

In World War I, strategic bombing was employed, notwithstanding the fact that in its current state it was not clear.

On August 6, 1914, the German Army Zeppelin Z VI dropped the first airborne bomb on a city, Using artillery shells, the Belgian city of Liège, murder of nine civilians.

The mission was to attack the Zeppelin production lines and their sheds at Cologne (Köln) and Düsseldorf.

Charles Rumney Samson is the leader, Four aircraft's force caused only little damage to the sheds.

A month later, the operation was repeated with marginally better results.

Around a year from now, Both sides employed specialist aircraft and separate bomber units.

Typically, these were employed in tactical bombing; The intention was to directly injure enemy soldiers, strongpoints, or equipment, Usually, the front line is only a short distance away.

Eventually, the notion of harming the enemy indirectly by systematically attacking key rear-area resources came to mind.

The most well-known raids during the war were those carried out by Zeppelins over England.

On January 19, the first aerial bombing on English people began, 1915, when two zeppelins dropped 24 high-explosive bombs weighing 50 kilograms (110 pounds) each and ineffectual three kilogram incendiaries on the towns of Great Yarmouth in Eastern England, Sheringham, King's Lynn, and the nearby villages.

In all, There were 16 injuries and 4 fatalities, and monetary damage was estimated at £7,740 (about US$36,000 at the time).

Other fronts were also attacked by German airships, for example in January 1915 on Liepāja in Latvia.

19 further raids dropped 37 tons of bombs in 1915, resulting in the deaths of 181 individuals and injuries of 455. The raids persisted throughout 1916. In May, London was unintentionally bombarded, and in July, the Kaiser approved targeted raids against cities. In 1916, there were 23 airship raids that dropped 125 tons of bombs, killing 293 people and wounding 691 others. British air defenses progressively got better. There were only 11 Zeppelin raids against England in 1917 and 1918, and on the final one, which took place on August 5, 1918, KK Peter Strasser, the head of the German Naval Airship Department, perished.

By the end of the war, 51 raids had been carried out, resulting in the detonation of 5,806 bombs, killing 557 persons and injuring 1,358 others. By later standards, the production throughout the war was only somewhat hampered by these attacks. The substitution of twelve aircraft squadrons, several weapons, and more than 10,000 soldiers for air defenses had a significantly bigger effect. The raids sparked a wave of frenzy, which was fueled in part by the media. This demonstrated the tactic's potential as a tool that propagandists on both sides may employ. The Gotha bomber, the first heavier-than-air bomber to be deployed for strategic bombing, was a complement to the late Zeppelin attacks.

On June 15, 1915, the French army stormed the German town of Karlsruhe, leaving 29 civilians dead and 58 injured. Thereafter, raids continued up until the 1918 Armistice. Using out-of-date maps, the pilots attacked the location of the abandoned railway station where a circus tent was set up in the afternoon of June 22, 1916, killing 120 people, the majority of them children.

The British also intensified their campaign of strategic bombing. Attacks on German industrial targets were authorized in late 1915, and the RNAS and Royal Flying Corps combined to form the 41st Wing. The RNAS embraced strategic bombing more than the RFC, which was devoted to aiding the infantry operations on the Western Front. The RNAS initially attacked the German submarines while they were moored, and later expanded its operation to include the steelworks, which were the source of the submarines themselves.

They began their round-the-clock bombing campaign against Trier at the beginning of 1918, using smaller bombers during the day and larger HP O/400s during the night. In April 1918, the Independent Force, the first independent strategic bombing force, was established as an extended bomber group. The military had aircraft that could reach Berlin by the end of the war, but they were never employed.

The idea of strategic bombing emerged after the war. The sentiments of the British government and populace during the interwar years would be significantly impacted by calculations of the number of dead to the weight of bombs. It was completely anticipated that the number of fatalities would rise sharply as bombers got bigger. One of the main reasons for appeasing Nazi Germany in the 1930s was the fear of a large-scale aircraft attack.

Tactical air warfare and strategic air warfare are two different areas that emerged from the early stages of aerial warfare in the writings of air warfare theorists. A combined-arms attack that Germany would develop to a major extent and that greatly aided the Wehrmacht's success during the first four years of World War II (1939–42) included the development of tactical air warfare. A crucial component of the German blitzkrieg was the Luftwaffe.

During this time, the Trenchard school in Great Britain, General Billy Mitchell in the United States, and the Italian Giulio Douhet were some of the prominent theorists of strategic air warfare, namely strategic bombing. Future battles would likely involve a significant amount of aerial bombardment of the enemy's home country, according to these theorists. Such assaults would shatter the spirit of the civilian populace, pushing their government to submit, and weaken the opponent by destroying crucial military facilities. The adage of the day persisted that the bomber will always get through, despite the fact that area bombing theorists admitted that steps might be made to protect against bombers employing fighter planes and anti-aircraft fire. These proponents of strategic bombing contended that building a fleet of strategic bombers would be vital both to discourage future enemies and to be able to launch devastating attacks on enemy cities and industry during a conflict with relatively few deaths among friendly forces.

Between the two world wars, military theorists from a number of countries promoted strategic bombing as the rational and obvious use of aircraft. The British put in more effort than most because of domestic political issues. In 1918, the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service of the Great War amalgamated to form a new air force, which spent a large portion of the two decades that followed struggling to survive in a climate of severe government expenditure restraints.

The airpower prophet General Giulio Douhet claimed that the offensive was the fundamental tenet of strategic bombing and that there was no defense against carpet bombing and chemical strikes. When sections from Douhet's book The Command of the Air (1921) were published in France, Germany, and the United States, the seeds of his ominous prophecies flourished. These images of bombed-out towns captured the attention of the general public as well, and they found expression in books like Douhet's The War of 19-- (1930) and H.G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1933), which Alexander Korda adapted into the film Things to Come (1936). Due to Douhet's recommendations, air forces invested more money in their bomber squadrons than in