i do think you have to be a bit careful
when attributing an intent to target civilians to 'tyrants and terrorists'. hitler and the german high command were proper evil, to be sure, but let's just consider a few rough stats:
uk civilians killed by axis bombing: ~65,000
russian civilian deaths by axis bombing: ~57,000
french civilians killed by allied bombing: ~67,000
german civilians killed by allied bombing: ~400,000
japanese civilians killed by US bombing: ~500,000
japanese civilians killed by 2 US atomic bombs: ~170,000
jussayin'
(, Tue 22 Jun 2021, 13:10, Share, Reply)
Statistics are easily thrown around.
How about 6 million concentration camp deaths.
Its a very touchy subject indeed.
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Hummel Who died and made you....oh wait...., Tue 22 Jun 2021, 21:37,
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Cant get Basil Faulty goose stepping out of my head now! lol
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Hummel Who died and made you....oh wait...., Wed 23 Jun 2021, 6:43,
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apart from the morality of indiscriminately killing civilians, civilian bombing was a huge failure for both sides in achieving its stated ends
rather than having a sapping effect on the targets public support for the war, it had a unifying effect, galvanising the population against a hated foe. In germany it had the effect of consolidating Hitler grip on power just when they were facing disastrous setbacks in the east and starvation at home in the war's final years. Likewise the blitz spirit in Britain. And in hindsight the luftwaffe's decision to switch from military (airfields and radar installations) to civilian targets was a terrible one, but due to both incompetent leadership and ignoring key intelligence they never realised how close they came to achieving the air superiority they sought.
The role in the two atomic bombs in japan's surrender is more debatable, but the majority view among modern japanese historians is that the soviet declaration of war on Japan between the two bombs had a far greater role than the bombs in the leaderships decision, though the bombs did give the military a way to save face in what was a decision made to conserve home territory after it became clear they would lose manchuria and sakhalin.
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Wed 23 Jun 2021, 1:46,
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The DH Mosquito was also proof of the Fast BOmber concept.
A few Mosquitoes could drop very precise bomb loads smack on target with positive side effects:
- Not overly antagonizing the locals into supporting the Fuhrer.
- Less dead crews per target destroyed.
- Les materials (wood monocoque and 2 Merlins).
- Enraging the German high command
- Etc
(, Wed 23 Jun 2021, 14:26, Share, Reply)
The mozzy is also on my list
to do a Little History on. Fantastic aircraft in every way.
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Hummel Who died and made you....oh wait...., Wed 23 Jun 2021, 17:27,
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great vid, btw.
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Thu 24 Jun 2021, 3:42,
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it was a great plane, no doubt
but its tonnage of bombs dropped was dwarfed by the mass raids of lancasters and halifaxes which Harris favoured. It was churchill that took the decision in 1940 to start bombing civilian centres of population, with the justification that it would divert enemy resources to defending what in effect amounted to terror raids. And while mosquitos were more precise, the heavies spread their shit everywhere. they were still using bomb sights from the first war. anyway, I'm probably not telling you anything you both didn't know already. had an uncle who was a massive war buff, interesting bloke to chat to, and a bit of that interest in ww2 rubbed off on me, fnar fnar.
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Wed 23 Jun 2021, 23:31,
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i was interested to try and find out who directly targeted civilians first in WW2. i will go with Britannica on this one - "The Blitz, (September 7, 1940–May 11, 1941), intense bombing campaign undertaken by Nazi Germany against the United Kingdom during World War II. For eight months the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and other strategic cities across Britain."
Although not correct if you take into account that Poland got a taste first in 1939 with some cities 100% flattened. Another rabbit hole i wish i hadn't gone down. Grim as f***
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Hummel Who died and made you....oh wait...., Thu 24 Jun 2021, 18:09,
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