The aerial bombing of cities became a common tactic in World War II.
World War I
The first ever aerial bombardment of civilians was on January 19, 1915, in which two German Zeppelins dropped 24 fifty-kilogram high-explosive bombs and ineffective three-kilogram incendiaries on Great Yarmouth, Sheringham, Kings Lynn, and the surrounding villages. In all, four people were killed, sixteen injured, and monetary damage was estimated at £7,740, although the public and media reaction were out of proportion to the death toll.
London was accidentally bombed in May, and, in July 1916, the Kaiser allowed directed raids against urban centres. There were 23 airship raids in 1916 in which 125 tons of ordnance were dropped, killing 293 people and injuring 691. Gradually British air defences improved. In 1917 and 1918 there were only eleven Zeppelin raids against England, and the final raid occurred on August 5, 1918, which resulted in the death of KK Peter Strasser, commander of the German Naval Airship Department. By the end of the war, 51 raids had been undertaken, in which 5,806 bombs were dropped, killing 557 people and injuring 1,358. It has been argued that the raids were effective far beyond material damage in diverting and hampering wartime production, and diverting twelve squadrons and over 10,000 men to air defences.
Inter war years (1919–1938)
On April 26, 1937, the German Luftwaffe (Condor Legion) bombed the Spanish city of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. The Germans were attacking to support the efforts of Francisco Franco to overturn the Spanish Republican government. This act caused world-wide revulsion, but was only a taste of things to come.
World War II
During the World War II, the bombing of cities became a normal practice of the German Luftwaffe. It usually had little military purpose and was considered mainly as a psychological warfare, in order to weaken morale of civilians. In the first stage of war, the Germans carried out bombing of most towns and cities in Poland (1939), the first of the destroyed cities being Wieluń. Later the tactics was used against Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 1940. The Luftwaffe also carried out intensive bombing of cities in Britain, including London and Coventry, in a bombing campaign known in Britain as "the Blitz", from September 1940 through to May 1941.
In response, the British started night air raids on Berlin and other cities. In the final stage of the war, the United Kingdom and the United States used fire-bomb attacks on Dresden during February 13-15, 1945, creating a firestorm which together with the bombing itself killed 35,000 citizens (although German figures quoted at the time were as high as 135,000). The US bombing of Tokyo killed 83,000 citizens and the nuclear weapon attacks on Hiroshima killed 70,000 citizens and Nagasaki killed 36,000 citizens during World War II.
Is aerial bombardment state terrorism?
Some argue that these acts qualify as state terrorism. Others state that there were valid military reasons for the attacks on these particular locations. For example, Nagasaki had major naval shipyard facilities and Hiroshima had bases where tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers were quartered. Some say that there is evidence that the United States attempted to warn the civilian populations of Nagasaki and Hiroshima to evacuate the target areas, but this claim is disputed. However as it was assault by aerial bombardment on defended enemy territory, no warning needed to be given under the laws of war at that time (see lower down in this section for more details).
The minutes of the meetings of the Target Committee responsible for proposing locations for the are available. According to these minutes, it was agreed "that psychological factors in the target selection were of great importance." Later, the decision was made
- (2) To neglect location of industrial areas as pin point target, since on these three targets [Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Kyoto] such areas are small, spread on fringes of cities, and quite dispersed.
- (3) to endeavor to place first gadget in center of selected city; that is, not to allow for later 1 or 2 gadgets for complete destruction.
Both of these quotes were taken from The Decision to use the Atomic Bomb by Gar Alperovitz, 1995. These statements are of course open to varying interpretations, but they call into question the notion that the target was chosen purely for its military significance.
During World War II the British approved city busting at he highest level. Professor Lindemann was liked and trusted by Winston Churchill. Churchill appointed him the British governments leading scientific adviser with a seat in the Cabinet. In 1942 Lindemann presented a seminal paper to the Cabinet advocating the aerial bombing of German cities by carpet bombing in a strategic bombing campaign. It was accepted by the Cabinet and Arthur Harris was appointed to carry out the task. It became an important part of the total war waged against Germany. Professor Lindemann's paper put forward the theory of attacking major industrial centrers in order to deliberately destroy as many homes and houses as possible. Working class homes were to be targeted because they had a higher density and fire storms were more likely. This would displace the German workforce and reduce their ability to work. His calculations showed that the RAF Bomber Command would be able to destroy the majority of German houses located in cities quite quickly. The plan was highly controversial even before it started, but the Cabinet thought that bombing was the only option available to directly attack Germany, (as a major invasion of the continent was years away,) and the Soviets were demanding that the Western Allies do somthing to relieve the pressure on the Eastern Front.
The legal defence for this action can be found in the "Laws and Customs of War on Land "(Hague IV); October 18, 1907
- 25 The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited.
- 26 The officer in command of an attacking force must, before commencing a bombardment, except in cases of assault, do all in his power to warn the authorities.
- 27 In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes.
It was a bombardment of defended towns because countries had air defences. It was an arial assault so no warning need be given and All necessary steps as far as possible were taken.Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV); October 18, 1907 available from The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
- ⇧ ICRC: "The Law of Air Warfare" by Francisco Javier Guisández Gómez, a colonel in the Spanish Air Force
- ⇧ Charles Rousseau, Le droit des conflits armés, Editions Pedone, Paris, 1983
- ⇧ The terrible human cost of Bush and Blair's military adventure: 10,000 civilian deaths UK and US authorities discourage counting of deaths as a result of the conflict, reports David Randall The Independent on Sunday, 8 February 2004