by Dugald » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:56 pm
It seems to me that the dispute regarding the use of "indiscriminate" and "wanton" has now petered out. The time is nigh I feel, to mention that some of us in Canada have been deeply involved for the last two years or so, over a dispute very similar to ours on HG. I must first present some background information. In 2004, Canada completed the construction of a national war museum, built at the very expensive cost of $96 million. Included in the museum is a section dealing with the R.C.A.F., which during the war performed as # 6 Group, an integral part of British Bomber Command. An explanatory plaque on show in this RCAF section contained the text provided at the end of this post under the title, "Original Text".
The wording of this plaque created great furor among veterans' groups, including the Royal Canadian Legion. A petition was sent to the Canadian Parliament and the Canadian Senate (like UK's House of Lords). Debate, fiery at times, about this wording on the plaque continued for quite some time and received much national media attention. The result was an order to the Museum to change the wording to something which eliminated the possibility of Canadian air-crews, who served under "Bomber" Harris, being made to look like war criminals. ( Shortly after this, the CEO for the museum resigned) .The new wording, also provided at the end of this post, is longer and, to the veterans, somewhat more acceptable.
It takes but a moment to realise that what happened in the Canadian museum, might well happen to the Luftwaffe's air-crews involved in the bombing of Clydeside. This I believe is what happened on this HG thread... the current HG topic reflects an attempt to do to the Luftwaffe what the museum tried to do to Bomber Command.
The fact that the British government did not award a gong to Bomber Command's aircrews left festering doubts about the morality of a helluva lot of British airmen and civilians. One wonders if this governmental thoughtlessness contributed to the very suspicious wording on the first Canadian Museum plaque. In light of the inescapable equivalence between RAF and Luftwaffe bombing, need we accept wording on HG, without appropriate comment, that continues to cast doubt on the morality of the Luftwaffe, and hence, Britain's Bomber Command?
To label the Luftwaffe's Clydeside bombing as " indiscriminate and wanton", is to wrap the German airforce in moral-lacking guilt; however, in so doing, also steeps the RAF's Bomber Command to exactly the same depth of war criminality. I won't do that.
Original Text
Strategic Bombing:
Mass bomber raids against Germany resulted in vast destruction and heavy loss of life. The value and morality of the strategic bomber offensive against Germany remains bitterly contested. Bomber Command's aim was to crush civilian morale and force Germany to surrender by destroying its cities and industrial installations. Although Bomber Command and American attacks left 600,000 Germans dead, and more than five million homeless, the raids resulted in only small reductions in German war production until late in the war.
New text:
The Bombing
The strategic bombing campaign against Germany, an important part of the Allied effort that achieved victory, remains a source of controversy today.
Strategic bombing enjoyed wide public and political support as a symbol of Allied resolve and a response to German aggression. In its first years, the air offensive achieved few of its objectives and suffered heavy losses. Advances in technology and tactics, combined with Allied successes on other fronts, led to improved results. By war's end, Allied bombers had razed portions of every major city in Germany and damaged many other targets, including oil facilities and transportation networks. The attacks blunted Germany's economic and military potential, and drew scarce resources into air defence, damage repair, and the protection of critical industries.
Allied aircrew conducted this gruelling offensive with great courage against heavy odds. It required vast material and industrial efforts and claimed over 80,000 Allied lives, including more than 10,000 Canadians. While the campaign contributed greatly to enemy war weariness, German society did not collapse despite 600,000 dead and more than five million left homeless. Industrial output fell substantially, but not until late in the war. The effectiveness and the morality of bombing heavily-populated areas in war continue to be debated.