Strategic Bombing: Was The Controversial Tactic Actually Effective? | WWII in Colour | War Stories
74,667
Published 2024-05-15
War Stories is your one stop shop for all things military history. From Waterloo to Verdun, we'll be bringing you only the best documentaries and stories from history's most engaging and dramatic conflicts.
Discover the past on History Hit, with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly and presented by world-renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Matt Lewis and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code 'WARSTORIES': historyhit.com/subscription
You can find more from us on:
www.facebook.com/WarStoriesDocs
This channel is part of the History Hit Network. For any queries, please contact [email protected].
#warstories #documentary #military
All Comments (21)
-
Stop sugar coating history it may be disturbing but humanity needs to see that war is ugly
-
World War II in color is one of the greatest series of all time.
-
What is it with the scenes where they blur it out? I have noticed this recently and totally understand why people get frustrated by it, you do not watch these documentaries only to feel too sensitive to stomach seeing imagery of death in war!
-
What a huge waste of resources the Bismarck was.
-
Yes it was effective on so many levels. It kept 1m troops and 1700 aircraft tied down, that could have been better used elsewhere.
-
If the bombing of cities in the UK hardened peoples' resolve, why did the RAF think it would be different in Germany?
-
Bombing raids against Berlin in October 1943 severely damaged the Alkett plant which produced the highly successful StuG III assault guns. German High Command was so worried about the loss of production of the most effective armored fighting vehicles in its inventory that it had to divert production of tanks in an effort to make up some of the lost production of StuG III.
-
Some details wrong. The Rolls Royce Merlin engine gave the P51 Mustang altitude, not range (the previous Allison engine was great at low altitude but performance fell off over 15,000 feet). It was the use of drop tanks that gave the P51 (and the P47) range.
-
It's too bad the episode wasn't about strategic bombing.
-
Questions about whether it reduced net German war materiel production? Without the bombing it may have doubled or tripled. Yes -- very successful.
-
Case in point. About 2/3rds of stg44 rifles were destroyed in transit by air power
-
I've always figured the bombing was more retaliatory than strategic.
-
“Strategic Bombing was a controversial tactic” - From a German prospective or ours?
-
Pointblank Directive issued June 1943 "Redrafted by the Air Ministry, the directive tasked the 8th US Army Air Force with attacking the aviation industry; RAF Bomber Command would work towards 'the general disorganisation of German industry', as before." BBC Berlin Air Offensive page
-
In total war strategic bombing targets all resources the enemy has, and one of the biggest is manpower, the civilian population. That’s the difference from limited to total war, nothing is out of bounds
-
yes, it was worth it. The Germans utilized over 1 million men in anti-aircraft gunnery. That is a LOT of men that would/could have been on the front lines. Add to that the amount of war material involved in the production of AA guns and ammo.
-
Dresden did have a huge military significance. (19:42). The Soviet army was approaching Berlin and Dresden was the last major city between Berlin and the Soviets. This is where Germans would make a stand and try to stop the Soviets so Stalin asked the allies to demolish Dresden, which they did. That was huge help for the Soviet army.
-
loved ww2 in colour documentary on Netflix
-
In the middle of a War nobody really knows what's going on with the enemy, nobody can predict what any course of action will achieve and at what cost, right & right becomes very blurred. But doing NOTHING is always the worst option. The fact that this is still being debated & disputed 80 years later, with all our knowledge after the event, shows it was as legitimate & effective as any other action available at the time to win a World War.
-
A simple message, if you dont like the heat keep out of the kitchen. There is a saying, dont poke a sleeping bear with a sharp stick. What you sow, so shall thoqw reap. A bitter consequence of war. It plays out today.
