When was strategic bombing used

In fact, few targets were ever hit by British and American forces the same day, the strategic isolation of Normandy on D-Day and the bombing of Dresden in February, being exceptions rather than the rule. There were generally no coordinated plans for around-the-clock bombing of any target.

In some cases, single missions have been considered to constitute strategic bombing. Strategic bombing in Europe never reached the decisive completeness the American campaign against Japan achieved, helped in part by the fragility of Japanese housing , which was particularly vulnerable to firebombing through the use of incendiary bombs.

The destruction of German infrastructure became apparent, but the Allied campaign against Germany only really succeeded when the Allies began targeting oil refineries and transportation in the last year of the war. At the same time, strategic bombing of Germany was used as a morale booster for the Allies in the period before the land war resumed in Western Europe in June In the Pacific theatre , if the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service frequently used strategic bombing over large Chinese cities such as Shanghai , Guangzhou, Nanjing, and Chongqing , organized strategic bombing on a large scale by the Japanese seldom occurred.

The Japanese military in most places advanced quickly enough that a strategic bombing campaign was unnecessary, and the Japanese aircraft industry was incapable of producing truly strategic bombers in any event. In those places where it was required, the smaller Japanese bombers in comparison to British and American types did not carry a bombload sufficient to inflict the sort of damage regularly occurring at that point in the war in Europe, or later in Japan.

The capture of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima further enhanced the capabilities that the Americans possessed in their strategic bombing campaign. Conventional bombs and incendiary bombs were used against Japan to devastating effect, with greater indiscriminate loss of life in the firebombing of Tokyo in March than was caused either by the Dresden mission, or the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

The final development of strategic bombing in World War II was the use of nuclear ordnance. On August 6 and 9, , the United States conducted nuclear bombing raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both cities were destroyed with enormous loss of life and psychological shock. On August 15 the Emperor announced the surrender of Japan, stating :. Should We continue to fight, it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.

Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects; or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors?

This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers. Nuclear weapons defined strategic bombing during the Cold War. The age of the massive strategic bombing campaign had come to an end. It was replaced by more devastating attacks using improved sighting and weapons technology. Strategic bombing by the Great Powers also became politically indefensible. The political fallout resulting from the destruction being broadcast on the evening news ended more than one strategic bombing campaign.

In the Vietnam War, the strategic bombing of North Vietnam in Operation Rolling Thunder could have been more extensive, but fear by the Johnson Administration of the entry of China into the war and misapprehension of the nature and technique of strategic bombing led to restrictions on the selection of targets, as well as only a gradual escalation of intensity. The aim of the bombing campaign was to demoralize the North Vietnamese, damage their economy, and reduce their capacity to support the war in the hope that they would negotiate for peace, but it failed to have those effects.

The Nixon Administration continued this sort of limited strategic bombing during the two Operation Linebacker campaigns. Images such as that of Kim Phuc Phan Thi although this incident was the result of close air support rather than strategic bombing disturbed the American public enough to demand a stop to the campaign.

Due to this, and the ineffectiveness of carpet bombing partly because of a lack of identifiable targets , new precision weapons were developed. The new weapons allowed more effective and efficient bombing with reduced civilian casualties.

High civilian casualties had always been the hallmark of strategic bombing, but later in the Cold War, this began to change. Strategic bombing was entering a new phase of high-intensity attacks, specifically targeting factories taking years and millions of dollars to build. Strategic bombing in the post—Cold War era is defined by American advances in and the use of smart munitions. More frequently in the Kosovo War , and the initial phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom of , strategic bombing campaigns were notable for the heavy use of precision weaponry by those countries that possessed them.

Although bombing campaigns were still strategic in their aims, the widespread area bombing tactics of World War II had mostly disappeared. This led to significantly fewer civilian casualties associated with previous bombing campaigns, though it has not brought about a complete end to civilian deaths or collateral property damage.

Additionally, strategic bombing via smart munitions is now possible through the use of aircraft that have been considered traditionally tactical in nature such as the F Fighting Falcon or FE Strike Eagle , which had been used during Operation Desert Storm , Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom to destroy targets that would have required large formations of strategic bombers during World War II.

That said, such bombing still may have a place, as evidenced during the South Ossetia war when Russian aircraft attacked the shipbuilding center of Poti. With the advent of precision-guided munitions , many feel that strategic bombing has once again become a viable military strategy.

Exactly how precise precision munitions are is still open to question. However, others predict that 21st century warfare will more often be asymmetrical , and therefore viable strategic bombing options may not exist.

A further question is raised when some see the blurring of strategic and tactical targets and missions, particularly when tactical aircraft are frequently used to carry out strikes on targets with significant strategic importance as a result of technological advances in aircraft design and munition guidance and penetration. For example, tactical strike aircraft such as Fs were frequently used to destroy command and communications bunkers during Operation Iraqi Freedom while large "strategic" bombers such as the B-1 and B were frequently used to provide sustained close air support at high altitude during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Air warfare, must comply with laws and customs of war , including international humanitarian law by protecting the victims of the conflict and refraining from attacks on protected persons. These restraints on aerial warfare are covered by the general laws of war , because unlike war on land and at sea—which are specifically covered by rules such as the Hague Regulations and Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions , which contain pertinent restrictions, prohibitions and guidelines—there are no treaties specific to aerial warfare.

To be legal, aerial operations must comply with the principles of humanitarian law: military necessity , distinction , and proportionality : [36] An attack or action must be intended to help in the military defeat of the enemy, it must be an attack on a military objective, and the harm caused to civilians or civilian property must be proportional and not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

Among the controversial instances of strategic bombing and it should be noted that there is still significant controversy over whether all of these events even constitute strategic bombing, as opposed to other forms, such as terror bombing or tactical bombing are:.

Terrorflieger terror flyers or terrorist airman. Needless to say, no one in Germany used such terminology in connection with German bombing raids against cities in England. Western Allies Not only did the writer denounce the allied "terror bombing", he also stressed the "special joy" that the "Anglo-American air gangsters" took in murder of innocent German civilians Military Wiki Explore. Popular pages. Project maintenance.

Register Don't have an account? Strategic bombing. Edit source History Talk 0. Main article: Strategic bombing during World War I. Main article: Aerial bombardment and international law.

Bombing designed to hasten the end of a war by terrorising the enemy population— Read. June p. International Law on the Bombing of Civilians. Modern military aircraft types and roles. Categories Articles with incorrect citation syntax All pages needing factual verification Articles needing factual verification from February Articles needing page number citations Articles needing page number citations from February Pages using ISBN magic links All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia Aerial bombing Military strategy Military doctrines Strategic bombing Aerial warfare strategy Targeting warfare Add category.

Cancel Save. Universal Conquest Wiki. Strategic bombing of "uncivilized tribes" during the British mandate of Iraq [ citation needed ] Spanish Civil War The Bombing of Guernica : the first aerial bombardment in history in which a civilian population was targeted with the apparent intent of producing civilian casualties. Examples include the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade claimed to have been done by mistake and the deliberate bombing of the main TV center in Belgrade.

Operation Iraqi Freedom invasion of Iraq. Precision laser and GPS guided bombs were used extensively, not only to damage and destroy Saddam Hussein 's army but also to damage infrastructure such as communications, utilities, and various government buildings. The campaign moved into asymmetric warfare once strategic targets no longer existed or were not viable targets. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Strategic bombing.

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia view authors. By late its aircraft could devastate relatively small targets with a degree of accuracy that far exceeded the daytime efforts of the Americans, but area bombing continued to be pursued as a valid strategy until the end of the war.

Bombing of targets in occupied Europe and Italy was also conducted as the part of the offensive. All told, the strategic bombing offensive cost the Allies approximately , aircrew and inflicted up to one million fatal casualties upon Germany. Raids over occupied Europe killed more civilians than had the Germans in Britain. Debate still continues over the merits and the morality of the strategy underpinning the offensive. It was only at the very end of the war that the offensive came close to achieving its ultimate objective of destroying the German war economy, and German morale never seemed in danger of collapsing.

The offensive's greatest achievement was that it drew the German air force into battle, pulling it away from supporting the fighting fronts on the ground, and destroyed it. The offensive thereby contributed to Allied air supremacy that proved critical to victory on the ground, and facilitated even greater destruction by the bomber forces.

Breadcrumb Home Collection Strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Collection items. Aerial view of part of Heligoland Island in the North Sea, which was subjected to a massive air Aerial view of the bomb ravaged German city of Braunschweig Brunswick. Window was a great success and was employed by the RAF for the rest of the war. The Germans were forced to change its strategy in dealing with bombing raids. As Air Marshall Arthur Harris later pointed out: "The Observer Corps now plotted the main bomber stream and orders were broadcast to large numbers of fighters with a running commentary giving the height, direction and whereabouts of the bomber stream, and of the probable target for which it was making or the actual target which it was attacking.

In August repeated incendiary attacks on Hamburg caused a firestorm and 50, German civilians were killed. By the end of the Allied air forces had dropped a total of , tons of bombs on Germany. This new aircraft could escort bombers all the way to targets deep inside Germany. It was an outstanding combat plane and inflicted considerable damage on the Luftwaffe. Despite objections from Arthur Harris and Carl Spaatz , the bombing campaign changed during the summer of The destruction of German oil production was also made a priority target and by September, , the Luftwaffe's fuel supply had been reduced to 10, tons of octane out of a monthly requirement of , tons.

By the end of the Allies had obtained complete air supremacy over Germany and could destroy targets at will. Arthur Harris now devised Operation Thunderclap, an air raid that would finally break the morale of the German people. To enable maximum impact to take place Harris chose Dresden as his target. This medieval city had not been attacked during the war and was virtually undefended by anti-aircraft guns.

On 13th February , Avro Lancaster bombers attacked Dresden. The resulting firestorm killed around , people. The large number of Japanese buildings made of wood made it easy for the bombers to create firestorms. On the 9th and 10th March , a raid on Tokyo devastated the city.

This was followed by attacks on other Japanese cities. On 6th August , a B29 bomber dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima. Japan continued to fight and a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later. On 10th August the Japanese surrendered. The Second World War was over. The mission may often be flying above cloud until close to its target, when they will come down and must pick up the target with as little delay as possible.

The complicated and congested appearance of an industrial area is notoriously most confusing to crews of aircraft, and it is impossible to provide them with too much assistance in picking out their particular objective from the tangled mass of detail. Bombing attacks by the R. Have been extended from the German advance guard in France to Leipzig, some miles away across Germany.

The latest Air Ministry bulletins report successful bombing of troop concentrations, military transport, on roads and railways, including an ammunition train, the headquarters of a German armoured division, and a power station.

A German ammunition train was blown up, other trains were derailed and set on fire, tracks were derailed and set on fire, tracks were demolished, and the enemy's road and rail communications over a wide area were interrupted in the course of extensive operations by the R. Objectives attacked included railway junctions, marshalling yards, troop convoys, and road and rail bridges in many parts of North-West Germany and similar targets in the occupied territory of Belgium immediately behind the battle area.

The loss of seven Blenheims out of seventeen in the daylight attack on merchant shipping and docks at Rotterdam is more severe. Such losses seem disproportionate to an attack on merchant shipping not engaged in vital supply work. The losses in our bombers have been very heavy this month, and Bomber Command is not expanding as was hoped. While I greatly admire the bravery of the pilots, I do not want them pressed too hard.

British propaganda was advertising the prospect of fatally injuring Germany's morale by bombing attacks. This presupposed a lack of courage on the part of the Germans not justified by either past German history or their present performance, or by the reaction of Englishmen to the destructive Blitz of England the preceding year.

British bombers made a destructive raid on the Renault auto works in the northern suburbs of Paris on the night of March 3, killing and injuring 1,, mostly non-combatants.

Violent anti-British feeling flared immediately in both the occupied and unoccupied zones of France. It is horrible. One can well imagine how such an awful bombardment affects the population. We can't get away from the fact that the English air raids have increased in scope and importance; if they can be continued for weeks on these lines, they might conceivably have a demoralizing effect on the population.

He said he would repeat these raids night after night until the English were sick and tired of terror attacks. He shares my opinion absolutely that cultural centres, health resorts and civilian resorts must be attacked now. There is no other way of bringing the English to their senses.

They belong to a class of human beings with whom you can only talk after you have first knocked out their teeth. We in Britain know quite enough about air raids. For ten months your Luftwaffe bombed us. First you bombed us by day. When we made this impossible, they came by night.

Then you had a big fleet of bombers. Your airmen fought well. They bombed London for ninety-two nights running. They made heavy raids on Coventry, Plymouth, Liverpool, and other British cities.

They did a lot of damage. Forty-three thousand British men, women and children lost their lives; Many of our most cherished historical buildings were destroyed. You thought, and Goering promised you, that you would be safe from bombs. And indeed, during all that time we could only send over a small number of aircraft in return. But now it is just the other way. Now you send only a few aircraft against us.

And we are bombing Germany heavily. Why are we doing so? We are bombing Germany, city by city, and even more terribly, in order to make it impossible for you to go on with the war.

That is our object. We shall pursue it remorselessly. Let the Nazis drag you down to disaster with them if you will. That is for you to decide. In fine weather we bomb you by night. Already bombers go to one town, like Cologne, and destroy a third of it in an hour's bombing. We know; we have the photographs. In cloudy weather we bomb your factories and shipyards by day.

We have done that as far away as Danzig. We are coming by day and by night.