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Second World War II strategic bombing campaign inter-war era
Strategic Bombing Campaign: Inter-War Era
Figure 1.--Hitler and Mussolini in Spain provided Italian and German squadrons to assist the Nationalists to defeat the Republic. The primary use of the Axis air squadrins was to bomb Madrid and other Rrpublican cities. The press caotion read, "What Now, They Ask?: Their homes demolished by Fascist artillery fire and the deadly bombsdropped from Fascist planes, these women and childrenof Madrid console each other s they stand shiveing in the street. This is a typical scene in Madrid where Loyalist [Republican] fighters are making a bitter stand against
the advancing horders of Gen. Franco." The photograph was dated December 17, 1936.
The Allied strategic bombing left German cities piles of rubble and Japanese cities smoldering cinders. The Allies have been crticized for this on moral grounds. Ironically it was not the Allies who began bombing cities. It was the Axis countries which began strategic bombing both before and after World War II began. Japan led the way. The Japanese began bombing Chinese cities as they seized Manchuria (1931). Notice that during the annual Japanese commemoration of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that there are no tears for the larger number of Chinese civilans killed by the Japanese bombing of Chinese cities. Italy bombed Ethiopian cities (1935). Germany and Italy bombed Spanish cities during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Hitler threatened an aged Czech President Emil H�cha that he would destroy Prague unless he complied with German demands. You do not see complaints from Axis countries as long as it was Axis bombers devestating cities in other countries. The German and Japanese outrage over strategic bombing did not begin until the Axis air forces began to lose the capability to bomb other countries and the Allied bomers began to reach Axis countries. Suddenly they saw strategic bombing as a war crime and moral outrage. As British Air Marshal Arthur Harris famously said as he unleashed RAF Bomber Command on the Reich, "The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw, and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind."
The Japanese used their air superiority not only to attack military targets, but to indiscriminately attack Chinese cities as well. The cities had no anti-aircraft defenses or organized civil defense systems. The result was extensive civilian casualties. The only Chinese areas off limits to the Japanese were the European treaty ports like Shanghai and Hong Kong. It is unclear what the Japanese objective was in attacking civilian targets. Presumably it was to terrorize the Chinese into surrendering. Most of the Japanese attacks appear to have been terror bombing pure and simple with no actual military purpose. The Chinese to the surprise if the Japanese did not surrender. In the east, the air attacks were followed by land attacks and occupation, often leading to horrific actions, such as the rape of Nanking. The Chinese, unable to protect their major cities, simply moved deeper into the interior of the country beyond the reach of the Japanese Army. Distance and difficult terrain made the logistics of following the Nationalists with sizable forces impossible. The Japanese were hard-pressed to occupy the area already seized. The Nationalist Army could not be engaged effectively so deep in the interior by the Imperial Army, but not beyond the range of Japanese bombers. The air war in Asia began as in the European theater with mastery of the skies by the Japanese. The small Chinese air force was quickly brushed aside and after the first year virtually non-existent. The relocated Chinese capital of Chunking became the major Japanese target. The first raids caused wide-spread panic as there were no bomb shelters. Gradually the city adjusted. People moved into caves for protection. Thus the Japanese, who would after the war complain bitterly about the bombing of their cities, engaged in virtually unopposed terror bombing of Chinese cities for nearly a decade. This began before the actual invasion with the terror bombing of Shanghai (1931). And would only be limited when the American Flying Tigers arrived (1942). HBC has not yet developed details on the Japanese terror bombing of Chinese cities, but we do have some details on a general page about Japanese atrocities. The Japanese attacks would continue unopposed until the arrival of American planes and pilots--the famed American Volunter Group (AVG). The AVG is better known as the Flying Tigers. The Flying Tigers were a very small force, but even so for the first time, the Japanese began to suffer substantial losses. With the Japanese attack ion Pearl Harbor bringing America into the war, substantial American air units began to arrive in China making Japanese air raids on Chunking and other Chinese cities increasingly difficult.
Italian Bombing of Ethiopian Cities (1935)
The Regia Aeronautica Italiana (Italian Royal Air Force--RAI) played a major role in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935), primarily by using poison gas in the countryside and bombing cities, especially Addis Ababa. The RAI was poorly equipped in European terms, but Ethiopia had no air force with which to oppose the Italians. Without these terror operations, it would have taken much more time for the Italians to occupy Ethiopia.
German and Italian Bombing of Spanish Cities (1936-39)
Spain did not have a modern military when the Civil War broke out. Neither the Rpublic or Franco's Nationlists. Labor and left-wing groups suppoted the Republic. Both Mussolini and Hitler decided to assist the Nationists who had support from the Army along with conservative and Catholic elements of society, including Fascist groups. Had Hitler and Mussolini not intervened there would have been little aerial combat. Boyh Axis powers introduced modern arcraft into the War. They did not just provide aircraft, but actual German and Italian squadrons. The Luftwaffe force was the Condor Legion. Hitler was able to give his new Lufwaffe a trial run. The principal function was to bomb Madrid and other Republican cities. This was imortlized in Picaso's 'Guernica' painting. The Republic had no air defenses. The Allied and american respmse was to embargo military sales to both sides, meaning the Republic was at a serious disadvantage. The Soviets aided the Republic, but not at the sme level as the Germans and Italians.
German Threat to Destroy Prague (1939)
Only 6 months after Munich, Hitler revealed what his pledges were worth. After promising Chamberlain that he wanted no Czechs, Hitler invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia (March 1939). The Allies simply submitted weak diplomatic protests. It was a major victory for Hitler. At no cost, he obtained control over the very substantial Czech arms industry. Hitler had hreatened the Czechs with military action on several occassions after Munich. Finally he summoned elderly President Dr. Emil Hacha to Berlin (March 14). There during midnight sessions, Hitler haranged him. Hitler mockingly reminded Hacha of the beauties of Prague. No precise account exists of what Hitler said. One account reports that Hacha feinted after Hitler threatebed to bomb Prague. Hitler had to call his personal doctor to revive the elderly president. .
