Figure 1.--

Does a country which is attacked and subjected to terror bombing have a right to strike back at the aggressor's civilians. A European reader writes, "No, unless there is fullproof evidence that the entire nation shares at 100 percent the policies followed by it's government. This case will be quite uncommon as the terror bombing politic is not the decision of a democratic nation. And even then the counter terror bombing will kill children that obviously did not contribute in the choice of government." HBC has some difficulties with this assessment. We believe that the 100 percent criterion is not a reasonable guideline, but at what level of support we place the guideline could be debated endlessly. The question of democratic goverment is an interesting one. While we are in agreement that democratic governments are less likely than totalitarian governments toi go to war, here this is not an imutable rule. There was considerable support in France for war with Germany in the years leading up to World War I. Of course in world War II there was considerable reluctance among democratic countries to go to war. This reluctance in large measure explaind the defeat of France and thge reverses suffered by Britain and America iun the eary years of the War. There was also considerble relucrance by the Allies to bomb civilians in the early yeas of te War. This attitude changed as the War progressed. The British strategic bombing campaign against Germany was largely and assault on the civilian populations of cities. The bombing campaigns were very popular among both British amnd American populations. This was also the case among the civilian populations of the occupied countries, unless their communities were hit by the bombs. The American air campaign against Japan also became largely a campaign taretting whole cities through fire bombing attacks casing fire storms in Japanese cities. This campaign was widely aplauded by American civilians, although the nature of the campaign was not stressed in the American media. Concerning the atomic-bomb, if President Truman had not used the bomb and massive casualties had ocucurred in an invasion of the Home Islands, almost certainly the American people would have demanded his impeachment.

Comparable Strikes

Does a country which is attacked and subjected to terror bombing have a right to strike back at the aggressor's civilians. A European reader writes, "No, unless there is fullproof evidence that the entire nation shares at 100 percent the policies followed by it's government. This case will be quite uncommon as the terror bombing politic is not the decision of a democratic nation. And even then the counter terror bombing will kill children that obviously did not contribute in the choice of government." HBC has some difficulties with this assessment. We believe that the 100 percent criterion is not a reasonable guideline, but at what level of support we place the guideline could be debated endlessly.

Democratic Government

The question of democratic goverment is an interesting one. While we are in agreement that democratic governments are less likely than totalitarian governments toi go to war, here this is not an imutable rule. There was considerable support in France for war with Germany in the years leading up to World War I. Of course in world War II there was considerable reluctance among democratic countries to go to war. This reluctance in large measure explaind the defeat of France and thge reverses suffered by Britain and America iun the eary years of the War. There was also considerble relucrance by the Allies to bomb civilians in the early yeas of te War. This attitude changed as the War progressed. The British strategic bombing campaign against Germany was largely and assault on the civilian populations of cities.

Combatant Attitudes

The bombing campaigns were very popular among both British amnd American populations. The American air campaign against Japan also became largely a campaign taretting whole cities through fire bombing attacks casing fire storms in Japanese cities. This campaign was widely aplauded by American civilians, although the nature of the campaign was not stressed in the American media. Concerning the atomic-bomb, if President Truman had not used the bomb and massive casualties had ocucurred in an invasion of the Home Islands, almost certainly the American people would have demanded his impeachment.

Occupied Countries

Support for the Allied bombing of Germany at the time was strong among the civilian populations of the occupied countries, unless their communities were hit by the bombs. A Dutch reader writes, "I still remember the allied bombers flying over our house in the Netherlands during the last years of he War, the Americans during the daytime, the British at night, in large formations. There was a monotous roar in the air, interrupted by an occasional German FLAK (anti-aircraft gun). Sometimes they hit a plane that came down in a fireball and thousand pieces. These bombers were on their way to Germany. When they returned we learned that many German towns were destroyed. At that time we did not question how many innocent people, especially children, were killed in the raids." One Dutch reader writes, "Our family had mixed feelings. On one hand we thought that the Germans were getting exactly what they deserved, on the other hand we were concerned about our relatives in Cologne of whom we were very fond." A Yugoslav reader enterened at Dachau in 1944 for slave labor reports that, "We could hear the bombing and see the glow in the sky at night. It gave us great hope that help was on the way and that we would be liberated." [HBC note: Dachau was near Munich and Munich among other factors was the site of a huge BMW plant that made aircraft engines. These engines were used in the Luftwaffe's superb FW-120 fighter.] Today in many of these countries there is considerable criticism of the Allied bombing campaign. Certainly lessimpassioned judgements can be mase today. But these judgements ar also much easier to make in the saftey of a Europe freed from NAZI tyrany.

Created: Novenmber 6, 2002
Last updated: November 22, 2002