Bombing of the British Cities in 1940

Bombing of the British Cities in 1940

By the end of 1940, the Second World War had fallen into a war of

attrition. Both sides were looking to inflict damage to either side

with the least effort possible. Britain was in a dismal predicament as

the RAF were becoming weaker and weaker as the Luftwaffe continued to

bomb the airfields and factories. However, Germany's tactics suddenly

changed to attacking the major cities of Britain. Hitler had many

reasons to do this. With Britain in a weaker position and public

morale lower than ever, it gave Hitler his best opportunity to invade

Britain and potentially launch Operation Sealion. This was the crucial

thought in Hitler's mind when deciding to attack the towns and cities

of Britain.

Characteristically, Hitler never wished to go to war with Britain and

the Blitz was a technique used to diminish the British morale. Hitler

hoped to lower public morale by destroying the citizen's homes and

city's. If the public morale lowered enough then the government could

be put under public pressure to sign an armistice with Germany.

Even if the morale did not suffer enough for surrender, many Britons

would be unwilling to fight for a lost cause and thus Britain would

have been soften up for an invasion. The invasion plan, which had been

planned for Britain, Operation Sealion, could then be finally

implemented with a weakened Britain allowing Germany to lose minimal

troops.

The second most important reason why Hitler chose to bomb British

towns was the unforeseen attack on the German capital of Berlin. When

a stray bomb landed on Buckingham Palace, Churchill ordered the

immediate attack on Berlin. In an act of revenge for attacking Berlin,

Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to destroy the British cities. The

retaliation by Hitler showed his people he was not afraid of the

Britons and by bombing the cities, he was seen as more ruthless and

more fearful.

The third most important reason for the bombing of the cities was to

destroy and disrupt the normal running of transport and industry.