World War II saw the birth of a new type of war. This new type of war no longer resembled filthy trenches, and victories of inches in no man’s land, but instead targeted the home front and civilian populations. This was done with the advancement of airspace technology and fulfilled by bombings and air raids. The tactics of firebombing and bombing raids were employed by both Germany and Britain during World War II, in an attempt to break the spirits of the civilian population. By targeting the home front, each side sought to weaken the other so that a ground invasion would be successful. Firebombing was successful in leveling the majority of cities in Europe, both British and German, and not only destroyed morale, but was also used to destroy warfare industry production. Suddenly, the war was brought home, and the home front took on an entirely new meaning. The advanced technology of …show more content…
The raids did not break the spirits of the people, but only strengthened the resolve of Londoners to carry on throughout the destruction. According to Doyle, shops had signs “More open than usual” and “Hitler Can’t Stop Us”. The Londoners showed incredible bravery and morale throughout the bombings. London was resilient, and even Churchill proclaimed their irrepressible resolve, lauding the “ordinary humble people” who stood up against Germany’s demoralizing raids. But this was a heavy blow to London, who routinely had attacks. Churchill claimed, that at one point, London was bombed for fifty-seven consecutive nights. This unceasing terror eventually tapered when the Germans switched targets to more industrialized centers. Although it is most documented and memorialized, the British were not the only affected by firebombing though. Furthermore, they took the German idea of firebombing and used it against
Aerial bombardment was developed by the Germans as a method of spreading material desolation and fear, breaking down the morale of civilians and soldiers alike. Marc Bloch considered air attacks to be far more effective, and more
England's Royal Air Force battled Germany's Luftwaffe from August 1940 until May 1941. During that conflict, England was subjected to air raids day and night. When Hitler finally withdrew his birds of war, four hundred thousand British citizens had been killed, forty-six thousand had been seriously wounded, and one million homes had been leveled. After one raid, a relief team helped a woman who had covered been covered in powdered brick and plaster and was bleeding profusely. As they aided her, she repeated four words continually in a tone of quiet terror: "Man's inhumanity to man…Man's inhumanity to man…" (Jablonski 148).
Thomas, Searle. “'It Made a Lot of Sense to Kill Skilled Workers': The Firebombing of Tokyo in March 1945.” The Journal of Military History 66, no. 1 (Jan. 2002): 113,114.
WWII, one of the bloodiest wars in history. The Germans and the Axis Powers were combating the English and US with the other Allied Powers. From 1939-1945 war raged on in Europe and in the Pacific. In 1939 proposals were made (not approved until later) by the Nazi’s to create two of the most destructive and advanced weapons of the time (Gatland). Thus, the V-1 and V-2 rockets were put into production. The V-1 and V-2 rockets were important to the German’s because they believed that these weapons would give them an extreme advantage in the war, and eventually help them win the war. The development of these rockets were very important to the Nazi’s. These rockets were different and more advanced than any other bomb made before. Also, the developments of these rockets have had long term effects after the war. The V-1 and V-2 were intricate and powerful, making a recipe for destruction.
This conflict is captured in Source D, a photograph taken on 15th November 1940 after the air raid on Coventry. During this single night of bombardment Coventry Cathedral was badly damaged, thousands of homes destroyed and an estimated five hundred people died and many more were injured. In the photograph of Source D, people are seen angry and miserable on the streets that are covered in debris and rubble from the destruction. Also from this Source, which shows the British public struggling to cope with the realities of war, it can be observed that the photograph was not published until several months later, with a misleading caption – suggesting that the government was worried about low morale and did not want the true realities of war to be made public. In addition, the photograph from Source B showing ‘bodies in sacking’ was also censored by the government, proving that morale had to be controlled as the government was concerned about the impact these images would have on the British public.
World War II was one of the deadliest military conflicts in history. There were many different battles that took place within this war; some more important than others. World War II began once Germany’s new dictator, Adolf Hitler, decided that he wanted to gain power for Germany and for himself. One of Hitler’s first moves in power was invading Poland on September 1, 1939. Many other countries became involved in this war because of the alliance system. The two sides during this war were the Allies and Axis powers. German, Italy and Japan were on the Axis powers; France, Britain, and the United States were on the Allies. Germany first began with the Blitzkrieg tactic meaning “lightning war”. This tactic is based on speed, surprise and was the most popular tactic. It is set up with military forces based around tanks which are supported by planes and infantry. The Blitzkrieg tactic lead to air wars with airplanes between countries. All of the countries were allowed to participate in the air wars but the four main countries were United States, Japan, Britain, and Germany. During the 1920’s and 1930’s airplanes grew in size and structure giving them more power, and making planes more effective. Planes made it easier to drop bombs, or plan attacks. All of these countries fought over air superiority. Air superiority is the position in which the air force has control over all of the air warfare and air power of the opposing forces. Germany began with air superiority but they lost it when Britain defeated them at the Battle of Britain. Gaining control over the air is a very big advantage because it is easier to plan an attack on an opposing country. All of the countries relied on their aircrafts during this war. The issue about the use of...
In conclusion, The city of London has evolved since the fire. They are not using as much wood in their homes and are very cautious. It is very unlikely another fire like this would happen again. They have upgraded since and have metal and other sturdy materials. Since the fire the city has probably have planned what to do if a fire does happen (Billings, Billings, and Dramer
The first world war is often remembered for its unprecedented nature of war. How this differed from the past wars was its progressively growing reliance on technology. The competitive nature of the European nations allowed opportunities for countries to flourish economically and industrially. The development of technology – hence, the creation of armaments was the next logical step for any nation, especially with the heightened tensions between the ‘great powers’ of Europe. Consequently, World War 1 became the first ever war where technology became a huge asset to the countries. However, due to the fact that technology was a relatively new feature of warfare, traditional military strategies had to be drastically altered through various trial
War is brutal, but the technological advances of WWII made it far more vicious than it needed to be. The weapons of the era, even the transportation was designed to kill. They were designed to be mass killing machines and had no intent other than to kill. Some of these advancements include the M1 Rifle, Bomber Planes, and long range weapons.
As the president it would be a difficult decision to make, on resolving such an out of control issue. As time is squandered with the agents outside, many children are continuing to be abused by the organization. If a frontal assault was made using tear gas the organization might harm the children more, as a way of defense. The best way to resolve the issue would be to intimidate the enemy. The compound might be fortified with guns and ammunition, but it would run out if a fire fight took place with the government’s supply. The first move would be to not only surround the compound with agents, but also heavy artillery weapons. Weapons such as helicopters, tanks and many trained armed forces. If intimidation does not work, an undercover operation might need to take place. For example the agents can leave the
Tactics included bombarding the enemy with shells for a few days before attacking; meaning to kill the enemy and to cut wire but usually ended up only alerting the enemy that there was going to be an attack. Other tactics included running across no man’s land to get to the enemy’s trenches. No man’s land was the stretch of land that was in between the trenches, it was full of craters due to bombs and full of dead. However, this tactic only ended with men being mowed down by the enemy’s large machine guns. The new technology of WW1 included machine guns, gas, tanks, bayonets, flamethrowers, rifles and grenades.
The author writes “The first planes used for bombings could only carry small bombs and were very vulnerable to attack from the ground. By the end of the war, faster long-range bombers were built that could carry a much larger weight of bombs”(1). As you can see planes revolutionized the game of war now leaders don’t need to send troops and worth them being killed instead they bomb bases. The author writes “With more planes taking to the skies, enemy pilots began to fight each other in the air. At first, they tried throwing grenades at each other or shooting with rifles and pistols. Pilots soon found that the best way to shoot down an enemy plane was with a mounted machine gun. An invention called an "interrupter" was invented by the Germans that allowed the machine gun to be synchronized with the propeller”(2). With the idea of dogfights wars can now happen in the air it’s special machine guns connected to a interrupter which could take down planes. All of these innovations in plane technology helped armies win
Flamethrowers were an abundant strategy. Flamethrowers installed fear in the potential victims which made the tool even more effective. The flamethrowers required two soldiers to set up: One man holds the pipe and another holds the liquid that will soon be used to ignite the flame. Usually, a Flamethrower attack was followed by a military advance, making the strategy very beneficial. Trench warfare also played a huge role in the fighting of World War I. Trench warfare is a strategy were both opponents fight in digged holes that are linked together, across from the opponent and shoot anyone who comes throughout no man's land (the middle field between the trenches). Because of the progression of guns and new warfare, this strategy was the
There were many means of warfare during World War II. The Atomic bomb was by far one of the destructive of them all. The atomic bomb was capable of destroying an entire city. The bombing of nagasaki8 made the atomic bomb one of the most devastating weapons at that time.
“Hiroshima does not look like a bombed city. It looks as if a monster steamroller had passed over it and squashed it out of existence,” (“Burchett”). And it had; the majority of the structures had been destroyed and everything blackened. The atomic bomb’s effects were more destructive and affected more area than any bomb had ever before. The damage to the structures of Hiroshima, Japan after the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, was caused by three sources: the flash burn, shock wave/airblast, and the firestorm.