The Bombing War

One important consequence of the equation of air power and modernity was the willingness of airmen in Britain and the United States to accept that modern ‘total war’ reflected a changed democratic reality, that war was between peoples as well as armed forces.

A smaller Air Fleet 5, under General Hans Stumpff, was stationed in Norway for attacks against North Sea shipping and targets in Scotland and the north-east of England, though difficult flying conditions were to limit its contribution during the long aerial siege that unfolded from the autumn of 1940.

in Newcastle a bomb on a quayside warehouse in September 1941 resulted in a congealed syrup of flour, fat and sugar that nourished swarms of fat flies so dense that local people had to drink their tea through a straw from covered cups to prevent it being contaminated.

‘For my part, I am beginning to bear all perils with a certain philosophical detachment, a kind of intellectual courage …

Tynemouth civil defence performed Handel’s Messiah at Christmas 1943 and arranged concerts for the Stalingrad fund.

The principal lesson learned from the bombing campaigns of the Second World War was the need for even greater and more indiscriminate destruction of the enemy if ever the Third World War materialized.