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There is a fundamental misunderstanding about bombing, not only in World War II, but bombing in general. There is a general belief that bombing is the easiest way to kill people and that much of the killing in World War II was the result of bombing and especially Allied bombing because it was so much heavier than Axis bombing after the first few years of the War. Noting could be further from the truth. In fact just the opposite was true. No one know precisely how many people died in the War, but we have a rough idea. Estimates of War deaths were about 50-55 million people, but now it is believed to be more like 70-85 million people, primarily because war-related disease and famine need to be included. Over 25 million of that total perished in the Soviet Union alone. The great majority of the war deaths, perhaps 50-55 million were civilians, far exceeding military deaths. This is not always the case in War. In World War I, military deaths xxceeded civilian deaths, But civilians deaths were huge in World War II because a primary Axis war aim, especially for the Germans, was to kill people in mass numbers for racial reasons. The Japanese did not have the same racial animus, but the impact of their aggression was death on a large scale, primarily because of the famines they left in their wake. Now look at the bombing/ The Allies bombing killed some 0.5 million Germans and about 1.1 million Japanese. The 1.6 million total is less than 2 percent of total World War II deaths. The Allies intensively bombed Germany for about 3 years (mid-1942-mid-1945). Taking the 0.5 million civilian death toll that is 457 death a day. But put that into perspective. At the peak of the Holocaust, the Germans were routinely murdering some 15,000 people daily without a single bomb. 【Rice】 And they did this without putting valuable military equipment or large numbers of highly trained personnel at risk. The numbers slacked after October 1942, but only because the Germans were running out of Jews to kill. Not only is bombing an inefficient way of killing people, it is also very costly in men and equipment. The German World War II Blitz on Britain (1940-41) knocked down a lot of British homes, but it in no way affected the British war effort. British war production actually increased during the Blitz. In the Battle of Britain (July-October 1940), the death rate was about 190 people daily, the great majority civilians. In exchange for knocking down thousands of homes, the Germans lost 2,000 expensive aircraft and 3,500 irreplaceable, highly trained personnel. These were men and equipment that would be sorely missed when Hitler launched the Barbarossa invasion of the Soviet Union. A good idea about the cost of killing people through bombing can be captured by the fact that roughly half of the American, British, and German war economy was oriented toward the air war. For the Americans and British this was primarily focused in the strategic bombing campaign, ls so for the Germans.
There is a fundamental misunderstanding about World War II bombing, not only in World War II, but bombing in general. There is a general belief that bombing is the easiest way to kill people and that much of the killing in World War II was the result of bombing. It seems so easy just bomb densly populated cities. Only bombing is one of the most difficult ways of killing people. Countries can prepare the civilian population. Pople can fide in cellars or evcacuate. Huge quatities of bombs have to be expeded to get at them. Bomb shelters can be built. Cities vary in population density. London was spead out ih a lw denity. Ironically Berlin and other German cities with multli-story apartments wre muvh mre densely poplated. And Japanese cities were even more denely populated and the wood and paper houses basically tinder boxes. Countries also prepared well-organized air defenses, this was especially true of the British and Germans. It was the Germans that organized actual efficent and inexpensive ways of killing people. This was done by rounding people up and shooting or gassing them in mass or starving populations.
The Allies did not start the War. Nor was it the Allies that began bombing cities and towns. Hitler threatened to destroy Prague, forcing the Czechs to surrender (September 1938). The Luftwaffe began bombing Polish cities on the first day of the War (September 1939). The Germans threatened to destroy Dutch cities if thy did not surrender and began with Rotterdam (May 1940). This was all done by short-range medium bombers. Reams have been written about how immoral strategic bombing was. But it is absurd to think that the Germans would be allowed to bomb their cities and any capable opponent would not answer in kind. It is true that the Allied bombing was much heavier than Axis bombing after the first few years of the War. This was not possible with he aircraft Britain had at the onset of the War. The British could reach Berlin, but only at great cost and with small bomb loads. The Royal Air Force did not begin to receive the Lancaster heavy bomber until well into the War (March 1942). The Americans began arriving in Britain until after Pearl Harbor (January 1942), but could not begin bombing into the Reich until a year later (January 1943). German air defenses proved far more robust than anticipated. The American bombers needed fighter escorts. P51 Mustangs began escorting the bombers (January 1944). This resulted in the destruction of the Luftwaffe, but the bombers were turned over to Gen. Eisenhower diverted to supporting Operation Overlord, cutting off the German Atlantic Wall defenses operations from the Reich war industries that they could not be strengthened and supplied. The Bomber boys only got their heavies back (September 1944)
World War II proved to be much more lethal than World War I which had traumatized Europe. But unlike World War I, the great majority of the war deaths, perhaps 50-55 million were civilians, far exceeding military deaths. Because of the dramatic photographic record, most people just assume that bombing was one of the most lethal if not the single most lethal aspect of the War. In fact it was not. Bombing was not, however, the major killer of World War II. Noting could be further from the truth. Just the opposite is true. No one know precisely how many people died in the War, but we have a rough idea. Estimates of War deaths were about 50-55 million people, but now it is believed to be more like 70-85 million people, primarily because war-related disease and famine need to be included. Bombing was a minor contributor to that total. Just look at the Soviet Union. The moralities were about 27 million people and he country was not heavily bombed. Or look at Britain which was heavily bombed by the Germans, especially during the Blitz (1940-41). With a population of 66 million people this would mean a small fraction of only 1 percent. Or look at Germany which was the most bombed country in Europe. Fatalities totaled some 0.5 million people were killed in the bombing. Germany had a population of some 87 million people. (This is little tricky to calculate given border changes so we are using the pre-War population.) That would mean one half of 1 percent. Compare that to the countries that were decimated by the War and not heavily bombed. Some 75 million people perished in the Soviet Union. Or a quarter of the population of Poland which was only bombed for a month, but a quarter of the population was killed. Yugoslavia was another county heavily impacted by the War. About 7 percent of he population perished, very little from bombing. So it clearly was not the bombing that killed in huge numbers. The real killer killer was being occupied by the NAZIs which was the case in Poland, the Western Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. Greece also had substantial losses, very little from bombing. It was the German caused famine that was the major killer. Two small countries (Lithuania and Latvia) also had horrifying losses, but were not heavily bombed. All of the European countries with heavy losses were not countries heavily bombed, but countries occupied by the NAZIs.
Of course World War II was the conflict in which strategic bombing was a factor beacise it was the first war that had modern aircraft that could carry heavy bomb loads. So the metric that has to be used in comparing wars is civilian deaths. Civilians werre commnly killed in large numbers n wars, in part because soldiers lived off the land. Civilans not kille in tefihjting die in larg nubers because the sodiers had seize the food. In ancient wars it was ommon to put resistng ciies to the sword and sold survivors into slavery. But slowly war and attitudes toward began to change in Europe and civilians began to be exempted from the canage. And in modern wars begning by the 17th-18th centuries, civilian deaths egan to decine in coparison to military deaths.
World War I was he second most deadly war in history. (Exceeded only by the Chinese Taiping Rebellion (1850-64). Military deaths were more or comparabl to civilian deaths. There is no precise accounting, but the general consensus is that there were about 40 million casulaties. Estimates on the deaths vary widely, something like 15-22 million people. Because countries had hard data on their miliaries, we habe a fairly good idea on military deaths, about 10 million. Estimates range from 9-11 million. There is far lke certaity about civian Deaths, here etias are 6-13 million. This means that somevbelieve that civilian casualties were only a small part of military losses. Other estimate suggest that they were relatively comparable.
World War II imcredably exceeded th dimension of World War I and the Taiping Rebellion. It was fought only 20 years after World War I with most of the same combatants. The nature of the War, however, changed dramtically. Civilians deaths were huge in World War II, far exceeding military deaths. No one knows the exact toll. Estimatesd deaths range to 70–85 million people. It would total about 3 prcent of the population, although this varied framatically from country to country with te larget death toll in China and the Soviet Union. .
Military deaths a believed to have totaled 21-25 million mostly men, incuding the murder of about 5 million prisoners of war by the Germans and Soviets. Civilian deaths were almost double, some 50-55 million people. Because of te cnsription of men, iviian eahs included especially large numbers of women and children.
Here there is no mystery. Unlike World War I, the Allies faced totalitarian powers which were commoitted to killing civilains in the millions, primarily Germany and Japan. And noyably the Sobiet Unioin which ws a Germann ally at the onset of the War. The primary Axis war aim, especially for the Germans, was to kill people in mass numbers for racial reasons. The NAZI goal was to change the racial cmposition of Eastern Europe. The German undertaking was Generalplan Ost which wasdesigned to elinate th Slavs and other ehnicities and replathem with Germans. This nesitated mass killing. The Jews were the first targets, but Slavs and others were marked for destruction after the Grmans won the War. The Gemans had not done a lot of thining about Western Europe, but this wuld have occured after they had reshaped Eastern Europe. The Japanese also had a racial animus, and not just against Westerners as they hughlighted in their propaganda. The Chinese ere tateted, nt ony in hina butb in areas they occupied, esoecially Sngapore. In this case the reason for the kiling was to win the War by killing any population seen as unfriendly. Most of the Japanese killing was in China, but in prcentage terms there was also subtantial killing in occupied territories, especially the Dutch EastIndies (Modern Indnesia) and French Indo-China (modern Vietnam). the impact of their aggression was death on an unprecedented scale.
Now look at the bombing. The general assumtion is that The Allied bombing was a major contributor to the hottenous World War II death toll. In fact they were not. Allied bombing killed some 0.5 million Germans and about 1.1 million Japanese. Deahs in other countries were limited. This 1.6 million total is only about about 2 percent of total World War II deaths. The Allies intensively bombed Germany for about 3 years (mid-1942-mid-1945). Taking the 0.5 million civilian death toll that is 457 death a day. Not only is bombing an inefficient way of killing people, it is also very costly in men and equipment. The German World War II Blitz on Britain (1940-41) knocked down a lot of British homes, but it in no way affected the British war effort. British war production actually increased during the Blitz. In the Battle of Britain (July-October 1940), the death rate was about 190 people daily, the great majority civilians. In exchange for knocking down thousands of homes, the Germans lost 2,000 expensive aircraft and 3,500 irreplaceable, highly trained personnel. These were men and equipment that would be sorely missed when Hitler launched the Barbarossa invasion of the Soviet Union. A good idea about the cost of killing people through bombing can be captured by the fact that roughjly half of the American, British, and German war economy was oriented toward the air war. For the Americans and British this was primarily focused in the strategic bombing campaign, also for the Germans.
While there is no precise accounting of thedath toll the various killng methods. We know a great deal about the kiling methods and rough estimates are possible. Surely famines oe at the top of the list. Where the Germans, Japanese, and Soviets went they left famine in their wake. And they often used it as a matter of policy to destroy people they saw asundesirable. This began well before World War II with Bolshevik policies during t and aftr the CivilWar. Stalin ussed it to destroy the Ukranian peaaantry (early-1930s).
Idustrailized murder" This was a new phenomenon. The Jews were the initial priority target--the Holocaust. Compare tat to the Allied bpombing. At the peak of the Holocaust, the Germans were routinely murdering some 15,000 people daily without a single bomb. 【Rice】 And they did this without putting valuable military equipment or large numbers of highly trained personnel at risk. The numbers slacked after October 1942, but only because the Germans were running out of Jews to kill.
Death through work:
Shooting:
Haning:
Bayonetting:
Given thefact that the Alloed strategic bambing campaign did not contribute significantly to theAold War II death toll, why is thre such a wide-spread belief that it was. We think tht thre are two primry reasonsthat it was.
First, is the photographic record. World War IT was the most phyographwar in history until Vietnam and the srategic bombing campaign is a huge part pf the photographic record. Tere is not a lo of photogaphic eience of te majo way in which civilians were being kille like being stare, shot, and worked to deat. Thr is a lot of photographs of the bombing an much of it very dramatic images that make for iteresting viewig. We see images of the bombers taking off, fighting off German figters, froping the nombs. And then we see noms xloing, te damage done to cities, and the dead and wounded.
Second, is the hate the West ardor that has become common in American and British univerities. While there is no mystery about who was doing the kiliiig and how, left-wing professors in our universities often try to cover up the truth. This is in part because the Communist Soviet Union was involved in the killing and capitalist America and Britain were not the major participants in the killing of civilians. It pains them admiting that America and Britain played such a imprtant role in defeating the Ais and in creating posperity around the world.
Rice, Doyle. "15,000 murders a day: August-Octiober1942 were the Holocaust'deadliest months," USA Todsy (Jnusry 2, 2019).
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