How successful was the strategic bombing of Germany in the Second Essay

How successful was the strategic bombing of Germany in the Second World War On what criteria do you base your assessment - Essay Example The Germans sought to forego the horrors that dominated trench warfare by technically re-engineering the way in which soldiers met with enemy combatants on the battlefield. However, the Germans were not unique in such an alternate approach as the Allies sought to find a way to avoid a protracted ground battle that would likely see both sides grind to a halt and re-invoke the painful lessons and memories of trench warfare during the Second World War. As a means to avert this, the Allies opted for a litany of approaches; however, for the purposes of this brief research, the one that will be focused upon with the most depth will be that of the CBO (Combined Bomber Offensive) which aimed to bring about the combined destruction of German industry, economics, and moral by providing a steady stream of aerial bombardment to Germany throughout much of the latter part of World War II. Though this aerial bombardment has come to be collectively recognized as a key determinant with respect to the Allied victory, this analysis will attempt to define the campaign, categorize its intended and realized goals, and attempt to draw a level of meaning upon overall effectiveness based upon these prior definitions. Thought it would be foolish to claim that the importance of aerial bombardment was determined as a useful means by the Allies completely of their own volition and in a type of vacuum as it were, it would also foolish to fail to consider the means by which the German aerial bombardment of Britain had a profound effect in guiding and directing the way the Allies thought concerning such a tactic (Childers 2005, p. 79). As night after night for nearly an entire year, the cities and infrastructure of Britain was tormented by nearly incessant German aerial bombardment during the Battle of Britain, it is without question that the formulation of what would become CBO took careful note of the means by which such a form of warfare affected the populace, the moral, and was a useful, albeit costly mechanism, whereby the Allies could seek to leverage an advantage over Germany while at the same time seeking to undermine the nation economically, morally, and industrially (Parramore 2012, p. 75). Similarly, before delving into the overall effectiveness of such a strategy in bringing about the end to the war, one must also consider the fact that after the Battle of Britain was all but decided, the strength and potency of the German Luftwaffe had been so seriously degraded that it no longer had the capability to successfully counter the streams of lumbering bombers that pummeled its cities with tonne after tonne of payload. Likewise, the fact that the Luftwaffe was not only degraded from losses from the Battle of Britain but also from the fact that Operation Barbarossa had already begun in the East ensured that a supreme lack of equipment and support for air defense of the homeland was something that was all but assured (Gentile 1997, p. 53). Approaching the issue fro m this light, it is easy to understand why the Allies used this opportunity to leverage the seemingly inexhaustible production strength that the United States was able to supply Great Britain as fighter blames and bombers were replaced on the front lines at a rate greater than the Luftwaffe and supporting aerial defense ground forces could bring them