To Destroy A City Strategic Bombing And Its Human Consequences In World War 2

by Knell, Herman

• ISBN13: 9780306811692
• ISBN10: 0306811693
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-20
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

Herman Knell was nineteen and living in Wurtzburg in March of 1945 when hundreds of Allied planes arrived overhead, unleashing a torrent of bombs on the city. Wurtzburg's tightly packed medieval housing exploded in a firestorm, killing six thousand people in one night and destroying 92 percent of the city's structures. Despite the fact that Wurtzburg had no strategic value, the city emerged from World War II second only to Dresden in material destruction inflicted from the air. The experience led Knell to years of research on the history, development, and effects of the strategy of area bombing.To Destroy a City is the result of the author's long and unrelenting investigation. His analysis of this form of warfare, which reached its zenith during World War II, covers the history and the development of wide-area bombing since 1914, examines its wartime effectiveness and the consequences. But the extra dimension that Knell's book offers is his firsthand experience of the tension, fear, tentative defiance, and, finally, utter catastrophe of being on the receiving end of overwhelming air power. For Americans, who fortunately did not experience bombing during the war, this is essential reading.

Author Biography

Herman Knell emigrated to Canada after the war and became an engineer, publishing numerous papers in his field. His research on this book began in 1984, drawing on sources throughout the world. He currently lives in West Vancouver, British Columbia.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Preface	p. 1
Introduction	p. 5
Wurzburg
Wurzburg As Target	p. 17
Strategic and Non-Strategic Assets of Wurzburg	p. 19
Possible Reasons for the Raids	p. 24
The Raids Begin	p. 31
The Big RAF Raid	p. 38
The USAAF Raids	p. 45
The History of Strategic Bombing
The Road to Area Bombing	p. 51
The Bomber Practitioners	p. 69
Bombing in World War I	p. 91
Political Events That Led to World War I	p. 91
The Military Operations	p. 98
Between the World Wars	p. 119
Peace and Disarmament	p. 119
Bombing and Rearmament	p. 130
Bombing in World War II	p. 165
1939 to April 1940: The Phony War	p. 169
1940: Two Blitzkriegs and the Start of Strategic Bombing	p. 175
1941: More Blitzkriegs	p. 193
1942: Turning of the Tide	p. 207
1943: The Bombers Are Coming	p. 217
1944: Bombing Unrestricted	p. 230
1945: Germany	p. 252
1945: Japan	p. 258
The Effect and Effectiveness of Strategic Bombing
Military and Civil Defense	p. 271
Military Defense	p. 271
Civil Defense	p. 278
Gas in Aerial Warfare	p. 287
Loss of Cultural Assets	p. 295
Psychological Effects of Bombing	p. 303
The Victims and Their Treatment	p. 313
Strategic Bombing and International Law	p. 323
Conclusion	p. 330
Bibliography	p. 335
Endnotes	p. 345
Index	p. 369
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.