Key Areas Of Significance Of The Allied Strategic Bombing Of Mainland Continental Germany

In this essay I will assess four key areas of significance of the allied strategic bombing of mainland continental Germany throughout the Second World War. These four areas of significance will be Morale, The Eastern Front, Economy and D-day. Throughout the war the significance of bombing changed, and this will be reflected in each of the sections. Overall, allied bombing of Germany was relatively significant, but really started having a noticeable impact and importance in the final stages of the war: from 1944-45.

One area of potential significance was morale, both of the German people and the British people. Before the war, area bombing of civilian populations and industrial areas such as the Ruhr was expected to both eliminate the Germany

This was potentially significant because bombing played key roles in securing political relations with Stalin during the conflict on the eastern front, and also diversion of resources from the eastern front. When Germany invaded Russia in 1941, Stalin wanted the allies to contribute to a second front to defeat the Nazis. The allies offered Stalin a bombing campaign instead of a ground invasion as that all they could offer. The campaign was expected to ravish Germany from the air, and thus allow Russia to use their superior army to defeat the Germans. From 1941-43 the significance of bombing on the eastern front was quite a lot. Firstly, bombing provided the allies with a way of their alliance with the Russians, assuring eventual victory. Churchill offered Stalin in a private meeting that Britain would open up a second front in the form of a bombing offensive to slow the pace of the Germans advancing into Russia. Bombing showed the Russians that the allies were still fighting the Germans, not just leaving the Nazis and Communists to destroy each other, which would have ruined the alliance. Thus, bombing was significant for diplomacy. However, without our help in the form of bombing, it is likely Stalin would have still kept fighting and beaten the Nazis using the far larger Russian army; therefore from 1941-43 bombing was mostly insignificant. In 1944-45, bombing had a much larger effect. The increased intensity of the bombing of Germany in this period led to a diversion of resources form the eastern front to defend the home front. When the Nazis first invaded Russia, they had used superior air power and attack aircraft to bomb the Russia planes while they were still on the ground, allowing them to advance much easier. However, with the bombing of Germany, more fighter planes were being built to defend Germany than attack aircraft to be used in the campaign in Russia. This gave Russia the edge in the air