Assess the significance of allied strategic bombing of Germany during the Second World War
Introduction:
The significance of allied strategic bombing was variable throughout the war. Bombing was made more significant due to late technological advancements, which meant that the impact on the morale was affected more. Bombing had a significant impact on the economy and the military, both which are linked, due to the change of tactics that were implemented. Due to the decline in the economy, military production also slowed having an effect on the war and increasing the consequences of allied bombing.
Technology:
The bombing was more significant during the latter stages of the war due to technological advancements made. As the war started …show more content…
The allies aimed to hit the heavily industrialised and fortified area of the Ruhr but only 1 in 15 bombers made it there due to the poor technology used. The German economy was hoped to be destroyed by events like Dresden (which contained 127 medium to large factories) in October 1944 where one of Germany industrial cities was left in rubble, but the economy thrived under the pressure of war. This is shown by the fact that aircraft production increased 5 fold and self-propelled artillery and tank production was increased 10 times more. This meant that Germany had more bombers to fight the battle in the skies thus limiting the significance of allied bombing of the economy. The allied bombing also had little significance because although they were bombing the factories such as the ball bearing factory, the Germans had a huge surplus in the pipeline thus negating the bombing. The way Hitler achieved this was by increasing the working hours to 43-49 hours a week to produce a higher volume of product, and this meant that the allies never saw a decline in the German war economy. However, due to the heavy bombing of Germany, the Nazis needed to rebuild the factories which required massive amounts of manpower. This used up manpower could have been dedicated to the production of bombers and tanks. Examples such as the dam busters’ raid, where dams very close to the Ruhr were blown up meant that German production was brought to a standstill. A total of 100 factories had been damaged and coal production had dropped a massive 400,000 tonnes meaning that Germany’s economy was affected. The bombing also meant that Germany had to focus production more on anti-aircraft artillery and fighters rather than bombers (2351 bombers compared to 24,981 fighters)
Introduction:
The significance of allied strategic bombing was variable throughout the war. Bombing was made more significant due to late technological advancements, which meant that the impact on the morale was affected more. Bombing had a significant impact on the economy and the military, both which are linked, due to the change of tactics that were implemented. Due to the decline in the economy, military production also slowed having an effect on the war and increasing the consequences of allied bombing.
Technology:
The bombing was more significant during the latter stages of the war due to technological advancements made. As the war started …show more content…
The allies aimed to hit the heavily industrialised and fortified area of the Ruhr but only 1 in 15 bombers made it there due to the poor technology used. The German economy was hoped to be destroyed by events like Dresden (which contained 127 medium to large factories) in October 1944 where one of Germany industrial cities was left in rubble, but the economy thrived under the pressure of war. This is shown by the fact that aircraft production increased 5 fold and self-propelled artillery and tank production was increased 10 times more. This meant that Germany had more bombers to fight the battle in the skies thus limiting the significance of allied bombing of the economy. The allied bombing also had little significance because although they were bombing the factories such as the ball bearing factory, the Germans had a huge surplus in the pipeline thus negating the bombing. The way Hitler achieved this was by increasing the working hours to 43-49 hours a week to produce a higher volume of product, and this meant that the allies never saw a decline in the German war economy. However, due to the heavy bombing of Germany, the Nazis needed to rebuild the factories which required massive amounts of manpower. This used up manpower could have been dedicated to the production of bombers and tanks. Examples such as the dam busters’ raid, where dams very close to the Ruhr were blown up meant that German production was brought to a standstill. A total of 100 factories had been damaged and coal production had dropped a massive 400,000 tonnes meaning that Germany’s economy was affected. The bombing also meant that Germany had to focus production more on anti-aircraft artillery and fighters rather than bombers (2351 bombers compared to 24,981 fighters)