Luftwaffe

Throughout the Second World War the German Luftwaffe regularly bombed the major cities and sea ports of Britain intending to destroy armament factories and shipyards while simultaneously reducing British morale and attempting to force British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to negotiate with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. During a time period that is often referred to as The Blitz, which began in September 1940 and lasted until May 1941, 18 000 tonnes of high explosives were dropped on…

In the film “12 O’clock High,” leadership and followership play a significant role in the plot, and it has been used for decades by the military as a training exercise. The same principles were used in the Human Factors class to help the students determine their leadership styles and how to be a better follower. From the very first few scenes, “12 O’clock High” was a true story about how a bombing unit in World War 2 bounced back from a period of bad luck and poor training to become one of the…

The Battle of Britain (1940) that lasted throughout the summer of 1940 led to the waves of German bombers escorted by fighter aircrafts. From 1940, the Luftwaffe (German air force) changed tactics. Instead of attacking the Royal Air Force (RAF) the Luftwaffe began to bomb London and other cities. A similar kind intense bombing campaign against Germany was carried out by the Allied to demorlise the German population. So, the governments had to introduce extensive measures to defend the country…

War is a destructive force that has been a prominent feature throughout human history. Not only that but it has been a defining feature of the world, changing and shaping how we develop as a race and more often than not changing the course of history itself. A force that strong will have positive and negative effects on all humans both for combatants and civilians. Most wars are limited wars, meaning that when they are fought not all resources are geared towards fighting it by the two warring…

Hell’s Angels: The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II by Jay A. Stout is a revealing insight into the lives of the pilots in the air force at the time of the United States’ entry into WWII. The book primarily concerns itself with telling the history and activity of the 303rd bomb group, providing a detailed description of events and personnel in chronological order starting at the group’s inception. Stout wrote the book because he was a pilot himself and because he wanted to show…

Of all of the aims of strategic bombing throughout the course of World War II, many of them were never reached. Several of the most well-known attempts to bomb large cities are the London Blitz, the bombing of Dresden and Hamburg among other German cities, and the fire-bombing of Tokyo, as well as the atomic bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The preliminary aim of strategic bombing was to destroy infrastructure, however this failed due to the lack of accuracy of these bombs. Aims evolved…

The reason for this message is very clear, as only months after Churchill gave this speech, May 1940, the Battle of Britain would ensue. This consisted of a series of airstrikes by the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, on the British mainland. Because of impending dangers like that, Prime Minister Churchill has to garner the support of the Britons, which he does quite effectively. Churchill states that the country is not solely fighting for itself but also for…

There are four important battles that took place between Allied forces and Japanese forces. The first battle is known as the Battle of Midway, and according to the textbook (2014), the battle began when the United States sent ships into the area known as Midway to protect an airfield there. Japan viewed this as a breaking of code, and sent their men to Midway. While the leader of the naval ships, Chester Nimitz, hid his men beyond the horizon, he waited for the Japanese to start the attack. Even…

As an individual voice from the millions of children who were raised on the ideologies of the Nazi Party and the powerful image of Hitler, Alfons Heck shares the story of his experience before and during his time in the Hitler Youth. His novel, A Child of Hitler, gives a child’s account of one of the most momentous events in all of history. World War II broke out in 1939, but the Nazi movement began much earlier, persuading German citizens to fight for their country and to have faith in their…

The Development: The American Air Force was created as a result of Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, being bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor held numerous amounts of American boats which had approximately 350 planes on them, in case they needed to be deployed from the sea rather than the land. Japan decided to bomb America 's defense force because they wanted to take over the pacific, and in order to do that they had to weaken America 's defense force. When the Japanese destroyed a…