The Allied bombing campaign against Germany

The aim of this campaign was to demoralise the Germans and destroy their vital industries, rail links and resources.

To overcome German defences, the Allies adopted tactics and improved technology: the raids started to be during the night when, there came a time when they were held round the clock, they used small tips of metal foil -called 'Window'- to produce a blizzard of confusing signals on enemy radar screens and make them useless. They developed a device called 'Oboe' to sent out radio beams which were followed by bombers to find their targets and they also developed Pathfinder bombers which used a radar to identify targets on the ground and then drop flares to allow following bombers to hit their targets. The latter had a devastating effect.

Nonetheless, the Allies did suffer important losses.

In 1943, the Allies attacked the Schweinfurt ball-bearing plant. When the fighter escorts left the bombers, these were attacked by the Luftwaffe. For this reason, the bombing campaign would have been abandoned but it was continued owing to a technical innovation: the escort fighters started to be fitted with extra fuel tanks. In this way, fighters could fly to all the way to Berlin and back. It was devastating for German people.

There is a lot of controversy regarding the bombing campaign since many people argue that it was not justified while others say that it was. In spite of this discussion, it is reasonable to believe that it did prevent Germany from expanding her production massively, that it drew off large numbers of German aircrafts from the Russian front, that it made Germany produce more antiaircraft guns that tanks and that it shortened the war.