This playlist is Lord HardThrasher’s series on the bomber war over Europe in the Second World War, covering RAF Bomber Command, the USAAF, strategic bombing, bombing accuracy, the Butt Report, the Norden bombsight, Hamburg, Dresden, area bombing, precision bombing, and the moral and military arguments around the Allied bombing campaign. It asks whether strategic bombing worked, why early bombing failed so badly, how Bomber Command improved, what the Americans and British got right and wrong, and why the bomber offensive remains one of the most controversial parts of the war.
Curated by: HardThrasher (15 videos)
If you’d like to be a cool kid, then become a Patreon here - https://www.patreon.com/LordHardThrasher or if you’d like to email me send a message to lordhardthrasher@gmail.com 0:00 Intro 4:30 We’re Going to North Africa 1st 8:36 But you’re not doing it properly 16:16 Play it Again Ira 22:30 Mid 1943 – The Crisis Begins 26:53 The Black Summer 28:03 Operation Tidal Wave 34:21 Into The Valley of Death – Schweinfurt 41:34 What Now? 48:37 Survivors Club Selected Internet Sources The Butt Report – Transcript from 2014 - https://etherwave.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/butt-report-transcription-tna-pro-air-14-12182.pdf The Cherwell Memorandum - https://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/reading/Bombing/cherwell.htm Target for Tonight (1941) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0QOKuGejSU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Blackett - Admiralty Professor in opposition to Bomber Command https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_bombardment_and_international_law#:~:text=In%201977%2C%20Protocol%20I%20was,of%20civilians%20and%20civilian%20objects – International Law pertaining to Ariel Bombardment in 1939…eg there was none https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butt_Report https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_bombing_directive https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_directive Selected Bibliography America’s Pursuit of Precision Bombing 1910-1945, McFarland Absolute War – Chris Bellamy Absolute War – The Firebombing of Tokyo Big Week – James Holland Black Snow- James M Scott Bomber Boys – Kevin Wilson Bomber Command – Max Hastings Bomber Offensive – Sir Arthur Harris GCB, OBE, AFC Bomber Command’s War Against Germany, An Official History – Nobel Franklin et al. The Bomber Mafia – Malcolm Gladwell Dresden – Sinclair McKay Dresden; Tuesday….. – Fredrick Taylor Undaunted and Through Adversity (Vol 1 &2) – Ben Kite United States Strategic Bombing Survey (European War) (USSBS) Sept 1945 – Var. - https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101634748-bk https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1943/d92 - The Combined Bomber Offensive guiding charter, Enclosure B Photos used published under Creative Commons - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=514724 unless otherwise stated Footage used Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, Directed by William Wyler (including on-board shots he took at the time on actual missions) – copyright Paramount Pictures 1944 Target for Today – US Army Air Forces Film Division, 1944 The Rear Gunner - The U.S. Army Signal Corps Photographic Section, Warner Bros. 1943