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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2014 1:48:16 GMT -6
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Post by Alpo on Aug 5, 2014 16:27:16 GMT -6
I was unaware that England had been bombed during the Great War. Seems like any and all of ANYTHING I've ever heard of took place in France.
You hear about the WW2 bombings all the time, but not the WW1. Wonder why?
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Post by Pistolenschutzen on Aug 5, 2014 18:53:29 GMT -6
I was unaware that England had been bombed during the Great War. Seems like any and all of ANYTHING I've ever heard of took place in France. You hear about the WW2 bombings all the time, but not the WW1. Wonder why? Yup, the Germans bombed the hell out of Britain, first with the Zeppelins, and later with the Gotha bombers. Through not nearly as much damage was done as the Germans inflicted in WWII, it was still considerable, especially in London, and there were quite a number of civilian deaths as well.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2014 1:45:28 GMT -6
Pistol is of course correct Alpo. In addition to the bombing by balloon and aircraft in WW1, some coastal towns were shelled by German ships. Damage and casualties but again, nothing compared to the destruction of our cities in WW2.
These were all civilian targets. I never understood how a civilised, organised and modern nation like the Germans could so easily target civilians? A nation steeped in Art, music and science. Both in WW1 and WW2 civilians were ready game. I have close German friends. I like them a great deal. I dont understand it.
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Post by Alpo on Aug 6, 2014 7:11:32 GMT -6
Have you not seen the pictures of Berlin, and Dresden? Those weren't military targets. They were towns full of civilians, and bombed all to hell.
Seems to me that the Yankees shelled the hell out of Vicksburg, too. It's not just one nation or race of people.
Yes, it would be wonderful if the only ones that got hurt in a war were the soldiers. Somehow, though, it does not seem to work that way.
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Post by Pistolenschutzen on Aug 6, 2014 11:07:04 GMT -6
Have you not seen the pictures of Berlin, and Dresden? Those weren't military targets. They were towns full of civilians, and bombed all to hell. Seems to me that the Yankees shelled the hell out of Vicksburg, too. It's not just one nation or race of people. Yes, it would be wonderful if the only ones that got hurt in a war were the soldiers. Somehow, though, it does not seem to work that way. You are quite correct, Alpo. The bomb damage inflicted on German cities during WWII by the American and British strategic bomber forces was many times the damage the Germans inflicted on Britain using both bombers and the V weapons. By the end of the war, virtually every German city over 25,000 in population--and many much smaller than that--was little more than a pile of rubble and civilians had been killed in the 100s of thousands, some 570,000 according to the estimates I've seen. It's important to point out, however, that British civilian casualties from the bombing raids were very extensive as well, an estimated 61,000, and it was the Germans, not the British, who first began bombing cities indiscriminately. Still, some of the area bombing raids conducted on Germany remain controversial to this day, particularly Dresden and Hamburg, neither of which had any significant military value. The destruction of both those cities was undertaken solely for the purpose of breaking civilian morale, a purpose that was never accomplished against the Germans any more than it was against the British earlier in the war. In fact, the strategic bombing campaign over Germany was actually discontinued before the war itself was concluded. By early 1945 there was simply no target left in Germany that was worth bombing. The same thing happened over Japan as a result of the area bombing the US used against Japanese cities, primarily in the form of incendiary raids.
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Post by red14 on Aug 12, 2014 13:45:21 GMT -6
Trantor, I saw this picture on my Photo forum and thought you and others might like it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2014 10:58:51 GMT -6
Thanks Red, I know the aircraft well and was lucky enough to be standing by the runway once when one took off. I was alone and the plane seemed to hang in the air for a moment, apparently stationary. The roar of the engines was deafening and the ground under my feet literally shook. As you can see, it was quite an experience.
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