On January 16, 1943, the British bombed Berlin for the first time in 14 months. The damage inflicted in the air raid was limited, but the primary purpose of the mission was, however, not so much the damage inflicted but rather “the mere symbolism of British heavy-bombers having dropped some bombs on Hitler’s capital.” The origins of restarting raids on Berlin in January 1943 is considered in “The Termination of the Long Immunity from Air Raids: The Bombing of Berlin under Operation Tannenberg, August 1942–March 1943” by Richard John Worrall (Manchester Metropolitan University) which has been published in War in History (April 2022; 29:2). The article contends that Winston Churchill had pressed Arthur Harris, C-in-C, Bomber Command, to launch attacks on Berlin through the autumn of 1942 for the “wider political considerations” of securing a “diplomatic advantage with the Soviets by maintaining Moscow’s confidence in Britain’s military capabilities.” Harris was “lukewarm” about bombing Berlin at that point and for several months advocated delay. Harris eventually saw the operations against the German capital “as an opportunity for a quid pro quo, in which the bombing of Berlin would be exchanged for Churchill’s full support of Bomber Command’s expansion in readiness for the main bombing offensive against Germany in 1943.” The journal’s web site is here.
Churchill Research
27 Monday Jun 2022
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