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To: cripplecreek
Don’t worry, there are a few FReepers who feel the same way about allied “war crimes”.

Yep. They'll be out in force this August.

10 posted on 02/15/2015 4:49:42 AM PST by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away)
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To: Fresh Wind

What happens in August?


17 posted on 02/15/2015 5:05:24 AM PST by Mangia E Statti Zitto
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To: Fresh Wind; cripplecreek
Don’t worry, there are a few FReepers who feel the same way about allied “war crimes”.
Yep. They'll be out in force this August.
Bomber Harris was a war criminal. His entire plan was to reduce all Germany to rubble, on the theory that he would be able to prevent war production, and that the populace would rebel against Hitler - you know, the way the British rebelled against Churchill </sarcasm>

In so doing he obliterated the very concept of “civilian.” It reached a point where the USAF was successfully choking off Germany’s oil supplies (which, tho it clearly affected the civilian population, didn’t kill civilians as a goal in itself), and was strangling the German war effort. Harris put all his chips on the table to prevent “diversion” of British bombing capacity from city busting (which was pretty much sawing sawdust by that point) to reinforcing USAF successes which were known to be shutting down Germany’s military capability. Germany was desperate for many things at that point, but far from least among them was - gasoline. Recall that plans for Germany’s Dec ’44 all-out Battle of the Bulge offensive critically depended on capturing Allied fuel supplies along the way to Antwerp.

If you know that your most effective thrust is to bomb petroleum infrastructure, and instead you choose to prioritize bombing civilians . . .

Fire and Fury
The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942-1945
Randall Hansen
After the bitter experience of having the armistice of WWII turn out to be a mere chance for Germany to reload, America liked the idea of unconditional surrender. Churchill wasn’t on board, but FDR put him in a position where he couldn’t argue against it. Whenever you think of the fanaticism of the German defensive war against the invasion of the Western allies during WWII, think not only of the propaganda of the Nazis but also of the “unconditional surrender” policy FDR had announced. The Germans didn’t think they had a choice.

The New Dealers' War:
FDR and the War Within World War II
by Thomas Fleming

Balance that criticism of FDR, however, with the explanation of why America was extremely short on military equipment on Pearl Harbor Day 1941, and yet was “the arsenal of democracy” (not to mention of communism) shortly thereafter (hint: from the start of WWII FDR was helping Britain - and from the Fall of France in May 1940, FDR was frantically gearing up for war production, and using the initial war production to sustain Britain’s independence of Germany).

Freedom's Forge:
How American Business Produced Victory in World War II
Arthur Herman

94 posted on 02/15/2015 11:52:21 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion ('Liberalism' is a conspiracy against the public by wire-service journalism.)
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