Replies

NO, the American bombing campaign in WWII was not a warcrime. Don't forget there was extreme pressure from the media and citizens to get the job done, and our men home asap even then.

In Europe for example the allies were far behind in their timetable, especially after D-Day. The idea was to end the war by the end of 1944 if possible. If it dragged on to long there would be more pressure to not invade Germany with a similar outcome to WWI.

It was Churchill & FDR who demanded unconditional surrender, while many under them (military & some intel) would have preferred a conditional surrender.

It was principally the air bombing campaign that neutralized the German military assets that would have delayed the end of the war for a long time.

As for the British, London was bombed by accident during the Battle of Britain, and Churchill understood the enemy could only be defeated through terror attacks. We would have felt the same if our capitol was attacked.

Conclusion: If the allies had not done precision bombing, and bombing of cities the war would have dragged on to long, and the unconditional surrender would have been abandoned through necessity. Or we might have had to stand up to the Russians in Europe.

At that time air bombing was necessary for total victory.