[WhiskeyPapa]

Armed troops ending civil strife is good, the shelling of a population center is not.

Civilians can leave a city. They are not forced to remain, unless they are slaves.

And cities are legal military targets. The British, and to some degree, the Americans bombed cities in WWII with the express view of killing war workers, it being seen that a war worker was just as valuable to the war effort as a soldier on the front line.

But the Germans could and did evacuate all non-essential persons. Your statement is simply not correct.

Walt

[wasp69]

But the Germans could and did evacuate all non-essential persons. Your statement is simply not correct.

Is it? Tell that to the citizens of a German city that was bombed and the Allied POW's who were ordered to clean up the charred remains. I don't remember the name of the city off the top of my head (either Cologne, Frankfurt, or Hamburg). That particular city held no real military value and it was done purely as an act of revenge for London being bombed.

Besides that, you are making a comparison from a completely different point of view. One was a declared war, the other was a civil matter that (thank God) did not require General Scott fulfilling his order to shell the citizens of various cities in Maryland.