AIRMAN’S RAGE AT THE ARMCHAIR MORALISTS

FOR the most part, the Lancaster crews involved in the Second World War bombing campaign were in no doubt they were doing the right thing. But the attacks on German cities did cause some controversy at the time, and are still argued about today.

After a particularly devastating raid on Hamburg in 1943, the eminent soldier and military historian Sir Basil Liddell Hart wrote: ‘It will be ironical if the defenders of civilisation depend for victory upon t he most barbaric, and unskilled way of winning a war that the modern world has seen.’

And on May 27, 1943, in the House of Commons, Richard Stokes, Labour MP for Ipswich, asked Sir Archibald Sinclair, Secretary of State for Air: ‘Is the Right Honourable Member aware that a growing volume of opinion in this country considers indiscriminate bombing of civilians both morally wrong and strategic lunacy?’

Almost none of those at the forefront of the battle to defeat Nazi Germany agreed with the politician. Facing a fight for survival, with nation pitted against nation, most shared the belief of Bomber Command chief Arthur Harris, often known to his men as ‘Butch’, that the end would justify the brutal means. Former Lancaster pilot and prisoner of war Jim Penny said: ‘ We were proud to be the Butcher’s men. Butch was a term of affection.

‘I don’t expect those not there to understand that. There is ample proof that the Hitler regime was truly evil, intent on enforcing its will with great barbarity. The bombing campaign was indeed terrible, but in the context of the time it was essential.’

He, like most RAF veterans, remains hurt by the slights surrounding his and his comrades’ wartime service.

‘We had a job to do and we did it to the best of our abilities,’ he says. ‘The criticism of Bomber Command shows a complete lack of understanding about the reality of what we had to do for this nation’s survival.’

And wireless operator Reg Payne, who had to bale out of his burning Lancaster, said: ‘Armchair moralists who blame the young men of Bomber Command for carrying out the decisions of our political masters have no i dea of t he burden we have carried down the years to give them the freedom to blame us.

‘Only those who have faced violent death can understand.’