Bomber Harris family goes to war over slur on his name

Despite earning the admiration of Churchill and being commemorated by a statue in central London, sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris remains the most controversial British commander of World War ii.

Yet his family have been staggered by the accusation made by bestselling U.s. author Malcolm Gladwell in his latest book that Harris was ‘a psychopath’.

And now they have come out fighting. Breaking the family silence, Harris’s grandson, tom Assheton, a former Household Cavalry officer, tells me: ‘Never think that my grandfather’s pugnacity equated to lack of feeling.

‘He was someone who understood that war was terrible — and understood evil, as embodied by Hitler.’

Deriding what he describes as ‘armchair air marshals’ like Gladwell, Assheton laments that the American displays little understanding of sir Arthur.

‘i knew my grandfather. He was much more grounded than this murderous person who wanted to turn Germany into a pile of rubble and flame,’ says Assheton, 57.

‘Canon Collins, who later helped found CND, was a cousin of his. He was a wartime RAF chaplain.

‘My grandfather didn’t boot him out [of the RAF]. He was quite prepared to have a discussion with anyone about what was right or wrong.’

Harris’s attitude towards conflict was determined by his experiences in World War i, adds Assheton.

‘He flew over passchendaele in 1917, seeing the soup of mud and ground-up bodies. it made a very strong impression on him.

‘He wanted to be a farmer in Africa but spent the next 30 years serving his country.

‘He wanted to finish the war as quickly as possible . . . and the bombing campaign meant that a million able-bodied Germans were committed to air defence and couldn’t join the land battle against the Allies.

‘there is no glory in war. My grandfather knew that better than anyone.’

Assheton, who co-presents the podcast Bloody Violent History with James Jackson, is intent on emulating his grandfather — in one respect at least. ‘i’m taking flying lessons this summer,’ he explains. ‘i’ve got his old goggles. Just dusted them off . . .’