How British bombing policy was decided in World War Two

The decision to go to war and the policies of how to attack an enemy are invariably made by political leaders, in consultation with military commanders. The War Cabinet formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1940 included politicians from the three main parties, Conservatives, Liberals and Labour. Bombing policy was discussed by politicans and the Air Ministry and passed on to the RAF for implementation. Aerial bombing was seen as a preferable method of attack to the terrible loss of life in the trenches in World War One.

For almost the entire war, Churchill was a strong advocate of aerial bombing, realising the importance of forcing the Germans to defend their own homeland. In September 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, he declared:

’The fighters are our salvation but the bombers alone provide the means of victory. We must therefore develop the power to carry an ever-increasing volume of explosives to Germany, so as to pulverise their entire industry and scientific structure on which the war effort and economic life of the enemy depends, whilst holding him at arm’s length from our island’.