Commanders

Bomber Command had several commanders during the early part of the war. Then in February 1942 Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris took control. ‘Bomber’ Harris, as he was nick-named by Churchill and has become known, remained Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command from 1942-1945.

Bomber Harris

Sir Arthur Harris has become one of the most controversial figures of World War Two.

Opinion about Harris is sharply divided: There are those who claim he personally instigated an unnecessary and ineffective campaign of city bombing and that his campaign failed either to affect German morale or significantly damage German war industry and made little contribution to victory over the Nazis.

However, there are many people who realise that Harris did a crucial job that few other men could have carried through: He took control of Bomber Command in 1942 at a time of crisis in the British bombing campaign against Germany. Then, Britain had no other way of striking directly at the enemy other than long-range bombing, but this was proving very ineffective due to technical difficulties. It was also a time of limited wartime success for the Allies. Russia was under assault from the Germans and was demanding that Britain attack Germany from the west to divert some of the Nazis’ military strength. But Britain and America were over two years away from being ready to launch an army invasion of Europe. Bombing was the only way.

Harris commanded extraordinary respect and admiration from the men under him. They knew their commander was a man who understood the difficult conditions they fought in and was doing everything he could to improve their circumstances and chances of survival.

Remarkably strong loyalty and affection for ‘Bomber’, ‘Butch’ or ‘Bert’ as he was also known is still universally expressed today by the men and women who served under him in wartime Bomber Command.

Although Harris followed through the city bombing campaign with dogged determination, he did not conceive the idea or have any part in its discussion. The plan to switch targeting priority from precision bombing of specific targets to the area bombing of industrial centres was conceived by Air Ministry planners and supported by Lord Cherwell, Churchill’s Chief Scientific Advisor who justified the policy as the ‘dehousing’ of industrial workers. Area bombing came about as a result of the technical difficulties of precision bombing at night at that time. The policy was endorsed by Churchill and orders to carry it out were formally issued to Bomber Command before Harris (who was in America at the time the policy was decided) had taken up his command.

In fact, Harris himself did not personally believe that city bombing would affect German morale, but he did believe that by destroying German industrial cities, the Germans would eventually be unable to continue waging war.

Harris has also been criticised by his detractors for continuing city bombing when others were pressing him to concentrate on more specific strategic targets such as German oil production at a time later in the war when technical developments had made precision bombing possible. Harris did not believe that bombing specific targets like oil was the quickest way to win the war. However, he did follow his orders and put considerable effort into bombing oil refineries when weather permitted (for instance, in December 1944 and January 1945 Bomber Command dropped twice as many tons of bombs on oil targets as the USAAF). He also continued the bombing offensive against cities. This campaign was supported by Churchill and the War Cabinet until almost the end of the war and culminated in Churchill’s demand that Bomber Command attack Berlin and other large cities in East Germany.

The eastern cities of Chemnitz, Leipzig and Dresden were identified as targets. Bomber Command had not bombed Dresden before, despite the fact that Harris had been authorised to attack the city several months previously. He had become reluctant about the idea as he felt the long distance to Dresden, particularly in winter, would put his crews at unnecessary risk. There was also little information available about the target and its defences. However, when the specific order to bomb Dresden came through via the Air Ministry from the headquarters of General Eisenhower, the overall Allied commander, Harris was obliged to carry it out, although the fact he requested the order in writing reveals his true feelings about the operation.

Both the RAF and USAAF bombed Dresden causing a very high level of destruction and casualties. Later, Churchill issued a memo criticising ‘acts of terror and wanton destruction’ in reference to the attack. The Air Ministry and Harris were stunned by this, as it had been Churchill himself who instigated the raid. Churchill withdrew the memo but it was a sign of things to come.

During the war Harris had become a household name as one of the Allies’ greatest military leaders and the determined commander who was hitting back at Germany. Once the war was over and the level of destruction in Germany’s cities became apparent, Churchill and other politicians were careful to distance themselves from what had been inflicted on the enemy.

It has even been claimed that the area bombing of German cities was kept secret from the British public during wartime. This was untrue, as shown by newspapers and newsreels of the time, which publicised in detail the devastation of Bomber Command’s heavy raids on German cities to a public eager to feel that Britain was ‘hitting back’.

Sir Arthur Harris was an exception commander who won the respect of the vast majority of his contemporaries including Churchill, Eisenhower and Montgomery, who said of Harris: “I doubt any single man did more in winning the war than he did. I doubt whether that is generally realised”.

Harris’ was an incredibly difficult and demanding wartime task and his personal effort and the courage and sacrifice of his aircrews was one of the key factors in the Allies’ victory over the evil of Hitler’s Nazi Germany.

To view details of Bomber Command's other commanders, click on the link below.

	Commanders 1939 - 1945
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	Group histories 1939 - 1945
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	Squadron histories 1939 - 1945
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