What about the napalming* of occupied French towns after German surrender became apparent (an action Howard Zinn recounts taking part in in "Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train")? I suppose burning French civilians alive was just another morale booster?
By they way, something analogous happens when liberal-left-types discuss the Vietnam War. There is a fixation on war crimes committed against the official enemy (the North) whereas crimes committed against the "good guys" (the South)--frequently much worse--are conveniently ignored. In the case of South Vietnam soldiers could "shoot anything that moved", destroyed levies, napalmed, forced people into the cities etc. I think the reason for this habit is clear enough--who cares if you commit atrocities against a bastard.
*It wasn't called napalm then--I think they called it petroleum jelly or something.
> From: Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:35:37 +0000
> Subject: [lbo-talk] Churchill in his own words
>
> Chris writes 'given my definition'. Like Humpty Dumpty when Chris uses a word it means what he says it means.
>
> "The aerial bombardment of Germany had no strategic purpose in hindsight, or as it appeared at the time?" Chris asks.
>
> Not the aerial bombardment of Germany per se, but Bomber Harris' targetting of civilian - or in his words 'working class' - districts was challenged at the time. It was challenged in Bomber Command itself, it was challenged in Parliament, and was widely understood not only not to reduce Germany's war production, but actually to have increased it.
>
> All of this was known at the time, and was popularised by Vera Brittan at the time, and was confirmed by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey that JK Galbraith worked on in the closing months of the war.
>
> The British forces were stuffed in 1941, and needed bloodshed for morale purposes. Bombing German civilian districts was a substitute for invasion, which at that time they were reluctant to risk, preferring to let the USSR absorb the worst of the German armed power.
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