Strategic Bombing

During World War II, the United States aerial bombed various German and Japanese cities. These bombings were targeted at cities with innocent civilians, who were injured and killed during these attacks. Aerial bombardment is a form of strategic bombing, used to sap the population and strike fear in the hearts of civilians. Aerial bombing striped the German and Japanese civilians of their hope, and their spirit. The civilians lived in constant fear of air raids, and of the future. The United States was not justified in using aerial bombing German and Japanese cities during World War II. Strategic bombing is a unique military tactic. “The purpose of strategic bombing was not only to undermine industrial production but also to demoralize the
population. Thus, civilian populations became the targets of many bombing missions”(Britannica). The United States were part of the Allied Powers, which also included Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. The Axis Powers for Japan, Germany, and Italy. Japan, Italy, and Germany signed the Tripartite Pact on September 27th, 1940. “Furthermore, it is the desire of the three governments to extend co-operation to such nations in other spheres of the world as may be inclined to put forth endeavours along lines similar to their own, in order that their ultimate aspirations for world peace may thus be realized”(Yale). The intention of the Tripartite Pact was to keep the United states out of the war. In the 1930s, the United States stopped exporting oil and iron to Japan, and Japan began to suffer heavily. Japan striked the United States on December 7th 1941. This attack on Pearl Harbor pulled the United States into the war. The United States began to conduct air raids on various cities in Japan and Germany. A significant bombing of World War II was the Firebombing of Tokyo.
“Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history”(History.com). This devastating attack was targeted towards civilians, who are innocent and have no relation to the war. Their lives were stripped from them, taken shamelessly, without remorse. The B-29 planes flew low, so they were not detected by radars. “the Tokyo firebombing was aimed largely at civilians, in places including Tokyo’s downtown area known as shitamachi, where people lived in traditional wood and paper homes at densities sometimes exceeding 100,000 people per square mile”(The Japan Times). This area of Japan was highly susceptible to burning, which made the city a prime target. The air raid lasted for about three hours, and the innocent, dead bodies of civilians were left floating in the Sumida
River. German cities were also a target of aerial bombing tactics in World War II. The United States targeted predominantly civilian areas, and the objective behind these attacks was a concept called “strategic terror”. The purpose of strategical terror is to harm civilians to show their opponents that they are ruthless and unafraid to kill the innocent. “Strategic bombing has always been done in a rigidly polarized political and moral context of ‘us’ and ‘them’, in particular in the context of ‘self’ and ‘other’ terminology that determines who is friend and who is to be bombed and why” (Grosscup). Civilians were not allowed to leave their cities, and if they attempted to leave, they were killed. The United States did this in fear that if the civilians escaped, they would spread panic. An important aerial bombing in World War II was the controversial bombing of Dresden. Dresden is the capital of Saxony, a German state. The city had no military significance, and there was no strategic motive behind this attack. Beginning on February 13th, 1945 and ending on February 15th, 1945, the Allies forces conducted an air raid on the city of Dresden. 3,300 tons of bombs were dropped on Dresden, killing between 35,000 and 135,000 people.
Victor Gregg[...]was a prisoner of war in Dresden that night who was ordered to help with the clear up. [...]he recalled the hunt for survivors after the apocalyptic firestorm.[...]it took his team seven hours to get into a 1,000-person air-raid shelter in the Altstadt. Once inside, they found no survivors or corpses: just a green-brown liquid with bones sticking out of it. The cowering people had all melted.[...]Children under the age of three had simply been vaporised. (Selwood)

The purpose of the night air raid to wreak havoc and in doing so an entire city was obliterated.Those who attempted to seek shelter in cellars and bunkers suffocated from a lack of oxygen.
“Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, had always held the view that any city that had anything to do with the Nazi war effort was a target”(Trueman). The only justification the Allied Powers used in the bombing of Dresden was that Dresden was affiliated with Hitler and the Nazi war effort. There was no other explanation or justification given in the killing of thousands of German civilians. Civilians should not be a target in war. The United States was apprehensive about Japan’s invasion of her Asian neighbors. The United States also wanted to put an end to Hitler’s tyrant rule. However, by aerial bombing German and Japanese cities, innocent civilians were killed, and civilians began to live in fear of the Allied Powers, rather than Hitler and Hideki Tojo. Wanting to protect their Allies and seeking revenge for Pearl Harbor does not justify the United States in aerial bombing Japanese and German cities during World War
II.