Air Combat, World War
1914 is the year that the first air raid was conducted and it was done by the Germans. Throughout 1915 and 1916 a dirigible from Germany that was called the Zeppelin conducted raids in London and eastern England for more than 50 instances. In evaluations of the zeppelin bomber, it was seen to have an accuracy of ten percent and thus the intended target was not hit often. This evaluation refutes claim that the aim of the World War I was to kill the morale of the civilians. This is because the targets of the Zeppelin by the German in United Kingdom were not always hit due to the levels of accuracy that were low (Wilkinson 1997). Beatrice Webb, another eyewitness, also talks of excited men and women who were in the streets watching the zeppelin with excitement because it was not common to see the zeppelin. She says that the civilians were excited by this aircraft and thus morale was not damaged if that was the intention (Webb 1912-24).
There is contrast of these in various other sources that have evaluated the impact of World War I. Marr (2009) in his book, the making of modern Britain, talks of shock and panic that spread across Britain at a time when people were trying to get used to bombings from air. The civilians were always in fear of an attack that would sweep across the land. The raids by Germany were aimed at forcing Britain airplanes to move out of the western front so as to paralyze the industries in Britain and kill the morale of the civilian inhabitants (Kennett 1991). The raids achieved little of military value though they triggered much deaths and property harm (Raymond 1991).
[...] Use of Air Combat in World War The war in the Air in both World Wars had the same main aim: to destroy the morale of the civilian population. How far do the sources support this interpretation of the War in the air in the two World Wars? 1914 is the year that the first air raid was conducted and it was done by the Germans. Throughout 1915 and 1916 a dirigible from Germany that was called the Zeppelin conducted raids in London and eastern England for more than 50 instances. [...]
[...] ed. ed. Washington, Air Force History and Museum's Program. Kennett, L The First Air War, 1914-1918. New York: Free Press. Levine, A. J The Strategic Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945. New York : Praeger. Marr, A The making of modern Britain. s.l.:s.n. Orland, R A Plan For The City Centre. [Online] Available at: http://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/postwar/postwar.php [Accessed 17 November 2013]. Raymond H. [...]
[...] Fredette The Sky on Fire: The First Battle of Britain, 1917-1918. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. Richards, D Royal Air Force 1939-1945: volume I The Fight at Odds. London: HMSO. Robinson, B The blitz. s.l.:BBC. Webb, B. 1912-24. Diaries 1912-24, London: s.n. Wilkinson, A Zeppelins at War: How effective were Zeppelins as bombers during World War One?. [Online] Available at: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/AVbomberZeppelin.htm [Accessed 16 November 2013]. [...]
[...] In the morning however, King George VI visited each homestead that had been hit by the bomb that night and this was a great boost to the morale of the civilians seeing their king with them in their time of need hence if the bomb was intended to tamper with the morale of the civilians, it did not work this time (Orland, 2012). During war, the targets and casualties were majorly civilians. This is because this tactic has been used to inflict massive damage to the morale of the population. This was thus not a new tactic in the World War II proceeding. [...]
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