BBC Timewatch - Bombing Germany (1/4)

BBC Timewatch - Bombing Germany
While many remember the bombing of Dresden, which resulted in the deaths of 30,000 people, this programme uncovers the reasons behind the extensive Allied attacks on other German towns during the final stages of World War Two. Historians Martin Middlebrook and Professor Tami Biddle explore the facts behind the devastation and conclude that targets were often selected on the basis of ease of destruction rather than military importance.

The destruction of Dresden in the Second World War has come to epitomise the horrors of modern aerial warfare. Thirty thousand people died during two nights of bombing, yet Dresden was only one of many German towns to suffer Allied saturation bombing. In the last months of the war, American and British bombers wrought havoc on numerous small towns considered at the time to be of little military importance. Timewatch sheds new light on the final stages of the Allied strategic bombing campaign.

Drawing on the expertise of renowned historians Martin Middlebrook and Professor Tami Biddle, and using rare colour archive and dramatic reconstructions, Detlef Siebert's film explores the historical background of strategic bombing in the Second World War. Through the testimonies of both airmen and civilians, the film tells the story of one American and one British raid on two South German towns of minor military importance.

Ellingen, a small town with 1,500 inhabitants in Bavaria, was bombed by the 8th American Air Force in February 1945. An interview with the lead navigator reveals that Ellingen was selected as a "target of opportunity" simply because it had a road running through it. A few weeks later, British Bomber Command attacked Wurzburg, a medium-sized town with next to no industry of military importance. In only 20 minutes, incendiary bombs destroyed 82 per cent of the town, an even greater proportion than in Dresden.

Timewatch has unearthed documents which help to explain why such an unimportant place as Wurzburg was bombed. The documents provide a fascinating insight into the target selection process. They show that once Germany's industrial centres were virtually all destroyed, Bomber Command Intelligence began to select towns initially, not for their military value, but because they were easy for the bombers to find and destroy. A briefing note by an American Air Force general shows that raids on rural places such as Ellingen also had the political purpose to deter the Germans from ever starting another war.

Playlist for whole episode: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3963921744CFAFDE
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkNuYH2sgA8
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jC9blmsAQE
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqYmSJ8Kr6I
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHRkYFi2kXM

Visit my YouTube-channel for more documentaries about the Second World War, First World War and more or visit my website at http://sites.google.com/site/thegermanwarfiles/ for a better organized and easier access to all my YouTube documentaries and their descriptions.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Documentary
• Second
• World
• War
• Germany
• BBC
• Timewatch
• Bombing
• Allied
• attacks
• bomber
• Dresden
• Harris
• Great
• Britain
• America
• B-17
• B-24
• Lancaster
• Fighter
• escort
• Mustang
• FLAK
• Martin
• Middlebrook
• Professor
• Tami
• Biddle
• rare
• colour
• archive
• Ellingen
• Wurzburg
• strategic
• industrial
• centres

[Teufelsnachbar667]

@dinsdale007 World War 1 clearly Austrias and Great Britains fault. WW 2 again GB and Nazi germany.

[dinsdale007]

@Teufelsnachbar667 So who were the two world wars fault then? It's quite clear Germany had the most to do with there creation and continuation. It took the work (and lives) of 3 primary nations and many others in the Allies to defeat them. And I'm damn glad they did.

[Nuron666]

Can someone please tell me the name of the THEME MUSIC at the beginning?

Been looking for it for ages.

[ArthurHarisBomber]

why 14 mln schweine sprache leute were send back home?? I think them should be send to the Auschwitz and change to the oxygen and Co.

[ludocrat]

@Teufelsnachbar667

OK. I concede all that. To be honest, I really didn't want to get into a flame war about this stuff because I basically agree with you on the general, substantive points. See my comment to Mr Elberiver11 below if you want to know how I really feel.

I actually wish you nothing but good fortune and success, having always had the greatest of respect and love for German art, culture, philosophy, literature, science, society, language and (above all) music. History is for ghosts.

[Teufelsnachbar667]

@ludocrat Yeah the brits where sutch saints the last centurys ;) stop living in your dream world. History is never black and white. The two world wars werent only germanys fault.

Every historian will tell you the same today. You can´t realy be so stupid and belive the propaganda the people fell for the few years before and after the war.

[ludocrat]

@Elberiver11

I think this silly argument must stop. I respect you.

Deutschland ist der begabtesten und zivilisierten Land in Europa. Ich habe nichts als Liebe und Bewunderung für sie. Auch ich fühle das Gewicht der Geschichte. Meine Vorfahren, vor dem 20. Jahrhundert, wurden Kolonialisten. Aber ich spüre auch eine große Hoffnung für die Zukunft. Warum? Da unsere Generation wird nie den gleichen Fehler wieder. Und wir brauchen nicht, um sie auf YouTube Replay! Viel Glück für Sie, mein Freund.

[ludocrat]

@Teufelsnachbar667

Oh dear. Look, I really do admire modern Germany, our allies, but do you actually read any books?! Have you any idea what the Kaiser's army did, for instance, to Belgium in 1914? I feel very sorry about Dresden. To me it appears to have been an awful extension of a policy that, in the heat of war, seemed to be strategically essential. But the scale of both wars was caused by German militarism and paranoia. Understand that! Britain just happened to be in the way - fortunately.

[Teufelsnachbar667]

@ludocrat So why is ww1 now our fault ? Ever heard of the small country called Austria ?

And maybe you learn something about british foreign politcs.

[ludocrat]

@Elberiver11

Oh dear. Another ahistorical, nazi-apologist moron from the land that brought the whole world war, twice! And he's ponderously patronising too! That's a full house. So well done 'elberiver11'. You are the worthy winner of the title "biggest idiot this side of Moscow". Your prize? Complete derision I'm afraid. Moral equivalence in the face of absolute evil, which your precious nazis inflicted on Eurasia and Africa for six years, deserves total contempt. Rest assured you have mine.