Why Were The Major Cities of Britain Bombed by the Germans in 1940-41?

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Why Were The Major Cities of Britain Bombed by the Germans in 1940-41?

During the summer of 1940, British civilians were involved for the first time in a full scale war since the English Civil War. Ludendorf's theory of total war saw every civilian opposed to your side as a potential soldier and therefore, a target. This, along with the fact that precision bombs (e.g.:- laser guided smart bombs) hadn't been invented, meant that there was a large amount of civilian casualties on the British home front.

By 1940, the German forces had quickly swept through Europe. Within a few months of the start of the war, they dominated Europe. Surely the British would see that they had no chance and would surrender to the Nazis. However, Churchill's speech stating that Britain would never surrender and would fight the Nazis to the last man put paid to any notions Hitler had of making peace. If Britain wouldn't surrender, Hitler had no choice but to try and take Britain by force. He codenamed the invasion of Britain 'Operation Sea Lion'.

Previously, Hitler had used his 'Blitzkrieg' (lightning war) tactics to conquer Europe. This involved tanks attacking the enemy, taking care of their fortifications and providing cover for the foot troopers.

However, Hitler could not immediately use these tactics against Britain. Britain had the natural defense of being an island and for Hitler's tactics to be of any use, the country needed have a border with one of his occupied countries. He would have been able to use Blitzkrieg tactics, but only after he had succeeded in capturing a beachhead on the South coast of Britain. If Britain were not an island nation, Hitler surely would have conquered it as easily as he had the rest of Europe.
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For Operation Sea Lion to succeed, the RAF needed to be destroyed. If Hitler held air supremacy over British skies, he could easily cripple the British army and air force. The first targets the Germans attacked were British radar stations and airfields. These raids saw the radar stations and airfields being badly damaged and twenty-two British planes being destroyed. For the RAF, this was a huge blow.

The German bombing of Britain's major cities mainly targeted industry. This included cities with shipyards (mainly London, Liverpool, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Southampton as this would tie in with the ...

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