Why Were The Major Cities Of Britain Bombed By The Germans In 1940-41?

Hitler had tried to invade Britain in 1940 he gave this invasion the code name “Operation Sealion”. This invasion was designed to control the skies by defeating the RAF and destroying military bases, weapon’s factories and airbases therefore decreasing their defences and making it easier for German forces to invade. At this early stage no civilian areas were touched. “Operation Sealion” came in to effect in early August 1940 and was named The Battle Of Britain. Hitler was unable to defeat the RAF therefore “Operation Sealion” had failed and by late August 1940 things were not going to plan.

Because of the bombing of Berlin Hitler had changed his tactics and had instead started bombing the Major cities of Britain. This was a important change of tactics as the RAF was near to defeat and would have fallen to the Germans if they had continued with their original plan.

Hitler could not afford a full scale attack so he aimed to effect the morale of the British people so they would pressure their government to surrender. He wanted to bomb ammunition factories also bomb transport links and communication links which would damage the effectiveness of the army. He also bombed ports to stop imports and exports as he knew these were essential to Britain as it is an island and relies on imports of food and other essentials.

Hitler had not destroyed Britain’s ability to fight or their willingness to go on fighting. By May 1941 Hitler was preparing to invade Russia, he therefore decided to stop his invasion of Britain and to focus on invading Russia instead.

So overall Hitler had failed in the majority of his aims. The main reason why he had bombed the Major cities was mainly because he thought it would cause maximum damage as Britain is an island.

Mubahil Shakir