Indelible Marks (#2)
Harris on the Aldwych; Woodcut 120 x 60 cms A/P 2013
Arthur Harris, (1892 –1984), often known as ‘Bomber’ Harris, is a key figure in this story. This image derives from his statue, which stands outside the Royal Air Force Church of St Clements Danes, on The Strand in Central London.
Harris deserves neither to be scapegoated nor exonerated for the bombing of Dresden, or any of the other cities bombed under his command.
Harris was appointed Commander in Chief of Bomber Command in February 1942, at a time when allied aircraft were having little impact on the German Luftwaffe. This was largely due to inexperienced crews and a lack of adequate aircraft. Harris set out to rectify this by improving levels of instruction and instigating rigorous training, including night flying. He was also instrumental in the introduction of modern heavy bombers such as the Halifax and the Lancaster.
Whilst a staunch defender of the aerial bombing of German cities, Harris did not conceive the idea, nor was he responsible for choosing the targets. The plan to switch from (attempted) precision bombing to the area bombing of industrial centres was conceived earlier in the war by the British Air Ministry planners, who justified the policy as the ‘dehousing’ of industrial workers. Area bombing was also a consequence of the technical difficulties of precision bombing at night. The policy was endorsed by Prime Minister Churchill, and orders to carry it out had been formally issued to Bomber Command before Harris took up his command.
Harris was undoubtedly in favour of aerial bombing and, like Churchill, his dour, dogged, and single-minded commitment to the task made him completely associated with the campaign. His statement of 1942 is frequently quoted as indication of his belligerence:
‘The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind’
As the campaign started to have an effect, Harris, ever plain speaking, asked Churchill to be honest with the nation, and wrote to him:
‘The aim of the Combined Bomber Offensive...should be unambiguously stated as the destruction of German cities, the killing of German workers, and the disruption of civilised life throughout Germany.... the destruction of houses, public utilities, transport and lives, the creation of a refugee problem on an unprecedented scale, and the breakdown of morale both at home and at the battle fronts by fear of extended and intensified bombing, are the accepted and intended aims of our bombing policy. They are not by-products of attempts to hit factories’
Churchill, of course, did not comply. In the aftermath of the bombing of Dresden, in a move to retain some political credibility, Commander in Chief Churchill sought to distance himself from both Harris and the actions of Bomber Command. He wrote in a memo:
‘The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing. I am of the opinion that military objectives must henceforward be more strictly studied in our own interests than that of the enemy’
Bomber Command lost over 55,000 men during the war, whose average age was 22. In the face of this, Harris had commanded fierce loyalty and admiration for his commitment to the safety and wellbeing of his crews. However, Bomber Command were not awarded a campaign medal, and because of this Harris refused an honour until in 1953, when he was finally persuaded by Winston Churchill.
Not a charismatic figure, and always the subject of establishment disquiet, Harris’s commemorative statue was not unveiled until 1992, at a ceremony where the Queen Mother was heckled by protestors In June 2012 the Bomber Command Memorial in St James Park was opened by the Queen. There are now plans for an International Bomber Command Centre in Lincolnshire in England ‘to provide a world-class facility to serve as a point for recognition, remembrance, and reconciliation.’
