Why Hitler Decided to Bomb Major Cities in 1940-1941

Why Hitler Decided to Bomb Major Cities in 1940-1941

Before 1940, there was a large battle in the air between England and

Germany, for control over the English Channel. This was later to be

known as “The Battle of Britain.” As well as the domination over this

area, each of the powers would intend to take advantage of being the

leader in technical warfare (in this case aeroplanes).

The main reason why this battle started and the bombing of English

cities, in my opinion, is that Germany was trying to knock Britain out

of the war; this was to try to avoid an unmanageable war on two

fronts, Russia and Britain. I believe that Hitler was also trying to

demonstrate his authority by showing that Germany was now (as he

promised) more powerful than the treaty of Versailles and could break

it whenever it pleased.

The locations Hitler hunted to destroy were military bases and

factories. These were often placed reasonably close to main cities for

quick connections. During the first might of the Blitz, 21 main cities

were bombed, most of these were industrial centres such as Sheffield

and Plymouth. As I already know, the bombings were carried out

generally at night. For a pilot it was hard to navigate, thus, bombs

were occasionally dropped on the cities instead. Factories were bombed

to stop the production of weapons. The Germans were unsure of which

factories were actually producing them as many got converted in to

munitions factories at the start of the war. Factories were

camouflaged making the pilots’ job harder.

One of the most famous bombings was on Coventry. This was because

Coventry was a big centre for industry. It was the heart of war

production. After the bombers had left, Coventry was a rubble sight

and was used in German propaganda. A Nazi minister ‘wittily’ created a

new word to describe acting out destruction, ’Coventrize’. Coventry

also had many car factories. Hitler tried to destroy the production of

cars as well by bombing the Ford motor works in Dagenham