Who are the great generals?

[Granite_State]

That would be the USAAF 8th Air force which nearly broke in 1943 in the daylight raids. Bomber Harris was RAF Bomber Command and they went with night bombing very early on, especially as the Halifax and then the Lancaster came on line as the main RAF heavy bombers. Bomber Harris mounted the first 100 plane raid against Cologne in 1942 as a marker of what was to come. It was Harris who pushed to draw the USAAF into the night bombing effort when the 8th had such a rough go in 1943. Churchill nearly pushed for the same thing but liked the idea (and ring) of the phrase bombing around the clock.

As for the debate on whether strategic bombing was a waste of resources, Such bombing did not win the war but it certainly contributed to the victory.

Tom

I was thinking of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin_%28air%29

But you're right, night bombing.

I still question whether large-scale strategic bombing was worth it. Obviously Douhet was dead wrong, but Germany also increased its war production almost to the end. Granted that's more a sign of inadequate mobilization of national resources for war, but it still calls into question how much the bombers were really doing.

And I've seen many note that RAF crews were composed of some of the smartest and best-educated men in the British armed forces in WWII. A big chunk of that best and brightest went down over Germany.