Sowing the Wind: 'Bomber' Harris and the Bombing Campaign

James Barker on ‘Bomber’ Harris, the RAF’s wartime bombing campaign of Germany, and propaganda.

A view from the town hall over the Altstadt (old town), 1910On the night of May 30th-31st 1942, the RAF carried out the first 1,000-bomber raid in history. The target was Cologne, a city with one million inhabitants. In little over ninety minutes, 1,455 tons of high explosive bombs and 915 tons of incendiaries rained down, killing more than 500 people and injuring another 5,000. Cologne's docks and railways were plunged into chaos.

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