On this day, the British Royal
Air Force begins a bombing campaign on the German capital that coincides with
the 10th anniversary of Hitler's accession to power.
The Casablanca Conference,
held from January 14 to 23, saw Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, and the Combined Chiefs of Staff meet in Morocco to
discuss future war strategy following on the success of the North African
invasion, which heralded the defeat of Vichy forces. One of the resolutions of
the conference was to launch a combined and sustained strategic bombing effort
against the Germans. Strategic bombing was the policy of using bombers to
destroy an enemy's warmaking capacity, also referred to as "area
bombing." Churchill described it as an "absolutely devastating,
exterminating attack by very heavy bombers...upon the Nazi homeland."
To celebrate the anniversary
of Hitler's 1933 appointment to the office of chancellor by then-President Paul
von Hindenburg, both propaganda
minister Joseph Goebbels and head of the Luftwaffe Hermann Goering planned to
give radio addresses to the German masses. Goebbels intended to bolster morale
by hailing an impending victory in Russia: "A thousand years hence, every
German will speak with awe of Stalingrad and remember that it was there that
Germany put the seal on her victory." As the speeches were broadcast, RAF
fighters rained bombs on Berlin, the beginning of devastating attacks on German
cities that would last until the very end of the war. To make matters even
worse for the Germans, the next day a massive surrender of German troops
occurred at Stalingrad.
Taken from: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/raf-launches-massive-daytime-raid-on-berlin
[30.01.2015]
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