Hi Pete,
Hi Hans,
No one wins a war.
Anzac day commemorates a disaster. The landing against the Turks took its toll.
Back on subject:
The Lancaster Bomber was the best bomber aircraft of its time. Capable of carrying the biggest bomb payload of its time and fast. The crew of 7 and sometimes 8. Consisted of Pilot, Flight engineer, Navigator, Bomb aimer, Radio operator, Mid and tail gunners. The extra member was on for special radar duties.
Bomber Harris had wanted and achieved to send a thousand Lancasters on a bombing raids over Germany.
As good an aircraft as it was, the Lancasters often had huge losses.
Some of the events I wish I never learned about.
Nuremberg was a strategically important target. So were the industrial cities.
The plans were to halt German industry. Bombing factories was found to be unsuccessful. Rebuilding was fast.
This led to a change to using high explosives with incendiary bombs. Targets were the housing areas around the factories. It had the required affect. Tens of thousands of people were killed in single raids. The workers who had kept the wheels of industry turning were taken out of the picture.
The Germans of today are very sorry and regret that such a war took place. All because of a Jew hating madman. The British have not been fully informed of the bombing strategies that the RAF was ordered to do.
The justification was that it needed to be done to shorten the war.
Hitler's generals knew the end had come long before the madman would admit defeat.
Both sides suffered. However on a positive note:
The rocket technology that the Germans developed is what was the start of the Apollo series and man on the moon. There were many other technological advances as well.
Cheers