Aerial battles of world war ii

Aerial bombardment and international law The Hague Conventions of andwhich address the codes of wartime conduct on land and at sea, were adopted before the rise of air power. Despite repeated diplomatic attempts to update international humanitarian law to include aerial warfareit was not updated before the outbreak of World War II. The absence of specific international humanitarian law did not mean aerial warfare was not covered under the laws of warbut rather that there was no general agreement of how to interpret those laws.

Image of Dresden during the s. A view from the town hall over the Altstadt old townEarly inthe German offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge had been exhausted, as was the disastrous attack by the Luftwaffe on New Year's Day involving elements of eleven combat wings of the Luftwaffe's day fighter force.

The German army was retreating on all fronts, but still resisting strongly. Alternatively, the report warned that the Germans might hold out until November if they could prevent the Soviets from taking Silesia.

Hence, any assistance provided to the Soviets on the Eastern Front could shorten the war. He passed on the request to Sir Charles Aerial battles of world war iithe Chief of the Air Staffwho answered that "We should use available effort in one big attack on Berlin and attacks on Dresden, Leipzig, and Chemnitz, or any other cities where a severe blitz will not only cause confusion in the evacuation from the East, but will also hamper the movement of troops from the West.

Pray report to me tomorrow what is going to be done". Attacks there, where main railway junctions, telephone systems, city administration and utilities were located, would result in "chaos.

Bottomley's list included oil plants, tank and aircraft factories and the cities of Berlin and Dresden. The white areas were held by Germany, the rose ones by the Allies, and the bright-red colour denotes the Allied advances in the fronts Dresden was Germany's seventh-largest city and, according to the RAF at the time, the largest remaining unbombed built-up area.

It also said there were barracks, hutted camps, and a munitions storage depot. Cook, a US POW held in the Friedrichstadt marshaling yard the night before the attacks, later said that "I saw with my own eyes that Dresden was an armed camp: Dresden, the seventh largest city in Germany and not much smaller than Manchester is also the largest unbombed builtup area the enemy has got.

In the midst of winter with refugees pouring westward and troops to be rested, roofs are at a premium, not only to give shelter to workers, refugees, and troops alike, but to house the administrative services displaced from other areas.

At one time well known for its chinaDresden has developed into an industrial city of first-class importance The intentions of the attack are to hit the enemy where he will feel it most, behind an already partially collapsed front The Eighth Air Force had already bombed the railway yards near the centre of the city twice in daytime raids: It had been decided that the raid would be a double strike, in which a second wave of bombers would attack three hours after the first, just as the rescue teams were trying to put out the fires.

There was a huge uproar, since the Yalta agreement handed parts of Poland over to the Soviet Union. There was talk of mutiny among the Polish pilots, and their British officers removed their side arms. The Polish Government ordered the pilots to follow their orders and fly their missions over Dresden, which they did.

The next set of aircraft to leave England were twin-engined Mosquito marker planeswhich would identify target areas and drop 1,pound target indicators TIs " [49] that created a red glow for the bombers to aim at.

This group of Lancasters carried tons of high explosives and tons of incendiaries "fire bombs". There wereincendiaries in all, with the high-explosive bombs ranging in weight from pounds to 4, pounds—the so-called two-ton cookies[51] also known as "blockbusters," because they could destroy an entire large building or street.

The high explosives were intended to rupture water mains and blow off roofs, doors, and windows to create an air flow to feed the fires caused by the incendiaries that followed. By this time, ten of the Lancasters were out of service, leaving to continue to Dresden.

Come in and bomb glow of red target indicators as planned. Bomb the glow of red TIs as planned.

The fan-shaped area that was bombed was 1.The battles of the World War II were fought across the globe from the fields of Western Europe and the Russian plains to the China and the waters of the Pacific. Beginning in , these battles caused massive destruction and loss of life and elevated to prominence .

There were numerous battles in World War initiativeblog.com of these battles lasted only days while others took months or years. Some of the battles were notable for the material losses such as tanks or aircraft carriers while others were notable for the number of human losses.

Strategic bombing during World War II was the sustained aerial attack on railways, harbours, cities, workers' housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory during World War II. Strategic bombing is a military strategy which is distinct from both close air support of ground forces and tactical air power..

During World War II, it was believed by many military strategists of air power that. The battles of the World War II were fought across the globe from the fields of Western Europe and the Russian plains to the China and the waters of the Pacific.

Beginning in , these battles caused massive destruction and loss of life and elevated to prominence . In World War II From Above, historian Jeremy Harwood profiles the fascinating story, unknown to many, of the battle waged by Allies and Axis spies in the skies to obtain accurate aerial intelligence during World War II.

This book features dozens of eye-catching aerial reconnaissance photographs drawn from the archives compiled by all the major fighting powers.

With 27 1/2 confirmed aerial kills, George Preddy -- the top-scoring Mustang ace of World War II -- was undefeated until he ran into friendly fire on Christmas Day during the .