Quote:
Originally Posted by Catfish
Yes, i mentioned that further down, however here i meant the bombings solely between England, and Germany. This is why i wrote you cannot see these bombings without looking at Poland (and Guernica).
But the bomb dropping on houses at London near the harbour by a Ju87, was done unintentionally. I am sure either side would have soon found another pretext though.
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I believe by then the Ju87s weren't in the battle because they'd be shredded so badly. IIRC it was one of the big three level bombers (Do-17, Ju-88 or He-111) that bombed London by mistake whilst looking for Croydon airfield.
That being said, both sides were bombing industrial targets up until 1942, it's just that the method of bombing meant that civilian targets were hit as well. However, like we've both seen, the first to actually deliberately target civilian populace was the Luftwaffe...in Europe anyway. Pretty sure the Japanese were bombing cities, towns, villages, anything that moved in China pretty much from the start.
Was I arguing that?

Just pointing out that it wasn't the French that started the bombing, although they did have one of the first official strategic bombing wings, but the Germans had the first unofficial bombing wing, the 'Ostend Carrier Pigeon Detachment' which was formed within the first month of the war, whereas the French 'Group de Bombardment No. 1' was created in September 1914. The first Entente bombing of a city, was conducted by GB1 in December 1914.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strate...ng_World_War_I