Bomber Harris interview on the Beeb

[Jon.M]

Just heard on the radio that a 1977 interview with Bomber Harris is being broadcast for the first time on 'Inside Out', BBC1 19.30 Monday 11 Feb.

The original interview was 1 1/2 hours so it must be highly edited.

I won't be able to watch here.

Jon

[speedbird591]

I've just seen a preview on BBC Breakfast. It's only going to be shown on BBC West Midlands but will be available later for the rest of us on iPlayer.

Ian

[dodger]

Hello Jon,

Thanks for that, i will watch it tomorrow, i did see it back then but it will be interesting to see it now.

Cheers,

Roger.

[Jon.M]

I've just seen a preview on BBC Breakfast. It's only going to be shown on BBC West Midlands but will be available later for the rest of us on iPlayer.

Ian

I heard it on Radio 5 live this morning. I must have missed that it was only West Midlands.

Incidentally in your iPad eulogies have you noted that it makes a good Internet radio? Years ago I used to listed to the World Service on short wave but that service was always a bit difficult and now has pretty much ended in Europe. Now with the iPad I can listen to all the BBC domestic stations plus who knows how many others from all over the world.

I'm using the 'tunein' app.

Jon

[airboatr]

Hi Jon,

Thanks for posting the link. I went up on you tube and found a number of videos about Sir Harris.
Very interesting.

I also use the Tune in app on my Android. I listen to stations from all around the world. And it has the podcast section.

Cheers Jon

Joe

[Jon.M]

Hi Joe,

I'm also a podcast fan. I do download some to the iPad for when I'm not connected but more usually I put podcasts on a USB key and plug that into the car radio, so that I'm not stuck with "Radio Italia Anni 60" or "Radio Maria" (religion, but not like the bible belt stuff ). I've got another USB key with my choice of music on. Creedence Clearwater Revival are being revived most frequently at the moment. Even I can remember the words to Suzie Q.

Do you have a local Florida station worth listening to?

As for Bomber Harris as I'm sure you've found out by now (if you didn't already know) he's a controversial character. Some see him as a man who did a difficult job well and was responsible for shortening the war and saving many lives by destroying German industry and severely damaging their moral. He thought he could win the war by bombing, in that he was wrong. He received scant thanks in his lifetime and was treated shabbily once the war was over by those who supported him during it. By Churchill for one.
Others see Harris as a mass murderer and war criminal who delighted in destroying whole cities even when the war was effectively over. Dresden is the usual example. Recently this viewpoint has led to Queen Elizabeth apologising to the people of Dresden.

Jon

[speedbird591]

Hi Jon. Thanks for the reminder about TuneIn Radio. I do have the App but had forgotten about it as I have very little spare time for listening to the radio. I'd like to but my quiet times are spent reading literary fiction. I love my books and have a good library on my iPad Kindle App. But thanks to your reminder I have just spent an hour listening to some US radio stations and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The thing I don't get about criticism of Harris, is how anybody could think that he could make decisions or policy on his own It was Churchill and the War Cabinet who decided what was to be done and Harris's job to get it done. If Harris had disobeyed an order or underperformed Churchill would have replaced him like he did with several generals. In the early years, bombing was the only way we had of taking the war to the enemy and attacking their munitions industry and it was nobody's fault that we didn't have the technology to do so accurately. Carpet bombing was the only effective option available in an attempt to destroy the factories, the workers and their homes. Do you wage total war or pull your punches and risk defeat? Hitler was waging total war.

Ian

[TSR2]

I think its very easy to look back at things that none (or very few) of us actually lived through with any sort of understanding of what was happening at the time. Books / films / records give a snapshot of the detail without the experience. When you consider the number of allied losses in something like GW2, we lost that many servicemen every 10 minutes in WW2. None of us from what we call "civilised society" could comprehend anything like the number of lives lost, regardless of sides. I'm no pacifist, war brings death to someone, nature of the beast. Was carpet bombing the likes of Dresden the right thing to do, I don't know. Would it happen now, probably not. Its just about acceptance, bad things happen in war. Its interesting from a point of Historical comment, and I'm fascinated by the war (WW2) but as for apologising for individual acts of war so long after the events when nobody can really remember what lead up to them happening is pointless.

[Jon.M]

I agree with you Ian about Harris. The raid on Dresden was ordered at the highest level, at least in part in response to criticism of the allies by the Soviet Union. Churchill tried to distance himself from any responsibility for the raid almost immediately by writing a memo asking if such raids were still necessary.

Harris's 'mistake' seems to have been that he openly stuck to the opinion that continued bombing on a large scale was justified instead of changing his opinion when it became politically expedient as questioning of the bombing campaign increased. He thereby effectively offered himself as a scapegoat for a policy that was agreed at the highest level.

Jon

[airboatr]

Hi Joe,
Do you have a local Florida station worth listening to?

Jon

there are a limited selection of genre that play the same loops everyday. ...repeating it several times a day.
and then there is the ever increasingly popular organ grinding musiCa with a - rap beat..

dreadful abomination .. about sums up the choice,

That's why I, much like yourself, have the app.. I reckon

As to Henry and his doings, I say to heck with the naysayer's. The world was facing a force that would have flattened every thing in it's way. Not just Britain France Russia and other countries, including a specific people.

There is only one way to stop a madman .
You take all your forces, make the biggest hammer you can muster - and knock their block off..


and let it be a shining example to any other would be madman what's in store for him.

anyways... If he hadn't done what he did, - all the naysayer's - would be going about saying it. goose stepn'!

... or would they..


satirically speaking
Things like, taking over the world are done in civilized ways, Jon.
By people in suits with pens... and "i" thingys.