RAF Bombing Offensive Against Germany From: The Battle of Britain Below is a 6-part video covering the British RAF's contribution to the bombing offensive against Germany during WW2: Part 1: The RAF launches daylight bombing raids against German military and industrial targets, but soon switches to night raids when daytime aircraft losses become too great -- (18.8 MB wmv file) Part 2: Pinpoint bombing of selected targets proves to be difficult at night, so the RAF switches tactics and begins area bombing of population centers, just as the Germans did to the British during the Battle of Britain. It was hoped that such bombing would demoralize the population and/or indirectly disrupt industrial production by rendering workers homeless -- (20.2 MB wmv file) Part 3: Several smaller cities are bombed first, to gain experience and build confidence using the new tactics, and then a massive 1000-plane raid is launched against Cologne, Germany -- (20.4 MB wmv file) Part 4: The Germans continually improve their defenses as the British, likewise, improve their bomber and fighter tactics. The dropping of 'chaff' (also called 'window': metal foil strips) to confuse radar is used effectively in a massive raid on Hamburg -- (17.4 MB wmv file) Part 5: RAF bomber command takes part in the D-day invasion and then resumes the bombing of German cities; Berlin is bombed and then a massive raid destroys Dresden -- (20.9 MB wmv file) Part 6:: The pros and cons of the British bombing campaign against German cities are debated as the campaign ends -- (6.8 MB wmv file)
