Numerous historians have shown that strategic bombing was counterproductive for three reasons: 1) It rallied civilian morale to side with the government. Peopl

Numerous historians have shown that strategic bombing was counterproductive for three reasons: 1) It rallied civilian morale to side with the government. People were aggrieved that they were being bombed, and it stiffened their resistance and motivated them to work harder towards the war effort. 2) Despite strategic bombing targeting factories and industrial infrastructure, they only caused superficial damage. The damaged factories were quickly brought back online, and the newly motivated workers significantly increased their output. In some books they cited increases of output in bombed German factories of above 100% towards the end of the war. 3) Strategic bombers are extremely costly to produce and operate. Casualties on strategic bombing missions in the beginning were incredibly high, with some air wings suffering ~50% personnel loss during an air campaign. All of this loss resulted in no changed on the battlefield, and negligible or even counter-productive effects on enemy industrial production. In summary, strategic bombing of civilian targets and cities was a colossal waste of time, resources, and manpower. All of those things could have been redirected elsewhere to help end the war earlier. https://malwarwickonbooks.com/strategic-bombing-in-wwii/ https://malwarwickonbooks.com/strategic-bombing-in-wwii/ --- While we're on the topic, one place where strategic bombing was successful is targeting Romanian and German oil refineries. The loss in German oil production directly lead to the war ending earlier, and the hamstringing of German logistics and consequently military operations. https://www.maxwell.af.mil/News/Display/Article/1887774/wwii-allied-oil-plan-devastates-german-pol-production/ https://www.maxwell.af.mil/News/Display/Article/1887774/wwii... As Rommel would say: amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics. This experience makes me think that even though strategic bombing was wasteful in WW2, it still has a place in modern military doctrine. A large strategic bombing fleet can act as a deterrent, and a way to quickly subdue less sophisticated opponents by bombing all their critical infrastructure back into the stone age. It should also be noted however that large scale American strategic bombing during the Vietnam conflict was largely unsuccessful.