Originally Posted by
Traffic_Is_Er_Was
It being essentially one (and one other in the case of the Tirpitz) squadron out of the whole of Bomber Command in these instances.
Glad you added the one other there TIEW or there might have been trouble at t'mill.
But I agree with your point entirely, Bomber Command wasn't about pinpoint targeting, it was about taking the war to Festung Deutschland, and in doing so it bottled up a great deal of the Luftwaffe both on the ground and in the air, as well as creating chaos in the Reich. By doing that night after night (and day after day by the USAAF) it kept them bottled up which was an enormous strategic effect in its own right. It was a war of attrition which bled BC dry and in no way secured Air Superiority for us (that was done later, and by day, and by the little friends) but it meant air superiority elsewhere and hence paved the way to ultimate victory. As to a waste of lives, war is always a waste of lives but if it leads to an early victory it saves many others. BC is an easy target to snipe at, rather like the trench warfare of WWI, but both were the art of the possible and both led in the end to victory.