For those that think being PC is the same as morality - think again - Morality started 1000s of years before the current generations.
It was partly through moral outrage at the behaviour of Hitler in Poland that Britain entered the WW2. Perhaps with hindsight more could have been done in the inter war years. In that sense, Harris was right to state it was the Bomber Pilots forebears that were to blame for allowing a second war to begin.
That generation had seen the development of hyperinflation in Germany after WW1. They knew German reparations (mostly demanded by the French) were falling short. Reports were published about rioting in the Ruhr upon the French army invasion/occupation of 1923-25. The facts regarding the subsequent de-humanising of immigrants and german jews by the nazi party were available to the outside world.
The Bomber Boys programme was well filmed and made relevant to modern viewers. Yes it lacked many things but all films only show you what the lens/director can "see" - rather like a telescope only pics up a few galaxies or closer planets above us. If anything the suffering by both Allied aircrew and german civilians was played down.
Yes, I totally agree the allies had to stop Hitler's war machine. Yes the Allies had to hit back and Bomber command was one tool that was used.
In the 1940s, "total war" as a justification for carpet bombing residential areas or the later unthinkable nuclear option was only possible by de-humanising the enemy (talking of infrastructure, ships, railways) or at least hoping the result would bring a complete end to the madness -as in the case of Hiroshima.
Hitler's bombing of the UK (BB and later V1 and V2s) did little to change the resolve of the British people under threat. The same is also true in Germany where much production went deep under ground.
It is often forgotten that many Germans felt they were on the wrong side long before 1939 and many of those bombed in Hamburg and Dresden were foreign workers (forced labour). Indeed, a high proportion of the Jews killed in Nazi Concentration camps were Germans - many had fought for Germany in WW1. Ohrers struggled from inside Germany to bring down Hitler.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
So there are no easy answers from a moral perspective on the campaign. It is wrong to generalise and say all germans were nazi supporters or all football fans are hooligans. Generalisations and stereotypes serve to mis-inform.
My english architect grandfather built RAF Pillboxes, RN Sea defences/ AA Gun emplacements. On my in-laws side several worked with RAF BC.
My german grandfather refused to use his plastics factory near Dusseldorf for the nazi war machine (he was part of the same Lutheran Church as Bonhoeffer). Unlike Bonhoeffer he was not executed but taken away from his family and business to occupied France. He was captured by the Allies after DDay and spent years malnourished in a French POW camp till the late 1940s.
Both sets of my forebears were bombed by the air force of the other - such is war.
Expressions such as total war or to say soldiers were just carrying out orders doesn't let us off the hook. Some workers under the nazis were under pain of death doing the same.
What we can take away is at least two fold:
1.We can praise the bravery of the bomber crews of the RAF in WW2 for contributing towards freedom we now have, but also our servicemen and women who face daily troubles in Afghanistan.
2. We can learn from history that the de-humanising of of people by politicians/ the media/ even pseudo science (eugenics) is the pre-cursor to our mutual destruction. Destruction not only for those de-humanised individuals but also our own moral fibre.