All of the points that I would like to make in respect of the "war crimes" committed by Bomber Command have already been made by Chugalug and others, and far more eloquently than I could hope to. Also, my grasp of the finer points of history is insufficient to allow me to do much more than state my opinion, which is that the men and women of Bomber Command were heroes; at the very least, they stopped the war from being lost whilst others trained and fought to put the Allies in a position from which it could be won.
On Monday, I paid my first visit to the Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park. I stood there, in awe of the 55,573 who gave their lives, and the many, many others who were lucky enough to survive. I thought of two people in particular; my mother, who served as a WAAF bomb trolley driver on a Mosquito unit. I don't know whether that qualified her as a fully paid up member of Bomber Command, but she certainly played her part.
I thought, also, of a man with whom I had the very great honour to have a conversation quite recently. He flew as an Observer in a Pathfinder Mosquito squadron. Aged 19 when he first gained his brevet, he took part in raid upon raid, including Dresden. He finished his RAF career as a Group Captain. When we had finished talking, I felt awed...the very thought of this man and his colleagues being described as a war criminal makes me fume.
Alternative opinions are, of course, allowed to be held and expressed; that was what was being fought for, after all. Doesn't stop them being PC drivel, though.