I've read the Archbishops speech and I can’t see where he apologised. However, I can see where he infers what happened in our name was wrong but the thread as gone off on another tangent, usually thats my my fault, anyway I got to thinking.
Anybody remember, those dreadful essays, set by the CO, that had to be delivered to the Adjutant each year? As if, we weren’t busy enough! I recall one of the subjects I had a stab at was 'Strategic Bombing and its vindication' or something similar. I picked that subject because my Grandmother was killed in the bombing of Penryn in 1941 and she wasn’t a budding warrior, just a lady, asleep in her bed!
I read a book, like we were encouraged to do; by somebody who had something to do with the Air Ministry during the war. The whole book was about justification and for me, it was extremely valuable in trying to understand the extremes of air warfare. It clearly stated, that the bombing of cities and civilians was started by the Germans when they invaded Poland (Warsaw), they did the same in Norway, Holland and Belgium albeit; by some twisted logic, they only did it; to support their ground troops! Somehow, but not using that same logic, the Germans interpret British bombers were designed to bomb innocent cities and civilians! Somehow, the German High Command viewed their bombers as tools to bomb a path for its invading army and the fact that they were actually killing civilians just didn’t come into it!
By the time the British returned the favour, that same high command who opposed this tactic, completely refused to retaliate for a couple of months whilst German cities, part of the infrastructure was bombed, hoping, as Hitler said 'Churchill would stop this nonsense.’ Those who were opposed to this here were and quite rightly in my opinion, described as pacifists and socialists. Germany justifies the ‘Blitz' as retaliation. Whether, Hitler wanted it or not, he certainly didn’t want the mutual bombing to go on, why should he - it was working. I think he even tried to have it banned by international agreement.
All wars are pretty terrible for most people, not least the protagonists that step up to the mark and participate but the inter-European ones always seem to be about the domination of Europe and domination today is rightly condemned by most rational thinking people. I think its quite instructive to know that most of the propaganda spread, especially then and today about World War 2 is quite false - because if we understand that - it will provide a clue to the understanding the spin masters of Governments today are essentially the same as those of 1940.
ah well.