WWII: The Real Issue



June 23, 1994

Editor
The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario

Dear Sir:
H. C. Chadderton (Letters, June 18, 1994) in responding to the publication of the "Crucible of War" astonishingly defends the bombing of German civilians on the grounds that they "made the weapons of death for German war machine".

Surely, this is carrying the pro-bombing argument to extremes. To accept that civilians should be killed indiscriminately because a few among them were employed in the war effort is totally indefensible both militarily and morally.

Dresden, the target of the most murderous Allied bombing attack, posed no threat to the Allied campaign and was known to be packed with refugees fleeing from the East. Its destruction and the accompanying massive slaughter of women and children served no military purpose.

In any case, debate on the subject is worse than futile since it distracts the reader from the far more basic and important issue of why we were attacking Germany in the first place. The official explanation is that Britain and France declared war on Germany to defend the independence of Poland and to "save civilization".

Oddly, however, the Allies did not declare war on the Soviet Union, although it took part simultaneously on the attack on Poland. Subsequently, long before the war's end, the Allies ceded all of Poland to Stalin, showing clearly that the guaranty of independence was a hypocritical sham, as were all the other official pretexts.


Sincerely,

Ian Macdonald