Professor Frederick Lindemann
[Scientific advisor to Winston Curchill.
He was made Lord Cherwell in 1941 and Viscount Cherwell in
1956. He advocated the wartime carpet bombing of
German cities, and was a strong doubter of the existence of the Nazi "V" weapons
program. Lindemann enthusiastically supported
the infamous Morgenthau Plan, which Churchill
subsequently endorsed.]
Quotes
Winston Churchill and the War Department set up a situation
where London would be blitzed, without telling the people that Britain had
started the process several months earlier. This had the effect of getting
Britons into a mood for total war, without the traditional restraints of
civilised ‘laws’ or conventions, restraints which had hitherto established that
civilians would not as such be targeted
......In March 1942 Churchill’s War Cabinet adopted
the ‘Lindemann plan’, whereby civilian targeting became official. Working-class
homes were preferred to upper-class because they were closer together, and so a
greater flesh-incineration-per-bomb could be achieved. The Jewish German émigré
Professor Frederick Lindemann, Churchill's friend and scientific advisor had by
then become Lord Cherwell. He submitted a plan to the War Cabinet on March 30th
urging that German working-class houses be targeted in preference to military
objectives, the latter being harder to hit. Middle-class homes had too much
space around them, he explained. He was not prosecuted for a ghastly new
war-crime, hitherto undreamt-of. Thereby all cities and town over 50,000
inhabitants could be destroyed, or at least brought to ruin. The War Cabinet
realised that no inkling of this must reach the public.
How Britain Pioneered
City Bombing
As the air war against National Socialist Europe developed the civilian
populations of Germany, Austria, Hungary and other European cities and towns,
were increasingly targeted as a means of causing maximum bloodshed and
instilling outright terror. This began on 11 March 1942 with the adoption of the
Lindemann Plan by the British War Cabinet.
....This genocidal policy
continued with undiminished ferocity until the end of the war in May 1945. "The
bombing during this period was not as the Germans complained indiscriminate. On
the contrary it was concentrated on working class houses because, as Churchill’s
Jewish key advisor, Professor Frederick Lindemann maintained, a higher
percentage of bloodshed per ton of explosives dropped could be expected from
bombing houses built close together, rather than by bombing higher class houses
surrounded by gardens."
"I am in full agreement (of terror
bombing)." added Sir Archibald Sinclair, Secretary for Air (RAF). "I am all for
the bombing of working class areas in German cities. I am a Cromwellian - I
believe in 'slaying in the name of the Lord."
[2001] TERROR BOMBING: THE CRIME OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
by Michael Walsh
This genocidal policy continued with undiminished ferocity until the end of the war in May 1945. "The bombing during this period was not as the Germans complained indiscriminate. On the contrary it was concentrated on working class houses because, as Churchill’s Jewish key advisor, Professor Frederick Lindemann maintained, a higher percentage of bloodshed per ton of explosives dropped could be expected from bombing houses built close together, rather than by bombing higher class houses surrounded by gardens." [2001] TERROR BOMBING: THE CRIME OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Michael Walsh
"On 13th February 1945 I was a navigator on one of
the Lancaster bombers which devastated Dresden. I well remember the briefing by
our Group Captain. We were told that the Red Army was
thrusting towards Dresden and that the town would be crowded with refugees and
that the center of the town would be full of women and children. Our aiming
point would be the market place.
I recall that we were somewhat
uneasy, but we did as we were told. We accordingly bombed the target and on our
way back our wireless operator picked up a German broadcast accusing the RAF of
terror tactics, and that 65,000 civilians had died. We dismissed this as German
propaganda.
The penny didn't drop until a few weeks later when my squadron received a visit
from the Crown Film Unit who were making the wartime propaganda films. There was
a mock briefing, with one notable difference. The same Group Captain now said,
'as the market place would be filled with women and children on no account would
we bomb the center of the town. Instead, our aiming point would be a vital
railway junction to the east.
I can categorically confirm that the Dresden raid was a black mark on Britain's
war record. The aircrews on my squadron were convinced that this wicked act was
not instigated by our much-respected guvnor 'Butch' Harris but by Churchill. I
have waited 29 years to say this, and it still worries me."
[2001] TERROR BOMBING: THE CRIME OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
by Michael Walsh
The remains of German town of Wesel after intensive allied area bombing in 1945
(destruction rate 98% of all buildings)