MORGAN O'SULLIVAN,
Madam, - David Adam's reply (January 3rd) to Kevin Myers's Irishman's Diary of December 11th contains some inaccuracies. The letter portrays Sir Arthur Harris as a decent man forced by Churchill to bomb civilians.
The opposite is true. Harris's pathological hatred of Germany was quite clear to anyone who knows anything of his policies. He readily embraced the idea of area bombing, which called for the "carpet-bombing" of residential areas of industrial cities in Germany.
He is quoted as saying he would "wreck Berlin from end to end" and "produce a state of devastation. . .in which surrender is inevitable". The bombing of Dresden may be interpreted as a simple act of revenge by Churchill, but when claiming Churchill to be a war criminal one cannot claim Harris to be an innocent man.
If Churchill is guilty, then Harris is too. If Harris is innocent, Churchill is also. - Yours, etc.,
MORGAN O'SULLIVAN,
Cork. ...
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Madam, - Those who would abolish historical myths should really get their fact right first.
Robert Jenning's description of the post-Stalingrad war on the eastern front as a "mopping-up operation" (January 2nd) is a long distance from the historical reality. Stalingrad was certainly a turning point, not least a psychological turning point, for the Russians and it resulted in the destruction of the German 6th army. However to describe the Germans as "finished" after this battle is ludicrous. Stalingrad was not the decisive battle on the eastern front. That took place at Kursk in July 1943.
After Kursk, it is probable, though by no means certain, that, unaided, the Russians could have defeated Nazi Germany in the long run (assuming the Germans did not develop a nuclear weapon first). But the threat and eventual reality of a second front in Europe greatly helped to divide German strength and vastly complicated the logistical problems that Germany faced.
As for the Pacific campaign, more people died in the battle for Okinawa than died in both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. I suggest that Mr Jennings reads one of the accounts of the battle for Okinawa, or indeed the Burma campaign, before arriving at any more trite conclusions. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK E. BANNISTER,
Stillorgan Wood,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.