Arthur Harris

Arthur Travers Harris was a British air marshal who led RAF Bomber Command from 1942 to 1945. He directed the expansion of the Allied strategic bombing campaign against Germany, including area bombing of cities.

RAF Bomber Command: The Royal Air Force command responsible for strategic bombing operations during the Second World War. Harris led this command through the main years of its campaign against Germany.
Royal Air Force: The United Kingdom’s aerial warfare service, founded in 1918. Harris built his military career in the service whose bomber force he later commanded.
Winston Churchill: British prime minister from 1940 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1955. Churchill supported strategic bombing but later questioned its costs and results.
Bombing of Hamburg in World War II: The Allied air raids on Hamburg in July and August 1943, including the firestorm caused by Operation Gomorrah. The destruction demonstrated the scale and consequences of the bombing strategy Harris pursued.
Strategic bombing during World War II: The sustained use of air power to attack an enemy’s war-making capacity during the Second World War. It was the broader campaign Harris sought to make decisive.
First World War: A global war fought from 1914 to 1918, ending with the defeat of the Central Powers. Harris served as a pilot, gaining early experience in military aviation.
Charles Portal: British air chief marshal who served as Chief of the Air Staff during most of the Second World War. Portal was Harris’s superior and a central authority over bombing policy.
Bombing of Cologne in World War II: The Allied air raid on Cologne on 30 May 1942, the first thousand-bomber raid of the war. It marked an early milestone in the large-scale raids Harris expanded.
Area bombing directive: A 1942 British directive that prioritized attacks on German industrial areas and urban populations. It gave Bomber Command’s campaign a policy basis under Harris’s leadership.
Interwar period: The period between the First and Second World Wars, from 1918 to 1939. Harris held RAF posts and developed his views on air power during these years.

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