After opinion polls, the rest of the evidence for public opinion on reprisals is more impressionistic. I’ve already noted the conclusions of those who have plumbed the Mass-Observation archives (and Tom Harrisson didn’t just plumb the archives, he ran Mass-Observation during the war), and as I haven’t done that myself I’ll let them stand. But
Let’s tackle the question of public opinion head on. Did the British people want reprisal bombing to be carried out against the German people? How can we tell? Can we even tell? If we wanted to gauge public opinion on a particular question today, we’d carry out an opinion poll. As luck would have it,
Shortly after the Blitz began in earnest, Conservative MP Victor Cazalet wrote to the editor of The Times to urge that the RAF carry out reprisals against German cities for the ‘indiscriminate bombing’ of London.1 ‘The attack on the civil population is a military weapon’, he argued. ‘Can we possibly afford to give Germany a
Martin van Creveld. The Age of Airpower. New York: PublicAffairs, 2011. A history of airpower for the 21st century — there’s about twice as much space devoted to small wars and counterinsurgency as there is to the Second World War. Presentism or rebalancing? Barrett Tillman. Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945. New York: Simon
