[Kutscha]

You should look at the Davis link Juha.

from page 16

"On 4 October 1940 Sir Charles Portal became chief of the air
staff, a post he would hold until the end of the war; Sir Richard
Peirse became AOC, Bomber Command. On 30 October Portal
made his previous views official policy—lowering German
morale would no longer be the by-product of strategic air attack
but the end product. The air staff ordered Bomber Command
to concentrate on oil and morale—oil when visibility allowed,
morale when it did not. The command would devote
limited efforts to U-boats, communications, and airfields. The
initial draft of instructions suggested 20 to 30 cities."

So, long before Harris took command of BC, area bombing was policy.