[Icare9]

Dear SS: Firstly the Military Channel is NOT British. Second, whether or not there were legitimate targets, the city was subjected to a devastating bombing attack that left thousands of civilians dead, whose only "crime" was the misfortune to live in that town.

You obviously overlook the fact that this was not the only event where Nazi airpower was used to devastate unprotected cities. Have you not heard about the bombing of Warsaw and Rotterdam?

The Nazis had sown the wind and they did reap the whirlwind.

Bomber Command did not take on undefended targets, the scale of their losses is proof of that. What they did do was, almost alone for nearly 3 years, tie up an ever increasing proportion of men and equipment to defend Germany that would possibly have tipped the balance in favour of Germany winning the war.

The sacrifice they made, against equally dedicated adversaries, paved the way to the Allies winning the War. Perhaps that's what really grates?