Bombing civilian targets by the Luftwaffe?

[Ruy Horta]

Originally Posted by Jon

Looks like this thread could go on and on for ever and never find out who was first to bomb civilians.

This thread wasn't about "who was first to bomb civilians" to start with, but to find the first Luftwaffe bombing mission with proof that civilians were a primary objective (housing, morale etc), or at least an important secondary factor.

In this case Warsaw could be a good candidate at least based on supporting documents, which show the planning proces behind the operation.

However, since the Germans attained many first in air fighting, including bombing cities, one could easily establish they started the whole thing. But then one could argue that aerial bombing is a modern equivalent of the traditional artillery bombardement - which goes back even further.

Und so weiter...

At which point this thread would become silly.