Lex Anteinternet: Saturday, February 14, 1942. The Area Bombing Directive

Monday, February 14, 2022

Saturday, February 14, 1942. The Area Bombing Directive

On this day in 1942 the British Air Ministry issued the Area Bombing Directive instructing the RAF to target the German industrial workforce through the bombing of German cities. The thought was that this would impact German production and morale.

RAF Lancaster over Hanover.

Controversial ever since, irrespective of what a person views of the overall aspect of right and wrong in the combatants, targeting civilians in this fashion is hard not to view as immoral and a war crime. The US would resort to the same tactic against Japan later in the war.

Whatever the order's impact on production came to be, it did not cause a collapse in German morale.

The Japanese landed on Sumatra.

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Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

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