'The Dam Busters' is
undoubtedly a great film, except perhaps for the water plume special
effects. I saw in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago that the
proposed re-make of the film is no nearer completion – which is
perhaps no bad thing.
I
have the utmost respect for all those involved in Operation
Chastise, and the 1955 movie, however, 55,573 Bomber Command aircrew
lost their lives during the Second World War – surely it is time
for a film depicting 'main force' RAF Bomber Command operations. A
British answer to the movie 'Memphis Belle' is long overdue (I am
aware that David Puttnam originally intended the tale to be a Royal
Air Force story).
Forgive
the pun, but a new Bomber Command film need not set out to be a
blockbuster – what more potential for drama, tension or emotion
could there be than in the exploits of the likes of Norman Lyford,
Frank Law, Cy Barton, Frank Wadge and countless others - devotion to duty and acts
of selfless courage were nightly occurrences.
Why
hasn't this film been made? Something to do with the elephant in
the room – the ethics of the aerial bombing of cities perhaps?
Those
of you with a copy of 'Does Life Hold Any More in Store' will know
my view of the proposition that bombing was not only wrong, but could be
deemed a war crime. This may be the philosophical view, but in the
context of the progression of the Second World War - in my humble opinion and as Jim Ives would probably have said - drivel!
Having been on
the receiving end of the 'Blitz', having trained-up air-crews,
manufactured aircraft and ordnance and with no other practicable way
of attacking Germany and its war industries the RAF's aerial bombing of cities
was – a 'no brainer'.
The
Second World War became 'Total War', where civilians became engaged
in the 'war effort'. I do not accept that the aim of bombing was to
kill people. I believe that the intention was to destroy industries,
to de-house workers, to divert resources away from battle-fronts, to
disrupt the lives of the German working population – to damage the
enemy in any way possible.
Lord
Cherwell asserted early in 1942 - 'Investigation
seems to show that having one’s
house demolished is most damaging to morale. People seem to mind it
more than having their friends or even relatives killed’.
There
were certain to be civilian deaths - collateral casualties, as were
suffered in Britain.
Germany
had a comprehensive radar-based air-raid warning network,
night-fighters, searchlights, flak batteries, air-raid shelters and
the same opportunity as Britain had exercised to evacuate
vulnerable civilians.
Surely,
seventy years after the events it is possible to accept that the
aerial bombing of cities and towns was an aspect of 'total war' –
it was perpetrated by both sides.
So
– how about this new film then? No doubt that it could be
stimulating on visual, cerebral and emotional levels - not to
celebrate the bombing of cities – but to acknowledge that aerial
bombing was a feature of the Second World War, and to examine the
courage of our bomber crews (and Germany's night-fighter pilots for
that matter).
An
honest depiction of bombing operations would lead to a better
understanding of what RAF Bomber Command crews were tasked to do, as 'Das
Boot' did for German submariners – portray wartime
servicemen fighting the enemy, the enemy's defences, the elements,
luck and fate.
No
need for apologies nor penitence – just acknowledge and accept that
it happened and it should not happen again.
