Dehousing
Encyclopedia
On 30 March 1942 Professor Frederick Lindemann, Baron Cherwell
, the British government's chief scientific adviser, sent to the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
a memorandum which after it had become accepted by the Cabinet
became known as the dehousing paper.Also known as the "dehousing memorandum," the "Lindemann memorandum/paper," and the "Cherwell memorandum/paper" (he was ennobled in 1956)
The paper was delivered during a debate within the British government about the most effective use of the nation's resources in waging war on Germany. Should the Royal Air Force
(RAF) be reduced to allow more resources to go to the British Army
and Royal Navy
or should the strategic bombing
option be followed and expanded? The paper argued that from the analysis of the reaction of the British population to the Blitz
, the demolition of people's houses was the most effective way to affect their morale, (more effective than killing relatives). Given the known limits of the RAF in locating targets in Germany and providing the planned resources were made available to the RAF, destroying about thirty percent of the housing stock of Germany's fifty-eight largest towns was the most effective use of the aircraft of RAF Bomber Command
, because it would break the spirit of the Germans. After a heated debate by the government's military and scientific advisers, the Cabinet chose the strategic bombing campaign over the other options available to them.
was the RAF's first "heavy" in early 1941, followed by the Handley Page Halifax
later in 1941 and the Avro Lancaster
entered service in mid-1942 and the GEE
radio-navigational device into frontline service.
Bombing policy had already moved away from attempts at precision bombing.
The paper was produced by Cherwell using an analysis of recent raids on British cities then being undertaken. The information was given by the researchers in response to questions posed by Cherwell.
It had started with a report initiated by Cherwell and delivered on 18 August 1941 by D M Butt
, a member of the War Cabinet Secretariat.Butt had been private secretary to Cherwell and part of an Admiralty statistical section under Churchill The report based on analysis of aerial photographs concluded that less than one third of sorties flown got within five miles (eight km) of the target. As Butt did not include those aircraft that did not bomb because of equipment failure, enemy action, weather or getting lost, the reality was that about five per cent of bombers setting out bombed within five miles of their target.
Senior RAF commanders argued that the Butt's statistics were faulty and commissioned another report. This report was delivered by the Directorate of Bombing Operations on 22 September 1941. Working from a damage analysis inflicted on British cities it was calculated that with a bomber force of 4,000 aircraft they could destroy the forty-three German towns with a population of more than 100,000. The Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Charles Portal
argued that with such a force RAF Bomber Command
could win the war in six months. Not all were convinced and when Churchill expressed his doubts the Air Staff said that even if it did not knock Germany out of the war it would weaken them sufficiently to allow British armed forces back in to continental Europe. With this compromise between the armed services, Bomber Command was allowed to keep its planned allocation of war materiel
. This did not stop those outside the Chiefs of Staff
questioning the strategic bombing policy.
A particularly damning speech had been delivered in the House of Commons
by the Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge
, Professor A. V. Hill
Hill had worked with Blackett and Tizard before the war who pointed out that "The total [British] casualties in air-raids – in killed – since the beginning of the war are only two-thirds of those we lost as prisoners of war at Singapore.... The loss of production in the worst month of the Blitz was about equal to that due to the Easter holidays.... The Air Ministry have been ... too optimistic.... We know most of the bombs we drop hit nothing of importance. ...". So, the Secretary of State for Air
, Sir Archibald Sinclair and Sir Charles Portal were delighted by the dehousing paper as it offered support to them in their battle to save the strategic bomber offensive, which had been under attack from others in the high command who thought that the resources put into bomber command were damaging the other branches of the armed services with little to show for it. Portal and Sinclair still expressed their reservations that it could be met.
On reading the dehousing paper, Professor Patrick Blackett
, the newly appointed civilian Director of Naval Operational Research,Blackett had, until January, been carrying out Operational Research for RAF Coastal Command in their battle with German U-boats wrote that the paper's estimate of what could be achieved was 600% too high. The principal advocate for the reduction of RAF Bomber Command
in favour of other options was Sir Henry Tizard
. He argued that the only benefit to strategic bombing was that it tied up enemy resources defending Germany and that that those forces could be tied up with a far smaller bombing offensive. He wrote to Cherwell on 15 April querying the facts in the paper and warning that the War Cabinet could reach the wrong decision if they based it on the paper. Tizard had several doubts - that the stated size bomber force could be achieved (only 7,000 bombers not the 10,000 expected), that new navigational aids that would get the aircraft to the targets would not be ready before 1943, and that it was unlikely that more than 25% of the bombs were likely to land on target. As such the strategy would not work with the resources available, and that far bigger effort would be required. In reply to Tizard, Cherwell stated the calculations were for the Prime Minister's benefit not for statistical analysis and that despite a difference between the numbers and what was really achived there would be catastrophic effects.
in his work Bomber Command Max Hastings
characterises the debate between the two sides as not being whether bombing could "raze to the ground" Germany but whether it was the most effective allocation of resources.
Mr. Justice Singleton, a High Court Judge was asked by the Cabinet to look into the competing points of view. In his report, delivered on 20 May 1942 he concluded that:
In the end, thanks in part to the dehousing paper, it was this view which prevailed, but C. P. Snow
(later Lord Snow) wrote that the debate became quite vitriolic with Tizard being called a defeatist. It was while this debate about bombing was raging inside the British military establishment that the area bombing directive
of 14 February 1942 was issued and eight days later that Arthur "Bomber" Harris took up the post of Air Officer Commanding
(AOC) of Bomber Command.
The study of the effects of bombing on Hull and Birmingham was published on 8 April by Professors Bernal and Zuckerman after Cherwell's paper had been presented. Their work, the "Hull and Birmingham Survey" had actually found that although there was anxiety as a result of the raids, there was no mass anti-social behaviour and "no measurable effect on the health of either town".
Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell
Frederick Alexander Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell FRS PC CH was an English physicist who was an influential scientific adviser to the British government, particularly Winston Churchill...
, the British government's chief scientific adviser, sent to the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
a memorandum which after it had become accepted by the Cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
became known as the dehousing paper.Also known as the "dehousing memorandum," the "Lindemann memorandum/paper," and the "Cherwell memorandum/paper" (he was ennobled in 1956)
The paper was delivered during a debate within the British government about the most effective use of the nation's resources in waging war on Germany. Should the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(RAF) be reduced to allow more resources to go to the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
or should the strategic bombing
Strategic bombing during World War II
Strategic bombing during World War II is a term which refers to all aerial bombardment of a strategic nature between 1939 and 1945 involving any nations engaged in World War II...
option be followed and expanded? The paper argued that from the analysis of the reaction of the British population to the Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
, the demolition of people's houses was the most effective way to affect their morale, (more effective than killing relatives). Given the known limits of the RAF in locating targets in Germany and providing the planned resources were made available to the RAF, destroying about thirty percent of the housing stock of Germany's fifty-eight largest towns was the most effective use of the aircraft of RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
, because it would break the spirit of the Germans. After a heated debate by the government's military and scientific advisers, the Cabinet chose the strategic bombing campaign over the other options available to them.
Production and contents of the dehousing paper
The paper came at a time while Bomber Command was in an enforced period of much reduced bombing. The Butt report had shown that bombing results were poor and with the attrition rate it had been suffering in operations the effort expended gave a poor return. Since November 1941 it had been husbanding its resources and awaiting the introduction of large numbers of four-engined "heavy" bombersThe Short StirlingShort Stirling
The Short Stirling was the first four-engined British heavy bomber of the Second World War. The Stirling was designed and built by Short Brothers to an Air Ministry specification from 1936, and entered service in 1941...
was the RAF's first "heavy" in early 1941, followed by the Handley Page Halifax
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
later in 1941 and the Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
entered service in mid-1942 and the GEE
GEE (navigation)
Gee was the code name given to a radio navigation system used by the Royal Air Force during World War II.Different sources record the name as GEE or Gee. The naming supposedly comes from "Grid", so the lower case form is more correct, and is the form used in Drippy's publications. See Drippy 1946....
radio-navigational device into frontline service.
Bombing policy had already moved away from attempts at precision bombing.
The paper was produced by Cherwell using an analysis of recent raids on British cities then being undertaken. The information was given by the researchers in response to questions posed by Cherwell.
Contemporary debate, the Butt and Singleton reports
The dehousing paper had been delivered to Churchill at a time of mounting criticism about the RAF bomber offensive. The criticism was coming from other branches inside the War ministry and was also becoming public.It had started with a report initiated by Cherwell and delivered on 18 August 1941 by D M Butt
David Bensusan-Butt
David Miles Bensusan-Butt was an English economist who spent much of his career in Australia. Known as David, he published his work as D. M...
, a member of the War Cabinet Secretariat.Butt had been private secretary to Cherwell and part of an Admiralty statistical section under Churchill The report based on analysis of aerial photographs concluded that less than one third of sorties flown got within five miles (eight km) of the target. As Butt did not include those aircraft that did not bomb because of equipment failure, enemy action, weather or getting lost, the reality was that about five per cent of bombers setting out bombed within five miles of their target.
Senior RAF commanders argued that the Butt's statistics were faulty and commissioned another report. This report was delivered by the Directorate of Bombing Operations on 22 September 1941. Working from a damage analysis inflicted on British cities it was calculated that with a bomber force of 4,000 aircraft they could destroy the forty-three German towns with a population of more than 100,000. The Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Charles Portal
Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford KG GCB OM DSO & Bar MC was a senior Royal Air Force officer and an advocate of strategic bombing...
argued that with such a force RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
could win the war in six months. Not all were convinced and when Churchill expressed his doubts the Air Staff said that even if it did not knock Germany out of the war it would weaken them sufficiently to allow British armed forces back in to continental Europe. With this compromise between the armed services, Bomber Command was allowed to keep its planned allocation of war materiel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
. This did not stop those outside the Chiefs of Staff
Chiefs of Staff Committee
The Chiefs of Staff Committee is composed of the most senior military personnel in the British Armed Forces.-History:The Chiefs of Staff Committee was initially established as a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence in 1923. It remained as such until the abolition of the CID upon the...
questioning the strategic bombing policy.
A particularly damning speech had been delivered in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
by the Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, Professor A. V. Hill
Archibald Hill
Archibald Vivian Hill CH OBE FRS was an English physiologist, one of the founders of the diverse disciplines of biophysics and operations research...
Hill had worked with Blackett and Tizard before the war who pointed out that "The total [British] casualties in air-raids – in killed – since the beginning of the war are only two-thirds of those we lost as prisoners of war at Singapore.... The loss of production in the worst month of the Blitz was about equal to that due to the Easter holidays.... The Air Ministry have been ... too optimistic.... We know most of the bombs we drop hit nothing of importance. ...". So, the Secretary of State for Air
Secretary of State for Air
The Secretary of State for Air was a cabinet level British position. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. It was created on 10 January 1919 to manage the Royal Air Force...
, Sir Archibald Sinclair and Sir Charles Portal were delighted by the dehousing paper as it offered support to them in their battle to save the strategic bomber offensive, which had been under attack from others in the high command who thought that the resources put into bomber command were damaging the other branches of the armed services with little to show for it. Portal and Sinclair still expressed their reservations that it could be met.
On reading the dehousing paper, Professor Patrick Blackett
Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett
Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Baron Blackett OM CH FRS was an English experimental physicist known for his work on cloud chambers, cosmic rays, and paleomagnetism. He also made a major contribution in World War II advising on military strategy and developing Operational Research...
, the newly appointed civilian Director of Naval Operational Research,Blackett had, until January, been carrying out Operational Research for RAF Coastal Command in their battle with German U-boats wrote that the paper's estimate of what could be achieved was 600% too high. The principal advocate for the reduction of RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
in favour of other options was Sir Henry Tizard
Henry Tizard
Sir Henry Thomas Tizard FRS was an English chemist and inventor and past Rector of Imperial College....
. He argued that the only benefit to strategic bombing was that it tied up enemy resources defending Germany and that that those forces could be tied up with a far smaller bombing offensive. He wrote to Cherwell on 15 April querying the facts in the paper and warning that the War Cabinet could reach the wrong decision if they based it on the paper. Tizard had several doubts - that the stated size bomber force could be achieved (only 7,000 bombers not the 10,000 expected), that new navigational aids that would get the aircraft to the targets would not be ready before 1943, and that it was unlikely that more than 25% of the bombs were likely to land on target. As such the strategy would not work with the resources available, and that far bigger effort would be required. In reply to Tizard, Cherwell stated the calculations were for the Prime Minister's benefit not for statistical analysis and that despite a difference between the numbers and what was really achived there would be catastrophic effects.
in his work Bomber Command Max Hastings
Max Hastings
Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings, FRSL is a British journalist, editor, historian and author. He is the son of Macdonald Hastings, the noted British journalist and war correspondent and Anne Scott-James, sometime editor of Harper's Bazaar.-Life and career:Hastings was educated at Charterhouse...
characterises the debate between the two sides as not being whether bombing could "raze to the ground" Germany but whether it was the most effective allocation of resources.
Mr. Justice Singleton, a High Court Judge was asked by the Cabinet to look into the competing points of view. In his report, delivered on 20 May 1942 he concluded that:
In the end, thanks in part to the dehousing paper, it was this view which prevailed, but C. P. Snow
C. P. Snow
Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow of the City of Leicester CBE was an English physicist and novelist who also served in several important positions with the UK government...
(later Lord Snow) wrote that the debate became quite vitriolic with Tizard being called a defeatist. It was while this debate about bombing was raging inside the British military establishment that the area bombing directive
Area bombing directive
The Area Bombing Directive was a directive from the wartime British Government's Air Ministry to the Royal Air Force which ordered RAF bombers to attack the German industrial workforce and the morale of the German populace through bombing German cities and their civilian inhabitants.- Background...
of 14 February 1942 was issued and eight days later that Arthur "Bomber" Harris took up the post of Air Officer Commanding
Air Officer Commanding
Air Officer Commanding is a title given in the air forces of Commonwealth nations to an air officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, an air vice marshal might be the AOC 38 Group...
(AOC) of Bomber Command.
The study of the effects of bombing on Hull and Birmingham was published on 8 April by Professors Bernal and Zuckerman after Cherwell's paper had been presented. Their work, the "Hull and Birmingham Survey" had actually found that although there was anxiety as a result of the raids, there was no mass anti-social behaviour and "no measurable effect on the health of either town".
Further reading
- Davis, Richard D. Bombing the European Axis Powers: A Historical Digest of the Combined Bomber Offensive 1930-1945 Air University Press Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, April 2006
- Hore, Peter, editor (2003). Patrick Blackett: Sailor, Scientist, and Socialist, Routledge, ISBN 0714653179. Chapter 10 "The case against Area Bombing" by Paul Crook pp 167-186
- CABINET PAPERS: Complete classes from the CAB & PREM series in the Public Record Office Series One: PREM 3 - Papers concerning Defence & Operational Subjects, 1940-1945 Winston Churchill, Minister of Defence, Secretariat Papers