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Suggest pagesArea bombardment
In military aviation, area bombardment (or area bombing) is aerial bombardment targeted indiscriminately at a large area, such as a city block or an entire city.[1]
Area bombing is a form of strategic bombing.[1] It could serve two distinct purposes: terrorizing civilians (see terror bombing), and diverting enemy's industrial and military resources from the primary battlefield to air defense.[1]
The term "area bombing" came into prominence during World War II,[1] most notably in Britain's Area Bombing Directive, and it quickly became de facto synonym of aerial bombing of cities.[1] The public has commonly adopted the term "carpet bombing"[2] (also "saturation bombing" and "obliteration bombing") for heavy area bombings. At the time area bombing was contrasted with precision bombing. The latter was directed at a selected target – not necessarily a small, and not necessarily a tactical target, as it could be an airfield or a factory - and it did not intended to inflict a widespread damage (at least by appearance).
[edit] See also
- Aerial bombardment and international law
- Aerial bombing of cities
- Carpet bombing
- Civilian casualties of strategic bombing
- Firestorm
- High-level bombing
- Precision-guided munition
- Strategic bombing
- Tactical bombing
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f Primoratz, edited by Igor (2010). Terror from the sky : the bombing of German cities in World War II (1. publ. ed.). New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 7,21–22,45–53. ISBN 1845456874. http://books.google.com/books?id=m_rUckiR62kC&lpg=PA53&dq=Obliteration%20bombing&pg=PA53#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ An early example of this use of "carpet bombing" is from 1942: Seemann, Berthold, ed (1942). "The Journal of botany, British and foreign". The Journal of botany, British and foreign (R. Hardwicke) 80: 80. http://books.google.com/?id=M_xCAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Carpet+bombing%22&dq=%22Carpet+bombing%22.
