THE ETHICS OF BOMBING
SIR,—In support of Mr. W. W. Paine's contention in his letter in your last issue, may I point out that it is an accepted principle that, in international law such unfortunate destruction of civilian life and property as that in question does not render the bombardment of military objectives in a port or town unlawful? Article 2 of Hague Convention No. IX of 1907, on Bombardment by Naval Forces, provides expressly that the commander of the attacking force incurs no responsibility for unavoidable damage caused by a bombardment aimed at the military objectives referred to in the Article. It was such objectives alone that were aimed at by our aircraft at Lubeck and Rostock, and we have the right to rejoice that they were hit and no reason to blame ourselves because the effect of the bombardment was (inevitably) not confined to them.—Yours
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