The crimes of war
Sir: It won't do. Righteous anger at Nazi atrocities (Letters, 6 October) may explain but it cannot excuse the vindictive and vengeful bombing of German cities by the RAF.
I too am proud of our war dead, but a Policy is not placed above question just because men have given their lives for it. Many died heroically for the Reich, but their blood cannot redeem their cause or make it any whit less unholy. The heroism of our bomber crews is indisputable, but the vvork they died doing was unworthy of a nation flying the banner of Christian civilisation. You don't defend civilisation by behaving like Attila the Hun. I find it possible to combine reverence for the war dead with anger at the occasional immorality and stupidity of the policymakers. In fact reverence for the dead, and for the sanctity of human life, demands that We deal justly with those who have held men's lives in their hands. We need to ask Whether our dead were sacrificed in a good cause or a bad cause; whether their lives were husbanded or squandered. The second world war was a just war. If we hold the values for which we once fought we must be just in our reflections upon it. It is no good applying one standard to the enemy and another to ourselves. If the ' bombing of Coventry was a crime, so was the bombing of Wurzburg. We have a great deal to be proud of; does it hurt us so much lO be sorry for our mistakes? Anthony Grist The Rectory Flat, St. Elisabeth's Way, Reddish, Stockport
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