Eighty years ago this week the morality and heritage politics of bombing come to the fore

 

Speaking in the House of Lords Dr George Bell, the Bishop of Chichester, attacked the RAF's strategy. He accepted that civilians would inevitably be killed in attacks on military objectives but that it was not legitimate to obliterate towns as an objective in itself. He also bemoaned the destruction of ancient buildings. Bell was broadly left-wing but his views were supported by Cosmo Lang, the deeply conservative former Archbishop of Canterbury, who deplored the popular exultation inspired by bombing Germany. For the government Lord Cranborne claimed that there was a difference between the supposedly pure terror raids practised by the Germans and the British raids. He appeared unaware of AM Harris's belief that German morale could be broken by air attack.

The mediaeval Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino was bombed to rubble by the allies as ground forces struggled to take the hill on which it stood with a commanding position over the surrounding country. There were no Germans in the  abbey but 200 or so Italian civilians sheltering there were killed. German troops moved into the ruins which made an admirable defensive position.

As she approached her eighteenth birthday the idea had been floated that Princess Elizabeth should become Princess of Wales in her own right. Churchill indicated support for the suggestion which supposedly originated amongst Welsh politicians. Her father, King George VI, vetoed this but new legislation did permit her to become a counsellor of state.