AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Bombing of Germany Preview

Watch THE BOMBING OF GERMANY Monday, February 8 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings). Between 1941 and 1945, Allied forces would drop more than a million tons of bombs on Germany. Britains Royal Air Force raided Germanys cities at night, having little control over where the attacks would strike. Then, during the day, Americans used precision targeting to drop explosives on strategic military targets. In this joint offensive, the British aimed to destroy the Germans will to fight, while the Americans attempted to diminish Germanys ability to fight. But over time, the strategies began to converge, and the Americans contributed to the destruction of cities and life. Some 500,000 German civilians were killed, and another 800,000 injured.