IN THE BAD OLD DAYS, soldiers used to line up and face the enemy, expecting to be attacked man to man, on foot, or with horses, and later, to mow each other down with machine guns. The soldiers were maimed, bled and died by their thousands on behalf of civilians.
World War 2 changed that as it was the first major war where more civilians died than soldiers. This continues today - at risk of stirring up a hornets' nest - I reckon that the Israel-Hamas war is primarily a massive public relations stunt by Hamas to make their citizens unwilling martyrs and make Israel a pariah. At time of writing (8 April 2024), wiki says that over 34,000 civilians (33,091 Palestinian and 1,410 Israelis) have been killed. In stark contrast, Hamas claims to have lost 6,000 'fighters' while the IDF claims up to 12,000 Hamas combatants killed. The point is, civilian casualties are three to six times higher than soldiers.
The reason I venture into this minefield is that I recently watched the Oppenheimer movie, and am sporadically watching the Netflix series, Masters of the Air, which is a semi-serious attempt to dramatize USAAF B-17 bomber crews who, contrary to claims, indulged in area, and not precision, bombing. Only the leader aimed his bombs, the others released theirs when they saw the leader's bombs drop.
The Oppenheimer movie is about Dr Robert Oppenheimer, who headed the Manhattan project, whose two atomic bombs killed 129,000 -200,000 civilians - and 'just' 10,000 soldiers. The atomic bombs had the desired effect because the cost in human life was just too much, even for the Japanese Emperor.
Which raises the question of whether bombing with conventional high explosive bombs was ever really a useful strategy in the WW2. Hundreds of thousands of civilians died on the ground in horrors such as the RAF's Dreden firestorm and the USAAF's Operation Meetinghouse Tokyo raid.
Morale Bombing
Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av SA Flyer Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av SA Flyer Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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EXERCISE VUK'UHLOME 2024
The South African Army's Exercise Vuk'uhlome 2024 Distinguished Visitors (DV) Day took place on 21 November at its Lohatlha Combat Training Centre. Although an Army exercise, the event combines SAAF squadrons for ground support.
LANSERIA AIRPORT implements E-Gates
As air travel continues to grow, pressure mounts on the check-in process, resulting in frustration and often leading to missed flights.
LIVING THE DREAM - Part 1: Life in the Trailer Park
A harsh, piercing sound jolts me out of a restful, deep sleep. My alarm clock. Where am I? The ceiling is not familiar, the bed is hard, and the room smells. Well, I know I'm not home. My mind is racing to identify my location on this planet. Oh yes, I'm at work. Houma, Louisiana.
OKAVANGO ECHOES
One Okavango evening, at the luxury Khwai River lodge, a young well-bred English pilot of good character and eloquent public-school accent and I had too much to drink.
RODGER FOSTER STEPS OUT THE COCKPIT
At the end of November 2024 Airlink announced a change of leadership following the decision by current CEO and Managing Director, Rodger Foster, to step down at the end of March 2025. Rodger Foster founded the airline almost 33 years ago.
MARK TIERNEY'S CAFE PROPOSAL
One of the many challenges faced by African airlines is access to cost effective finance.
ENGINE FIRE!
Iris McCallum's continues her stories about her early years with Air Kenya, and we get to revisit one of her more dramatic moments.
GOING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
I'm sure you are familiar with the 'Leave Bug'. It's a little worm which lives in calendars. It hatches in cycles of two. Just before you are due to go on leave it grabs the last five days of duty and makes each one last for 48 hours.
AVIATION'S GOT THE CAREERS - BUT ARE YOU READY?
Now that Covid is receding into being a bad dream and the aviation industry is bouncing back strongly, the aviation press, blogs and websites are abuzz with predictions that we're facing a massive skills shortage. The only way to address this is by dramatically ramping up training to ensure an ongoing flow of new professionals into the industry
FLYING AROUND THE KZN AIRFIELDS
In less time than it takes to drive from one side of Johannesburg to the other, you can fly to beautiful KZN to experience amazing scenery and some fantastic airfields and hospitality.
