How many Frenchmen did you kill? British bombing policy towards France (1940-1945)

Dodd, L. A. and Knapp, A. (2008) How many Frenchmen did you kill? British bombing policy towards France (1940-1945). French History, 22 (4). pp. 469-492. ISSN 1477-4542 doi: 10.1093/fh/crn042

Abstract/Summary

The Allied bombing of France between 1940 and 1945 has received comparatively little attention from historians, although the civilian death toll, at about 60,000, was comparable to that of German raids on the UK. This article considers how Allied, and particularly British, bombing policy towards France was developed, what its objectives were and how French concerns about attacks on their territory were (or were not) addressed. It argues that while British policymakers were sensitive to the delicate political implications of attacking France, perceived military necessities tended to trump political misgivings; that Vichy, before November 1942, was a stronger constraint on Allied bombing than the Free French at any time and that the bombing programme largely escaped political control from May 1944.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/27959
Identification Number/DOI	10.1093/fh/crn042
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > Modern European Histories and Cultures Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > Languages and Cultures > French
Publisher	Oxford Journals
Publisher Statement	This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in French History following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version [Lindsey Dodd and Andrew Knapp, '"How Many Frenchmen did you Kill?" British Bombing Policy Towards France (1940-1945)', French History, 22(4), 2008, pp. 469-492] is available online at http://fh.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/4/469.abstract .
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