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- Title
On the Crest of Fear: V-Weapons, the Battle of the Bulge, and the Last Stages of World War II in Europe.
- Authors
Biddle, Tami Davis
- Abstract
This essay looks closely at psychology and escalation dynamics within war. It argues that the appearance of the V-1 flying bomb, V-2 rocket, and other German "secret weapons" in the summer of 1944, combined with Hitler's unanticipated counteroffensive in December, had a significant escalatory effect on World War II's last months in Europe. Such weapons coincided with jarring Anglo-American battlefront setbacks and acute manpower shortages. To hasten Germany's defeat before more "secret weapons" appeared, Anglo-American leaders redoubled their destructive strategic bombing campaign, focusing on eastern German cities to insure the westward progress of Russian armies. The violence unleashed still weighs heavily on the Western conscience and remains a source of debate.
- Subjects
GERMANY; WORLD War II campaigns in Europe; BATTLE of the Ardennes, 1944-1945; V-1 bomb; V-2 rocket; STRATEGIC bombing; BOMBING of Dresden, 1945; AERIAL bombing; WAR &; ethics
- Publication
Journal of Military History, 2019, Vol 83, Issue 1, p157
- ISSN
0899-3718
- Publication type
Article