Skip to main content

Copy of a letter from WSC to W A J Lawrence [assistant to Sir Arthur Harris], about extracts that Harris had sent for WSC's approval [from 'Bomber Offensive' by Harris] and war-time bombing of munition-making cities in Germany and of Dresden (Germany), 3 Aug 1946

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0014/CHAQ/2/2/28/10-11

Scope and Contents

Stating that he had no objection to the extracts being published but that [Harris] should be careful not to admit "that we ever did anything not justified by the circumstances and the actions of the enemy in the measures we took to bomb Germany". WSC states "I am not quite clear about Dresden. It may be that we were asked to do this as part of some large military combination, but I am afraid that the civilian losses there were unduly heavy."

Dates

  • Creation: 3 Aug 1946

Conditions Governing Access

From the Fonds:

The Churchill Papers are made available to researchers using Churchill Archives Centre and worldwide in digital format. The digital edition of the Churchill Papers is published by Bloomsbury Academic and is available online to subscribing institutions at churchillarchive.com. The Churchill archive is freely available in our reading rooms and onsite at Churchill College (via the Churchill College wireless network). Researchers can download images of documents directly from churchillarchive.com and so are encouraged to consider bringing a laptop or other device for this purpose. For conservation reasons, the fragile originals are no longer issued to researchers.

This digital edition is open to researchers unless otherwise marked in the catalogue. Some material has been closed by the Cabinet Office or by Churchill Archives Centre in accordance with data protection legislation.

Extent

1 item(s)

External Documents

Custodial History

On cataloguing this item was attached to a piece of paper annotated "2/150" [CHUR 2/150].

Related Materials

Related to the Churchill Papers [from CHUR 2/150]. Particularly related to CHUR 2/150/88-103, further correspondence relating to extracts from ['Bomber Offensive' by Harris].

Bibliography

An extract of this letter is published in 'Winston S. Churchill' volume VIII 'Never Despair' by Martin Gilbert, p.259 and the full letter is published in 'The Churchill Documents' volume 22 'Leader of the Opposition August 1945 to October 1951' by Martin Gilbert and Larry P Arnn, p.441.

Repository Details

Part of the Churchill Archives Centre Repository

Contact:
Churchill Archives Centre
Churchill College
Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB3 0DS United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 336087