THE STRATEGY OF DESTRUCTION - Allied Bombing in France, 1944

France, spring 1944. A few months before D-Day, bombing raids of unprecedented scale struck more than 70 major cities, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians within a matter of weeks and leaving countless others wounded or homeless.

Since 1940, British scientist Solly Zuckerman had devised a sweeping aerial attack plan targeting the French railway system as its primary objective: marshalling yards, maintenance centres, rolling stock depots… The aim was to paralyse enemy movements in preparation for the landings. Yet around Winston Churchill, the bombing barons — notably members of the famous Bomber Command — career military officers, refused to take orders from a civilian. They succeeded in imposing alternative targets: industrial complexes, refineries, bridges and, above all, road junctions.

This strategy, of limited military effectiveness, had dramatic human consequences. It led to the near-total destruction of some thirty Norman towns and villages, among them Caen, Saint-Lô, Lisieux and Rouen, to name only the most tragically well-known.

The untold story of the internal struggles within the Allied high command, which upended the lives of thousands of French civilians and left an entire region devastated for years to come.