Bomber Offensive - No. 283

Sep 28, 2026

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A Christian newsletter dated 6th April, 1947 evaluates the book Bomber Offensive in light of Easter reading. It discusses Harris’s strategic bombing views, the moral and spiritual implications of his “matchless destruction,” and how his personal heroism creates tragedy. The text argues that the work cannot be reduced to pacifist rhetoric, framing war as a problem of warriors and examining the power-law-love triad shaping ultimate good and evil decisions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

“Bomber Offensive”

“War—a problem of warriors”

Law and Power

The ChristianNo.283Edited byKATHLEENBLISSNews-Letter I6th April,I947 IT IS HARDLY LIKELY that manyof our readers will have lightedon Air Marshal Harris's Bom-ber Offensive as Easter holidayreading.Yet it is a book whichought to be read,especially byChristians.The technical issueshe raises have been ably dis-cussed elsewhere in such peri-odicals as the Economist,theNew Statesman and the Tribume.On the issue of strategic bomb-ing,he may be right or he maybe wrong;it is a matter for experts,though it is one to which the personal heroism ofthe men who served under Harris's command gives aquality of tragedy. # “BOMBER OFFENSIVE” The reasons why this book has a claim on the attention ofChristians are summarized in the following letter fromMr.Donald MacKinnon: "Harris gives us in this book a picture of himself thatis unforgettable.No one can read his pages without beingmade to encounter an unusual personality.As a youngman Harris resisted strong paternal pressure to go into thearmy and at the age of sixteen left England for Rhodesiawith a ticket and s in his pocket.There he became afarmer and there throughout his R.A.F.career half theman wanted to be.‘I never wanted to leave Africa,andnow at last I am back there.Because it is a human docu- ment this book is of intense concern to Christians.Herewe have a man surrendered wholly to his job,efficient,even ruthless,scalding in criticism yet loyal and generousto colleagues.His conception of the methods of warfaremay have been technically wrong,but it cannot be deniedthat our extremity called for such men as he was. "It is easy,of course,to find in this book little morethan the text of a pacifist tract.But to do that is to over-simplify the issue grossly.Harris has to be met;wehave to ask how the place in which he stands is relatedto one from which a man may hear the Word of Godrelevantly and searchingly spoken.Of course,to a pietismwhich insists that the Word of God speaks only to areligious heart of man,somehow insulated from his lifeand work,that is no problem.And others there are whowill say that Harris is a monster:but the impression heleaves is of a man. "The problem he sets us is evangelistic.One canalmost hear his laugh,if he reads these words,but for theChristian,for whom there is no resting-place outsideChrist,the alienation of Harris's mind from control bythe law and love of God is an evangelistic problem.It isridiculous to deny the technical autonomy of strategicproblems;that is not at issue.But when one faces theproblem set by a man,absorbed as a human being in awork of matchless destruction,remembering that it is inthe souls of men that the final issues of good and evil aredecided,one asks what is the work of the Church to sucha man as this. "Of course,the issue is not simply religious.No trulyreligious issue ever is;to treat it as purely religious is theillusion of the ecclesiastical man.A religious issue con-cerns man's good in the state as well as his eternal destiny.Such a man as Harris is not unrelated in temper to thekind of elite our technical civilization demands in peaceas well as in war.What is our Christian verdict on e.g.the virtue of a ruthless efficiency?Have we a pattern ofholiness for such men as Harris and his peacetime ana-logies?One would like to dismiss this question,and perhaps in the end there is nothing else to do.But here ispresented,in the clear lines of a caricature,a way of lifethat is not antagonistic to religious sanction,but simplyalienated from it.Here we have an existential statementof our problem,in individual terms,of course;for it isonly in individual terms that the problem can be com-municated.To grasp the problem,one must read thebook,and enter into the human situation it discloses. # War—a problem of warriors “At a more obvious level the book raises the sameissue as John Hersey's Hirosbima,the issue of the methodsof modern war.The discovery in the course of the warof new and terrible weapons has led to a widespreada

FAQs

Why does the newsletter say Bomber Offensive deserves attention from Christians?

It emphasizes that the book presents Harris as an unforgettable human document and an evangelistic problem, forcing readers to confront how his alienation from God’s law and love relates to the Church’s task.

How does the text characterize the book’s treatment of war and weapons?

It argues that modern war’s terrible weapons are not the real problem; readers must see war’s issues as issues of the warrior, understood in their human context.

What ultimate themes does the newsletter say the book raises?

It presents the ultimate issue as the power element in human life, linked to the triad of power, law, and love, and warns against collapse into the belief that power alone counts.

Sep 28, 2026

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