The phrase carpet bombing refers to the use of large numbers of unguided gravity bombs, often with a high proportion of incendiary bombs, to attempt the complete destruction of a target region, either to destroy personnel and materiel, or as a means to demoralize the enemy (see terror bombing). The phrase probably is intended to invoke the image of bombs completely covering an area, in the same way that a carpet blankets a floor. A U.S. developed B-61 gravity bomb. ... Incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, or white phosphorus. ... Materiel (from the French for material) is the equipment and supplies in Military and commercial supply chain management. ... Morale is a term for the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal. ... Your Grandma. ... Terror bombing is a strategy of deliberately bombing civilian targets and strafing civilians in order to break the morale of the enemy and make the civilian population of the enemy panic. ... A carpet is any loom-woven, felted textile or grass floor covering. ...
Initially, carpet bombing was effected by multiple aircraft, often returning to the target in waves. Nowadays, a large bomber or missile can be used to create the same effect on a small area (an airfield, for example) by releasing a relatively large number of smaller bombs. Some artillery systems, such as the US Army's MLRS, can also be used to bomb regions in a similar manner. The strategy was used during World War II, mainly by the British and the United States of America to try to weaken German artillery support and cities which held factories for creation of ammunitions. Exocet missile in flight A missile (see also pronunciation differences) is a projectile propelled as a weapon at a target. ... For other uses, see Airport (disambiguation). ... A Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) is a form of rocket artillery that can be reused. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian...
The phrase carpetbombing refers to the use of large numbers of unguided gravity bombs, often with a high proportion of incendiary bombs, to attempt the complete destruction of a target region, either to destroy personnel and materiel, or as a means to demoralize the enemy (see terror bombing).
Initially, carpetbombing was effected by multiple aircraft, often returning to the target in waves.
Carpetbombing is often linked to strategic bombing.
Carpetbombing by multiple modern strategic bombers like the B-52 can be likened to an hour during the Somme bottled into a thirty second time period.
Due to this, and the ineffectiveness of carpetbombing, partly because of a lack of identifiable targets, new precision weapons were developed.
The Bombing of Guernica: the first aerial bombardment in history in which a civilian population was attacked with the apparent intent of producing total destruction.