[Reading Notes] War, Humanity, and Moral Boundaries Examining the Great Air Raid Strategy of World War II - "Out of Control Bombing: The War between Humanity and Humanity Created the Longest Night in World War II"

As long as it is war, there is nothing that is not absurd. For thousands of years, human beings have chosen to eliminate disputes by exterminating each other. In fact, throughout history, human beings are either killing each other, or they are constantly researching how "next time" can kill each other more effectively. If you think about it, this is not normal.

At the end of February 2022, the Ukrainian-Russian war came out with the Russian army’s measures to bombard the car’s Nobi nuclear waste, arousing condemnation and concern from the outside world. However, putting aside ecological catastrophe for the moment, unnecessary bombing for the purpose of "winning" has long precedents in history, and even influenced the outcome of World War II. Using the air raid strategy of World War II to explore the moral issues, "The Runaway Bombing: The Battle of Humanity and Humanity, Creating the Longest Night in World War II" will lead readers to review this period of Man and Little Boy), the history of war overshadowed by the power and topicality. Before formally introducing this work, I must also thank Times Culture and its editors for providing the opportunity to try this out.

When precision strikes still belonged to the age of "myths"

For modern people, "precise strike" may not be an unfamiliar term, especially in the "beheading" action in many real-life records or fictional films, it is easier to forget that human beings carried out such precise long-range targeting only a century ago , Control is simply a nonsense. In March 1945, more than 300 U.S. bombers flew to Tokyo at low altitude and dropped 1,665 tons of incendiary bombs, turning the entire city into a sea of fire. The same drama occurred in major cities in Japan in just six months, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. , even millions of people lost their lives. Although the Allies won in the end, how did such a strategy come about? Isn't there a better way? These are the author's attempts to explore in the book.

The single most expensive project of World War II, called the B-29 bomber, aka Superfortress. The second most expensive is the Manhattan Project - an unprecedented, grand plan to invent and build the world's first atomic bomb. What about the third most expensive military program? Neither bombs, nor planes, nor tanks, nor artillery pieces, nor ships. It was the Norden Bomber—a fifty-five-pound analog computer conceived by Carl Norden's nitpicking imagination.

It may be misleading to see the subtitle "The battle between humanity and humanity created the longest night of World War II", but the Tokyo bombing on March 9 only accounted for a very small part of "Out of Control", and even half of the content , author Malcolm Gladwell wrote that these bombings had a chance of "not needing to get out of hand". From the sights that laid the foundation of "precise bombing" to a group of air force soldiers with moral ideals who want to fight a "clean" war, through the arrangement of historical materials, the author brings readers to see hope, while also revealing step by step These idealists failed, and the bombing eventually went out of control.

Reviewing the Great Air Raids of World War II and Discussing the Moral Issues

In all fairness, "Uncontrollable Bombing" is not an easy book to read. The author's unique and jumping thinking logic sometimes makes readers suddenly "lost" until they have read to a certain level before they can understand his arguments. In addition, the excessive "literal translation" translation method will also cause some reading obstacles in the text. But if it can overcome these, especially at the moment when the war is going on, the issues explored in "Runaway Bombing" are indeed thought-provoking.

Are we going to make deals with the devil to win and lose morality for good and evil?

In the text, it can be clearly felt that the author is obviously biased towards the "Bomber Mafia" (ie the English title The Bomber Mafia, believers in precision bombing), and even the controversial general Curtis Li Mei, who will be on the opposite side and set fire to major cities in Japan (Curtis LeMay) likened to "making a deal with the devil". However, the information in various books also shows that if evaluated from other angles and aspects, even some Japanese admit that he not only made the war end faster, but even avoided the subsequent catastrophe that may occur.

"Morality" is perhaps the most difficult to evaluate standard unique to human society, especially in various extreme situations, and even after the situation has changed, there are many cases where the consensus of future generations cannot be obtained. Although the author provides an argument, "Runaway Bombing" seems to give readers a different interpretation space while sorting out the historical documents. However, through the continuous repetition of these histories, it may finally be determined that only the demise of human beings will most likely come from human beings themselves.

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