How Destructive was WW2?By Kurt Pelham

World War Two was the most destructive war ever in human history, with a

total number of 60 million deaths. These heavy loses did not just come from

guns or the ordinary tank, weaponry by then had advanced greatly and other

things such as artillery and bombing, which had become much more accurate.

Tanks had became faster and lighter which made it easy for the troops to

maneuverer them, new planes were introduced such as the spitfire which was

very fast and again easier to maneuverer. New explosives and bombs were used

which made it much easier for soldiers to clear bunkers. The most destructive

bomb and weapon in World War 2 was the Nuclear Bomb.

Bombing

Bombing was a huge part of the war, and the most destructive. It killed millions

of people due to the raging flames, explosions and the thick smoke which would

have suffocated people as there was no oxygen to breathe. Over 700,000 bombs

were dropped during the war and 3.4 million tonnes of them were dropped by

the Allies between 1939 and 1945. Here are some images of the planes that the

bombs would have been dropped by.

London Bombing

On 7th September 1941, Hitler had sent German bombers over to Britain and to

destroy cities, industries, factories, and more importantly, the populations

morale. London was the most badly hit as many famous buildings were hit or

destroyed, such as the Law Courts, the Tower of London, House of Commons,

West Minster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St Pauls Cathedral and many more.

The Bombing lasted for 57 consecutive days. This started to become normal for

the civilians as they just went through it. This started to show failure in Hitler's

plan to lower morale, as people kept there mental toughness. However, people

were being thrown across the roads from the huge blasts. 40,000 people died

from this attack.

Britain Bombing

30,000 bombs were dropped on Britain leading to a massacre with bodies,

limbs, and flesh mingled with little hats, coats and shoes. There were many

major historic places that were bombed and probably destroyed. Shops, roads

and buildings were bombed, also some of the countries water, sewage, gas and

electricity would have also been destroyed. This would have been bad as people

would have had nothing to put the fires out with. Despite all this, there was a

sense of excitement in the shelters as people were telling jokes and singing to

keep their morale up. Some people were wanting to fight back which also

showed Hitler’s intensions had failed. There many religious ways of keeping

there morale up, as some thought that it would be safer in the churches with

God.

Germany Bombing

The bombing of Germany was one of the worst. More bombs were dropped on

one city than the entire bombing of Britain. 50,000 bombs were dropped in

three days which killed 50,000 civilians. People were burning and suffocating to

death as the temperatures were at a high of 1000 degrees. People could not find

members of their family as they were burnt to death which made them

unrecognizable. Many industries were bombed which damaged the amount of

weaponry and resources for the German army. Civilians morale was decreasing

as every time they saw a person wearing a Nazi party badge, they tore them off

and started screaming an saying “Lets go and get that murderer!” On the other

hand, some of the people were growing toughness as they would have wanted

revenge for they had done.

Japan Bombing

Japan was one of the worst hit along with Germany. The first bombing killed

100,000 people in Tokyo, and over 120,000 people died while a million fled to

safety in the countryside. The temperatures were so hot, that if a person jumped

into the rivers they would boil to death. Huge amounts of buildings were blown

up, and 20% of Tokyo’s war industries and 60% of its business district was

completely destroyed by the bombers.

Nuclear Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Atomic bomb was the most devastating and destructive attack ever made.

When the war was coming to an end in 1945 after Nazi Germany signed its

instrument of surrender, the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the

Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, threatening Japan with "prompt and utter

destruction". Japan ignored this so America deployed two nuclear bombs on the

cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the bomb had hit it was recorded that

the effects had killed 90,000-166,000 in Hiroshima and 60,000-80,000 in

Nagasaki. Six days after the bombing on the 15th August, Japan announced its

surrender to the Allies.

Pictures from after the Nuclear Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

World War 2 affected many in different ways, such as Psychologically, Socially

and Economically, Physically and Politically. One of the main intensions of

bombing innocent civilians was to lower the morale to cause conflict within its

own country about whether they should stop fighting and to surrender or not.

Many people reacted in different ways to this. Some chose to keep their morale

and pride up by singing and joking and some grew toughness and determination

for revenge, whereas others started to blame their own soldiers and leaders for

starting the war in the first place. Religion came into the matter where people

went into churches because they knew that God would protect them. This

however may have put some peoples morale down, as they may have witnessed

bombing of churches which would put doubt in their minds that God doesn’t

exist.