The shift in 1941 and 1942 to a policy of “area” bombing came about not as a result of the poor accuracy achieved in attacks on specific objectives, as is usually suggested, but by copying the Germans. The German offensive was from this point of view a valuable learning tool, since it was difficult to evaluate clearly what Bomber Command was itself achieving over Germany. From June 1940 onward, Britain was cut off from Europe by German military successes. Until the autumn the RAF relied on hearsay and occasional news reports to form a picture of the effects of British bombing.
