Arthur Harris Quotes

Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet was born at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Bomber Command during the latter half of the Second World War. In 1942, the British Cabinet agreed to the "area bombing" of German cities. Harris was tasked with implementing Churchill's policy and supported the development of tactics and technology to perform the task more effectively. Harris assisted British Chief of the Air Staff Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Portal in carrying out the United Kingdom's most devastating attacks against the German infrastructure and population, including the Bombing of Dresden. In 1910, at the age of 17, Harris emigrated to Southern Rhodesia, but he returned to England in 1915 to fight in the European theatre of the First World War.  At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Harris took command of No. 5 Group RAF in England, and in February 1942 was appointed head of Bomber Command.