Sir Arthur Travers Harris

Bombers crossed the night skies as the commander pressed on.

Arthur Travers Harris was born in Cheltenham on 13 April 1892. At sixteen he left England for Southern Rhodesia, where he worked on a farm and became its manager. The First World War drew him into the 1st Rhodesian Regiment and the campaign in German South-West Africa. He then returned to Britain, joined the Royal Flying Corps and qualified as a pilot in November 1915.

Harris flew on home defence and the Western Front. With No. 45 Squadron he achieved five aerial victories. He remained in the new Royal Air Force after 1918, serving in India and Iraq before commanding heavy bombers in Britain. These postings gave him experience of aircraft, organisation and the practical difficulties of sustaining operations far from home. Staff College, overseas commands and planning appointments prepared him for senior responsibility.

He commanded No. 5 Group when another European war began. After serving as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and leading an RAF delegation in Washington, he took over Bomber Command on 22 February 1942. The government's area-bombing policy already existed. Harris became its most determined executor, building the force and mounting the thousand-bomber raids against Cologne, Essen and Bremen.

His command's contribution went beyond attacks on German cities. In preparation for the Normandy invasion, its bombers struck transport and communications in occupied Europe and subsequently supported Allied ground operations. His American Distinguished Service Medal citation specifically credited the spring 1944 offensive against communications in France and the Low Countries, and the combination of strategic bombing with tactical commitments requested by the Supreme Commander (citation transcribed from National Archives of Canada, RG24, volume 2236, file HQ-C-54-27-94-32: https://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Harris.htm).

The bombing offensive inflicted immense destruction and civilian deaths while costing Bomber Command tens of thousands of aircrew. Harris defended its military value, but his reputation remained inseparable from debate over area bombing, particularly Dresden. His crews' service and the human consequences of the campaign both belong in his story.

Promoted Marshal of the Royal Air Force in 1946, Harris returned to southern Africa and became managing director of Safmarine. He received a baronetcy in 1953 and eventually settled again in England. He died on 5 April 1984. His statue outside St Clement Danes, unveiled in 1992, became both a memorial to his command and a focus for continuing argument about its methods.