OTTAWA, ON, May 1, 1992

STATEMENT: 

"In parts of its "VALOUR AND HORROR" series dealing with bomber Command and The Battle of Normandy, the CBC has produced an inaccurate and misleading portrayal of the part played by the Canadians in two of the major campaigns in World War II -- the bomber offensive against Germany and the military victory in Normandy, from the landing on D-Day until the closing of the Falaise Gap."

This statement was made today by Cliff Chadderton, CEO of The War Amputations of Canada, who says that his organization has received "more than 500" complaints, both from veterans and members of the general public about the CBC series. Chadderton today forwarded a 90-page brief to Keith Spicer, Chairman of the CRTC, which challenges nine of the assumptions made in the series, all of them critical of air force or army strategies or practices. The War Amps submission quotes, in rebuttal, accepted theories from more than 20 well-known British, U.S. and Canadian publications on World War II.

A major premise in the CBC documentary was that area bombing of German cities was unnecessary. Chadderton points out in his submission that RAF Bomber Command's decision to switch from precision targets early in the war was based on a report of the British Cabinet, to the effect that the technology did not exist to allow Bomber Command to hit precision targets. This resulted in a memorandum from Lord Portal, Chief of the RAF, authorizing bombing of German civilian targets. All of this became academic, however, with the Casablanca Conference which resulted in a directive to commence a bombing offensive aimed at the "destruction and dislocation" of the German military, industrial and economic system, and the undermining of the morale of the German people.

The conference was held in Casablanca in North Africa in January of 1943. The conference, which was shared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, called for the unconditional surrender of Germany. The series also dealt harshly with Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command, suggesting he needlessly sacrificed his air crews and took perverse satisfaction in the killing of German civilians. Chadderton's submission paints a much different picture of Harris, who had the very difficult task of carrying out the directive from the Casablanca Conference, but chose civilian targets of military significance. Many of the books written since the war quote Harris' air crews as having full confidence in him. The Bomber Command raid on Hamburg was described in the CBC Program as cruel and inhumane. Historians generally agree, however, that Hamburg's destruction was necessary to destroy the German submarine factories.

The famous raid on the German dams was shown in the film as a "public relations" effort. Historians, quoted in The War Amps submission, indicate clearly that the dams were tactical targets and that their destruction affected both industrial and agricultural industries in Germany. The CBC film depicts the raid on Nuremberg as a deliberate attempt to destroy a historically significant target with no strategic focus. In the Submission, historians quoted to the CRTC claim that the destruction of Nuremberg was carried out for strategic purposes to indicate that Bomber Command could carry its offensive to targets deep in Germany which had thus far escaped destruction, and that this was necessary to hasten the capitulation of Hitler. The CBC Program, in the part on Normandy, stated that the murder of prisoners of war was a "black mark on both sides", implying that Canadian troops shot prisoners to the same extent as did the German SS. Research indicates that although there was widespread slaughter of Canadian PoWs, evidence of similar treatment by Canadians of German PoWs does not exist. "The CBC Program suggests that, because of the manner in which the Allies conducted the war, they relinquished what the CBC calls the ‘moral high ground.' Presumably this was intended as a comparison with the criminal behaviour of Nazi Germany," Chadderton said. "Fortunately we have been able to quote a number of reliable sources which justify the bombing offensive and other Allied strategies as being essential to victory over Germany," Chadderton added.

The War Amps executive is requesting that the Chairman of the CRTC arrange a public hearing which would provide an opportunity for comment, not only by veterans, but by interested members of the Canadian public.