ABSTRACT
In 1908 Germany solved that problem by adopting the propeller-driven dirigible as a weapon-a true airship, rather than an air raft. Air war began with the zeppelin and the balloon. In 1915, though, the zeppelins suffered increasing losses as the British organized anti-aircraft gun and fighter defenses against the slow, fragile, and unwieldy lighter-than-air ships. Japanese antiair defenses had forced the bombers either to fly daylight high-altitude missions or to fly night missions, and either way bomber accuracy was too poor for precision raids on strictly industrial or military targets. There were legitimate military targets-steel plants, aircraft factories-but the enemy’s defenses prevented accurate attacks on them. If the enemy’s defense of such targets makes it unfeasible to attack them except through an area attack, the attack is not immoral. The means chosen is in the cases displaced by the defender, who gives the attacker the choice: Adopt area attacks or cease the strategic air war.
