article_snippet: German reservoirs, hydroelectric schemes, armaments factories and dozens of bridges were destroyed - all in one mission.
article_snippet: Britain had to use long-range bombing after Dunkirk in 1940 until D-day in 1944 as it had no other way of attacking the Germans.
article_snippet: It was so successful that Hitler was forced to divert nearly a million men, 55,000 artillery guns and a large part of the German air force on to defending Britain instead of fighting offensively.
article_snippet: In 1941 it was decided whole industrial cities should be priority targets.
article_snippet: The repeated and persistent attacks on German cities which followed became a critical factor in the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.