Sir Arthur Travers, first Baronet Harris, was born at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and was educated at Sittingbourne. His first military service was with a Rhodesian regiment in Africa from 1914 to 1915, when he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and served in Europe on the western front. After World War I, Harris briefly flew with the Home Defense Command of the Royal Air Force (RAF), then transferred to service in India and the Middle East in 1919. He served in foreign posts until about 1936, when he became a member of the RAF planning staff in England.

At the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, Harris was commanding officer of Bomber Group 5. Within less than a year, he was named deputy chief of the Air Staff, serving in this capacity from 1940 to 1941. In February 1942, Harris was appointed chief of Bomber Command and set about reevaluating British bomber performance. In contrast to U.S. Army Air Forces doctrine, which espoused precision daylight bombing, Harris advocated area bombing, targeting large industrial areas with incendiary and high-explosive bombs in an effort to disrupt German industry.

Working closely with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Harris also departed from American doctrine by advocating nighttime raids beginning in summer 1943. Harris argued that area bombing did not require daylight and that the night sky offered more protection from fighters and antiaircraft fire. The nighttime strategy also allowed for better coordination with the American effort, achieving round-the-clock bombardment. While the Americans continued a regime of precision bombing by day, Harris employed area bombing by night. . .

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