Arthur Travers Harris

Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 24 April 1944
Nickname(s)	Bomber Harris, Butcher Harris
Born	(1892-04-13)13 April 1892 Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Died	5 April 1984(1984-04-05) (aged 91) Goring, Oxfordshire
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army (1914–18) Royal Air Force (1918–46)
Years of service	1914–46
Rank	Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Commands held	Bomber Command (1942–45) No. 5 Group (1939–40) RAF Palestine and Transjordan (1938–39) No. 4 Group (1937–38) RAF Pembroke Dock (1933) No. 210 Squadron (1933) No. 58 Squadron (1925–27) No. 45 Squadron (1922–24) No. 31 Squadron (1921–22) No. 50 Squadron (1918–19) No. 44 Squadron (1918) No. 191 Squadron (1918)
Battles/wars	First World War Arab revolt in Palestine Second World War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Officer of the Order of the British Empire Air Force Cross Mentioned in Despatches (2) Order of Suvorov, 1st Class (USSR) Distinguished Service Medal (United States) Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland) Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross (Brazil) Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) Croix de guerre (France)
Other work	Manager of the South African Marine Corporation

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet, GCB, OBE, AFC (13 April 1892 – 5 April 1984), commonly known as "Bomber" Harris by the press and often within the RAF as "Butcher" Harris, was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) RAF Bomber Command during the height of the Anglo-American strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany in the Second World War. In 1942, the British Cabinet agreed to the "area bombing" of German cities. Harris was tasked with implementing Churchill's policy and supported the development of tactics and technology to perform the task more effectively. Harris assisted British Chief of the Air Staff Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Portal in carrying out the United Kingdom's most devastating attacks against the German infrastructure and population, including the Bombing of Dresden.

Harris emigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1910, aged 17, but returned to England in 1915 to fight in the European theatre of the First World War. He joined the Royal Flying Corps, with which he remained until the formation of the Royal Air Force in 1918, and he remained in the Air Force through the 1920s and 1930s, serving in India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Palestine, and elsewhere. At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Harris took command of No. 5 Group RAF in England, and in February 1942 was appointed head of Bomber Command. He retained that position for the rest of the war. After the war Harris moved to South Africa where he managed the South African Marine Corporation.