“They’ll be bombing a tiny undefended village, reducing the whole community to rubble. I have it from Wintergreen – Wintergreen’s an ex-sergeant now, by the way -that the mission is entirely unnecessary. Its only purpose is to delay German reinforcements at a time when we aren’t even planning an offensive.”
Catch 22 gets dark later on in the novel. The above quote details the mission that Yossarian and the 256th squadron are assigned to do. Obviously, Yossarian, Major Dunbar, and others push against these orders but to no avail.
The mission from many different angles is a Catch-22- a situation where there is no positive outcome no matter what choices are made. It is a Cath-22 in multiple ways. Firstly, it is a Catch-22 from a military strategic dimension. Yossarian produces the idea of dropping leaflets to the Italian villagers ordering them to evacuate before the bombing. But Major Danby states that the Germans might find out and choose another road. There is no good option. From a moral perspective, the bombardiers, including Yossarian and Dunbar have the choice of either bombing the village and potentially killing innocent people, or disobeying command and facing the consequences. There is no good option.
Dunbar offers other ideas to the commanding officer, Colonel Korn, but is cruelly shot down every time.
“Dunbar turned crimson with embarrassment and replied in a voice that was suddenly defensive. ‘Why can’t we create the roadblock somewhere else? Couldn’t we bomb the slope of a mountain or the road itself?’
‘Would you rather go back to Bologna?’ [said Colonel Korn] The question, asked quietly, rang out like a shot and created a silence in the room that was awkward and menacing.”
For reference, Bologna is an active battlefront that none of the men wish to return to.
From earlier chapters, it can be inferred that the commanders of the 256th squadron care little for their men, but now with their gung-ho resolve to bomb the defenseless village, it seems as though they do value anyone’s life besides their own.
Great American Novels 
One reply on “A Catch-22 in Catch-22”
Gus, you seem to talk about how this certain event with the aviators is a Catch 22. I would argue that actions of warfare for the majority of human history are catch 22s. It has become exasperated by the advent of aviation and tactical weapons meant to destroy civilians’ lives along with military targets. I feel that this situation will be more and more common in our contemporary society.
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