Description
Book Synopsis'A brilliant tour-de-force' - Times Literary Supplement
Bomber Command is acclaimed historian Sir Max Hastings' compelling account of one of the most controversial struggles of the Second World War.
RAF Bomber Command’s offensive against the cities of Germany was one of the epic campaigns of the Second World War. More than 56,000 British and Commonwealth aircrew and 600,000 Germans died in the course of the RAF’s attempt to win the war by bombing. The struggle began in 1939 with a few primitive Whitleys, Hampdens and Wellingtons, and ended six years later with 1,600 Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitoes razing whole cities in a single night.
Max Hastings traced the developments of area bombing using a wealth of documents, letters, diaries and interviews with key surviving witnesses. Bomber Command is, in turn, a fascinating, meticulously-researched, and vivid assessment of the RAF's integral role in the Second World War.
Trade ReviewProbably the most brilliant use of anecdotal material that has so far come out of the Second World War . . . A brilliant tour-de-force. * Times Literary Supplement *
This is the most critical book yet written about Bomber Command . . . it is also far and away the best * The Economist *
Table of ContentsSection - i: List of Illustrations Section - ii: Foreward Section - iii: Prologue: Norfolk and Heligoland Bight, 18 December 1939 Chapter - 1: In the Beginning, Trenchard: British Bomber Policy, 1917-40 Chapter - 2: 82 Squadron, Norfolk, 1940-41 Chapter - 3: 10 Squadron, Yorkshire, 1940-41 Chapter - 4: Crisis of Confidence, 1941-42 Chapter - 5: The Coming of Area Bombing Chapter - 6: 50 Squadron, Lincolnshire, 1942 Chapter - 7: Protests and Policy, 1942-43 Chapter - 8: 76 Squadron, Yorkshire, 1943 Chapter - 9: The Other Side of the Hill: Germany 1940-44 Chapter - 10: Bomber Command Headquarters, Buckinghamshire, 1943-44 Chapter - 11: Conflict and Compromise, 1943-44 Chapter - 12: Pathfinders: 97 Squadron, Lincolnshire, 1944 Chapter - 13: 'A Quiet Trip All Round': Darmstadt, 11/12 September 1944 Chapter - 14: Saturation Chapter - 15: The Balance Sheet Section - iv: Appendix A: Bomber Command sorties dispatched and aircraft missing and written off, 1939-45 Section - v: Appendix B: Specifications and performance of the principal aircraft of Bomber Command and Luftwaffe night-fighters, 1939-45 Section - vi: Appendix C: Letter to Sir Norman Bottomley from Sir Arthur Harris Section - vii: Appendix D: British and German production of selected armanents, 1940-44 Section - viii: Appendix E: Schedule of German Cities subjected to area attack by Bomber Command, 1942-45 Section - ix: Appendix F: Comparative Allied and German aircraft production, 1939-45 Section - x: Bibliography and a note on sources Section - xi: Notes and references Section - xii: Glossary od ranks, abbreviations and codenames Acknowledgements - xiii: Acknowledgements Index - xiv: Index
