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Bomber Battle for Berlin
176 pages, Hardcover
First published April 25, 1991
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October 18, 2024
The author, who was a bomber pilot himself, describes the efforts of RAF Bomber Command to bomb Berlin. He was, as stated above, a pilot himself but climbed up the ladder to become a squadron leader and was posted at the HQ of Bomber Command later in the war. This makes his book a real good read, since it shows the bomber's war from many points of view.
The book starts with describing the organization of the Command and its evolution from a small force, trying to do its best to hit anything at all, into a large force of hundreds of aircraft flying in waves over Germany. The 'waves' saw an increase in support by aircraft performing specific tasks as target marking, nightfighter hunting, electronic warfare and more. But is also shows how vunerable the aircraft were, facing a determined German defending force.
The 'grand view' of how these operations turned out, and how costly lessons were learned are intermingled by many firsthand account, some by the author himself, others by the many crew members who manned the bombers on those cold and windy nights. What they faced is often hard to imagine. It also shows how poorly gunned the bombers were against the German fighters that often used cannons the obliterate the poor bombers. The firsthand accounts really hit home as do the many stories about these young men. One of them, telling the story of a crew that limped home towards England in a shot up bomber ending, in a crash landing in England, in a minefield, show that luck was flying along with them.
The book ends with a couple of chapters, showing the build-up towards and the things that followed during and after the March 24th, 1944 attack on Berlin. To read how it all came together, to next go haywire, shows the difficulties that were faced.
A book that I can only highly recommend.
The book starts with describing the organization of the Command and its evolution from a small force, trying to do its best to hit anything at all, into a large force of hundreds of aircraft flying in waves over Germany. The 'waves' saw an increase in support by aircraft performing specific tasks as target marking, nightfighter hunting, electronic warfare and more. But is also shows how vunerable the aircraft were, facing a determined German defending force.
The 'grand view' of how these operations turned out, and how costly lessons were learned are intermingled by many firsthand account, some by the author himself, others by the many crew members who manned the bombers on those cold and windy nights. What they faced is often hard to imagine. It also shows how poorly gunned the bombers were against the German fighters that often used cannons the obliterate the poor bombers. The firsthand accounts really hit home as do the many stories about these young men. One of them, telling the story of a crew that limped home towards England in a shot up bomber ending, in a crash landing in England, in a minefield, show that luck was flying along with them.
The book ends with a couple of chapters, showing the build-up towards and the things that followed during and after the March 24th, 1944 attack on Berlin. To read how it all came together, to next go haywire, shows the difficulties that were faced.
A book that I can only highly recommend.
Displaying 1 of 1 review