Product Description

An account which traces the development of area bombing, using documents, letters, diaries and interviews with key surviving witnesses. Bomber Command's offensive against the cities of Germany was one of the epic campaigns of World War II.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40510 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Customer Reviews

BOMBER COMMAND by MAx Hastings
...Yes, the campaign was costly, and yes, it was cruel, in tems of the number of Allied airmen who lost their lives. But pointless? No, and to say it was, does nothing but trivialise the huge loss of life endured by those who served in Bomber Command. The book itself is one of the more accurate portrayals of Bomber Command, and should be on the bookshelf of anyone who is interested in the subject. Sometimes brutally honest, and portraying facts that we might not like to admit, it nevertheless gives the whole story. We must not forget that Bomber Command provided us with the ONLY way to strike directly at Germany from June 1940 until June 1944, and the author readily acknowledges this fact when detailing occasions when things went wrong. Non-sensationalist and factual, overall, a good, recommended, buy.

Excellent, painful account on 'forgotten' campaign
I always think of Max Hastings as that bloke on Question Time with the pinstripe suits that have the stripes just a little too wide.

Pity he has to waste his time with all that journalism, his real forte is military history and I think he should stick to it.

This is an extremely good book that manages to convey the appalling unreality that must have been the lot of bomber crews who knew they only had a few months to live - at best and yet conveys a proper appreciation of 'Bomber' Harris and his vital role in maintaining British morale when all we had to hit back at the Germans were the bombing raids of dubious accuracy and effectiveness. The sense of theatre that Harris brought to the job - with his 1,000 bomber raids and his uncompromising public statements - is well chronicled here.

But when Hastings describes the carnage of the raid at Darmstadt - a really boring little raid by Bomber Command standards - you feel real revulsion about what was done in the name of freedom.

Great stuff. Well worth buying.

Bomber Command
This book is a very good read.It gives very detailed accounts of how the bombing offensive of the RAF was created.It also exonerates Harris from the blame he and his crews were shouldered with during and after the war.The bravery of the crews in the RAF is brilliantly shown amongst these pages.Even though the stupidity of the Politicians of the day and some of the RAF's Command structure is highlighted as being narrow minded and short sighted. Their stupidity being paid for with the lives of the crews who were simply following the directives passed down by the Government of the time.These pages are filled with pride and bravery,and those who deserted what Bomber Command crews did from day one to the last should bow their heads in shame.Read this book yourself and come to your own judgement. The truth is Max Hastings at least has done those brave men of Bomber Command some justice at least by exposing the TRUE version of what happened.