Product Description

On a night in August 1943, RAF Bomber Command launched a unique operation to destroy a secret research establishment located at a remote place in Germany. The place was Peenemunde, the cradle of the space age. Here, Germany's most brilliant scientists were developing an advanced form of rocket projectile, known as the V-2, which Hitler hoped would reverse the course of the war and bring him victory. The secret raid prepared for his small target was one of the most sophisticated and succesful undertaken by the RAF during World War II. Drawing on the memories of over 400 people involved in the bombing, the author recreates the operation and the events surrounding it - the experiments at Peenemunde, the lifestyle of the German community, the Intelligence hunt and the fortunes of the British and Luftwaffe aircrews and of the people on the ground during the raid.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1491392 in Books
• Published on: 1991-04-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
Following his first book, The First Day on the Somme, Martin Middlebrook has published a series of books on major turning points in the two World Wars - all classics of military history.

Customer Reviews

A readable account of a single RAF bombing raid on Germany.
Making heavy use of original interview material, Middlebrook's style in the telling of this story will be familiar to those who have read his other books, e.g. The Nuremburg Raid, or those on WWI by Lyn Macdonald. I found I wanted more from the book than the wordy, unironic narrative style allowed and came to regard the author as something of a 'trainspotting' historian, the word 'interesting' appearing a little too often. Nonetheless, the book paints a vivid and grim picture of a single raid to destroy the German rocket development plant. For a modern analysis of RAF Bomber Command's actions and development in WWII I recommend 'Bomber Command' by Max Hastings.