Product Description

Martin Middlebrook enjoys an international reputation with his superbly researched compelling accounts of major turning points in the two World Wars. An absorbing account of the battle of Hamburg, based on the accounts of those who experienced it on both sides - in the air and on the ground. 'Documentary evidence and eye witness reports...The most harrowing, horrifying descriptions of what it was like to be the victim of a massed bombing attack.' Economist

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26213 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 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

Middlebrook's masterly narrative describes a British success
In this book, Middlebrook brings his customary ability to blend eyewitness accounts into a compelling narrative describing, perhaps Dresden apart, the most terrifying firestorm created by Bomber Command in the war. By 1943, the air war over Germany was reaching unanticipated heights of electronic sophistication. While RAF bombers were using both active and passive radar to find their targets, they were tracked by a complex system of defensive radar. It was at this point that Bomber Command decided to "open the window", and deploy bundles of thousands of foil strips dropped from the bomber stream. This "domesday" weapon produced huge numbers of false radar echoes and led to the overwhelming of the defences. Like all of Middlebrook's works, testimony of survivors from both sides brings home just how terrifying a conventional area bombing attack can be, something we have perhaps forgotten in the nuclear age. I first read this book shortly after it was published in paperback. Apart from his more recent work on the British operations at Arnhem, this, in my opinion, is his finest book on World War 2.

The paradox of war
There is a strange paradox about the bombing war. Aviators fly thousands of feet up in the sky dropping bombs on what are seen merely as targets. At the same time, those on the ground can look up at their enemies, but have no idea what is going through the heads of their attackers. Martin Middlebrook changes that by presenting the bombing raids on Hamburg from both perspectives. He spoke to the airman who flew such vulnerable heavy bombers about their emotions and experiences, then looked at the same raids from those who suffered on the ground. This dual perspective on a series of horrific raids provides no real surprises, but is none the less fascinating for that. Years after the war, when the interviews were carried out, it's amazing how much small detail both sides can recall. It presents a brilliant picture of the futility of war in a very measured, balanced way. The author certainly doesn't take sides on whether the firestorm raids were justifed or not. But he provides a hugely readable account of a desperate battle and leaves the reader to make up his or her own mind. It's a thought-provoking yet strangely compulsive read, and in no way a poor relation to newer war books like Beevor's Stalingrad. The pictures are sparse and poor, but the real pictures are in the words.

A superb account of horror of area bombing for both sides
Martin Middlebrook pieces together in his inimitable style a running chronology of the event surrounding the bombing of Hamburg in the summer of 1943. Put together in meticulous detail, for which the author is renowned, the reader feels he is almost part of the aircrew, witnessing events from twenty thousand feet. This is contrasted by the eyewitness accounts on the receiving end of high explosive and incendaries. The reader is left in no doubt of the appauling results of area bombing, whilst still respecting the young men forced into the night sky to face death by an often unseen enemy. A must read for any WW2 aviation enthusiast.