Product Description

A complete overview of a major aspect of the air war against mainland Germany. RAF Bomber Command's assault on German industry in the Ruhr began in March 1942, but their success increased the following year. This book describes in detail individual raids, their targets and the aircraft employed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #107182 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Decent Account of a Deadly Air Campaign
Alan Cooper’s book, ‘Air Battle of the Ruhr’ offers the reader, in 137 pages of narrative, a concise account of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command campaign against German industry situated in the Ruhr during 1943. This is by no means an in-depth account of this terrible air campaign but it is a good book to get an overview of the battle and an idea of what those who fought it went through. The book is 228 pages in length with numerous Appendixes and some illustrations.

The author provides accounts of each major mission flown by Bomber Command against targets in the Ruhr from March to July in 1943. He outlines the mission target, the number of bombers allocated to the mission, the role of each formation and the results of the bombing. Intermingled with these are numerous first-hand accounts by pilots and aircrew involved on the missions with a few accounts from their German night fighter opponents.

At time it appears that the story is some what disorganised, you get a short account that does not seem to fit in with the narrative, this is only on one or two occasions but is still slightly off-putting. However the story is interesting and you get a very good feel for what the aircrew of the British bombers went through. The stories provided by the survivors are at times harrowing, sad and occasionally amusing. The numerous accounts of planes and their crews never being seen again or being found many years after the war are quite sad.

One major section of this book that makes it worth buying and gives you a better understanding of how deadly this campaign was is Appendix 2. Here the author has listed every single aircraft lost during this campaign. He provides details of the Squadron, aircraft type and identity, and what happened to it (crashed, hit by flak, shot down by night fighter, etc). Further, the author lists the names of the crew for each aircraft lost and what happened to them. It’s quite depressing to read the number that were killed or ‘washed up’ later.

This alone makes this book worth having in my library and it gave me a better understanding of the terrible losses suffered by these young men, some as young as eighteen, who volunteered to fly in Bomber Command and who came from all around the Commonwealth. It may not be the best book covering the subject but it’s one of the few currently available and well worth the time to read.

A Decent Account of a Deadly Air Campaign
Alan Cooper's book, 'Air Battle of the Ruhr' offers the reader, in 137 pages of narrative, a concise account of the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command campaign against German industry situated in the Ruhr during 1943. This is by no means an in-depth account of this terrible air campaign but it is a good book to get an overview of the battle and an idea of what those who fought it went through. The book is 228 pages in length with numerous Appendixes and some illustrations.

The author provides accounts of each major mission flown by Bomber Command against targets in the Ruhr from March to July in 1943. He outlines the mission target, the number of bombers allocated to the mission, the role of each formation and the results of the bombing. Intermingled with these are numerous first-hand accounts by pilots and aircrew involved on the missions with a few accounts from their German night fighter opponents.

At times it appears that the story is some what disorganised, you get a short account that does not seem to fit in with the narrative, this is only on one or two occasions but is still slightly off-putting. However the story is interesting and you get a very good feel for what the aircrew of the British bombers went through. The stories provided by the survivors are at times harrowing, sad and occasionally amusing. The numerous accounts of planes and their crews never being seen again or being found many years after the war are quite sad.

One major section of this book that makes it worth buying and gives you a better understanding of how deadly this campaign was is Appendix 2. Here the author has listed every single aircraft lost during this campaign. He provides details of the Squadron, aircraft type and identity, and what happened to it (crashed, hit by flak, shot down by night fighter, etc). Further, the author lists the names of the crew for each aircraft lost and what happened to them. It's quite depressing to read the number that were killed or 'washed up' later.

This alone makes this book worth having in my library and it gave me a better understanding of the terrible losses suffered by these young men, some as young as eighteen, who volunteered to fly in Bomber Command and who came from all around the Commonwealth. It may not be the best book covering the subject but it's one of the few currently available and well worth the time to read.

Interesting Overview of the Ruhr Bombing Campaign
Alan Cooper’s book, ‘Air Battle of the Ruhr’ offers the reader, in 137 pages of narrative, a concise account of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command campaign against German industry situated in the Ruhr during 1943. This is by no means an in-depth account of this terrible air campaign but it is a good book to get an overview of the battle and an idea of what those who fought it went through. The book is 228 pages in length with numerous Appendixes and some illustrations.

The author provides accounts of each major mission flown by Bomber Command against targets in the Ruhr from March to July in 1943. He outlines the mission target, the number of bombers allocated to the mission, the role of each formation and the results of the bombing. Intermingled with these are numerous first-hand accounts by pilots and aircrew involved on the missions with a few accounts from their German night fighter opponents.

At times it appears that the story is some what disorganised, you get a short account that does not seem to fit in with the narrative, this is only on one or two occasions but is still slightly off-putting. However the story is interesting and you get a very good feel for what the aircrew of the British bombers went through. The stories provided by the survivors are at times harrowing, sad and occasionally amusing. The numerous accounts of planes and their crews never being seen again or being found many years after the war are quite sad.

One major section of this book that makes it worth buying and gives you a better understanding of how deadly this campaign was is Appendix 2. Here the author has listed every single aircraft lost during this campaign. He provides details of the Squadron, aircraft type and identity, and what happened to it (crashed, hit by flak, shot down by night fighter, etc). Further, the author lists the names of the crew for each aircraft lost and what happened to them. It’s quite depressing to read the number that were killed or ‘washed up’ later.

This alone makes this book worth having in my library and it gave me a better understanding of the terrible losses suffered by these young men, some as young as eighteen, who volunteered to fly in Bomber Command and who came from all around the Commonwealth. It may not be the best book covering the subject but it’s one of the few currently available and well worth the time to read.