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Rating: 
- 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.
Rating:
- You Reap what you Sow.
This a book about strategy, not really the technical details of aircraft, or even the weapons they carried. As for an appreaisal of strategy, however, it really goes deep, yet misses some of the broader aspects.
From the start you see that Bomber command was an impotenmt force, with an unworkable idealism to fighting such a war as WW2. Later we find that Bomber Command had grown to be so powerful that its commanders were in awe and had no real idea how to use such power properly. The book is really about Bomber Harris (should have been called "Bomber Commander") as he brought abouit the completion of the area bombing technique after his Biblical invective that the Nazi's had "sown the wind and would now reap the whirlwind". a cunning piece of propoganda that Harris perhaps knew the Nazi's could not emulate as it is taken from the Hebrew Bible.
the whirlwingd is amply described here, and the ultimate futility of wasting entire cities up until 3 weeks before capitulation. All insightfully written.
One short-coming is that the argument that bomber command ultimately only really punished Germans and Germany (on behalf of the British and occupied nations), is swept aside. After all the mass killing that the Nazi's (and ordinary Germans) did one tends to see that such punishment remains as the most important aspect, since the westen allies stopped their punitive measures against the German population as soon as the war ended (unlike the Russians). Hastings also writes nothing about the important role of the bomber force immediately after the war in carring food to the Dutch and brining POW's back home, not to mention the pilot and crews who later helped in the Berlin Airlift etc. Leaves one with a sense of how AWEFUL such a total war was, yet knocks out the central argument that Bombers can win wars by bombing alone, but without any reference to japan where the argument was sadly decisive. As for technical details, errors concern aircraft types and capabilities abound, also effecting some of the reasoning (Stirlings were later invaluable as glider tugs for example, and the data for the Lancaster in the spec. in the appendix is full of errors too). It is certainly, however, the best book I know to show how Bomber harris let everyone down with his tunnel vision and distance from the battle front. most of all he swerved his aircrews very badly indeed.
Rating: - History brought to life
This a truly excellent book written by a man with that rare combination of historian and writer. So many historians just cannot bring a story to life but Max Hastings is an exception. I found the book more of a page turner than the thriller 'Da Vinci Code' which is written by someone who is neither writer nor historian. Bomber Command is a dispassionate appraisal of its value to the Allied victory in WW2.
Rating: - painful and pitiful account of the airwar
Max Hastings has delivered both a factual and moving account of what the war did to the RAF as well as what the RAF did to the war. The anecodotes are well placed and well observed eg the bomber crew which got lost in an electrical storm and bombed London by mistake. The bravery of the men involved in the whole bomber war is too often forgotten. I disagree with some of his doubts about what they/we did. That does not detract from the achievement of Max Hastings book.
Rating: - 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 CommandThis 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.
Rating:
- You Reap what you Sow.This a book about strategy, not really the technical details of aircraft, or even the weapons they carried. As for an appreaisal of strategy, however, it really goes deep, yet misses some of the broader aspects.
From the start you see that Bomber command was an impotenmt force, with an unworkable idealism to fighting such a war as WW2. Later we find that Bomber Command had grown to be so powerful that its commanders were in awe and had no real idea how to use such power properly. The book is really about Bomber Harris (should have been called "Bomber Commander") as he brought abouit the completion of the area bombing technique after his Biblical invective that the Nazi's had "sown the wind and would now reap the whirlwind". a cunning piece of propoganda that Harris perhaps knew the Nazi's could not emulate as it is taken from the Hebrew Bible.
the whirlwingd is amply described here, and the ultimate futility of wasting entire cities up until 3 weeks before capitulation. All insightfully written.
One short-coming is that the argument that bomber command ultimately only really punished Germans and Germany (on behalf of the British and occupied nations), is swept aside. After all the mass killing that the Nazi's (and ordinary Germans) did one tends to see that such punishment remains as the most important aspect, since the westen allies stopped their punitive measures against the German population as soon as the war ended (unlike the Russians). Hastings also writes nothing about the important role of the bomber force immediately after the war in carring food to the Dutch and brining POW's back home, not to mention the pilot and crews who later helped in the Berlin Airlift etc. Leaves one with a sense of how AWEFUL such a total war was, yet knocks out the central argument that Bombers can win wars by bombing alone, but without any reference to japan where the argument was sadly decisive. As for technical details, errors concern aircraft types and capabilities abound, also effecting some of the reasoning (Stirlings were later invaluable as glider tugs for example, and the data for the Lancaster in the spec. in the appendix is full of errors too). It is certainly, however, the best book I know to show how Bomber harris let everyone down with his tunnel vision and distance from the battle front. most of all he swerved his aircrews very badly indeed.
Rating:
- History brought to lifeThis a truly excellent book written by a man with that rare combination of historian and writer. So many historians just cannot bring a story to life but Max Hastings is an exception. I found the book more of a page turner than the thriller 'Da Vinci Code' which is written by someone who is neither writer nor historian. Bomber Command is a dispassionate appraisal of its value to the Allied victory in WW2.
Rating:
- painful and pitiful account of the airwarMax Hastings has delivered both a factual and moving account of what the war did to the RAF as well as what the RAF did to the war. The anecodotes are well placed and well observed eg the bomber crew which got lost in an electrical storm and bombed London by mistake. The bravery of the men involved in the whole bomber war is too often forgotten. I disagree with some of his doubts about what they/we did. That does not detract from the achievement of Max Hastings book.
Rating:
- Excellent, painful account on 'forgotten' campaignI 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.