Author : Theo Boiten and Martin Bowman
Pages : 229
Photos : Lots-300 plus with some in colour
Published : 2001
This is the story of the American bomber offensive against Germany in WW2; the raids and the encounters between the Luftwaffe and the bombers with their escorts.
This is a coffee table book i.e. larger than a4 and the writing is small so this contains a lot of information. BUT ……….
This book is a split personality. The core is a list of every raid flown, the dates, times, groups, numbers, aircraft, targets, losses, etc So basically its like reading a shopping list.
Now I agree that this will be of interest to someone seeking information on a specific raid but it just goes on and on and on.
The book is saved by two things , firstly the superb photographs and secondly there are the personnel descriptions given by those involved. Many of these have not been widely published and I certainly have not seen many of these before and found them gripping. Included are aircrew from the bombers, the escort and the Luftwaffe and ground crew including Flak gunners. These take equal billing with the narration of the raids sometimes taking pages to tell their tale.
So a hard call on this – I do not think it is worth the listed price £30 or $45 but if you can pick it up cheap on E-bay or bargain book outlet, like I did
then it might be worthwhile giving it a look.