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Bomber Command

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Bomber Command

By: Max Hastings
Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
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About this listen

With an introduction read by Max Hastings. Bomber Command's offensive against the cities of Germany was one of the epic campaigns of the Second World War.

More than 56,000 British and Commonwealth aircrew and 600,000 Germans died in the course of the RAF's attempt to win the war by bombing. The struggle began in 1939 with a few score primitive Whitleys, Hampdens and Wellingtons, and ended six years later with 1,600 Lancasters, Halifaxes, and Mosquitoes razing whole cities in a single night. Max Hastings traced the developments of area bombing using a wealth of documnets, letters, diaries, and interviews with key surviving witnesses. Bomber Command is his classic account of one of the most controversial struggles of the war. Max Hastings, author of over 20 books, has been editor of the Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard. He has received many awards for his journalism and was knighted in 2002.

©1979 Max Hastings (P)2014 Audible Studios Europe Germany Great Britain Military War Thought-Provoking Inspiring Imperialism Air Force Submarine

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All stars
Most relevant
Loved this book. Makes you want to know more. Max Hastings is a great historian and author. Beautifully read by Barnaby Edwards.

Outstanding!

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I thought this might be just another account glorifying the men and achievements of Bomber Command. I was wrong. It was an uncompromising critique of the whole campaign from beginning to end, with criticism and praise apportioned in equal and impartial measures.
I found the personal accounts and stories to be most interesting and moving. I liked that technical information was imparted clearly and precisely, and was not over complicated.
The book certainly gave pause for thought, however it left me with the overall feeling that the whole campaign was a tragic waste of lives and resources on both sides.

A first rate and honest account of Bomber Commands action is WW2

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Fascinating insight into Bomber Command and exactly what you'd expect from Max Hastings. Thoroughly enjoyed this book but the narrator made some schoolboy pronunciation and technical mistakes which could, and should, have so easily been avoided. Six Seventeen Sqn instead of Six One Seven. Point three hundred and three Brownings instead of point three oh three. Kings Down instead of Kingsdown for example, and that's before we get to the German pronunciations. These aside he's a very accomplished narrator with a tone and pace you could listen to for hours.

Excellent book but narrator needs to do research

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I thought this was an interesting in-depth look at an important aspect of WW2 history, but it seemed to lack a feeling of conclusion at the end. Personally, I'd have liked to hear a little more of the experiences of the airmen interviewed, and I was surprised at how little attention was paid to the "dambuster" raid, considering what it represented in terms of the airmanship and courage required, as well as the public morale boost it provided.

Also noted far more references to England and English than Britain and British, especially earlier in the book. There were also two short quotes I noted were repeated verbatim later in the book, to no obvious benefit.

The narration slightly irritated me, with rather long pauses (presumably between paragraphs), and rather a lot of words pronounced slightly oddly, as if he was implying there were quote marks around them. All but one references to 617 squadron called them "six-seventeen" rather than the pretty-much universal "six-one-seven".

An interesting in-depth look at an aspect of WW2

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As is made clear in the authors introduction, this is not about the morality of intensive bombing, but a well researched, clearly presented, compelling account of a controversial aspect of Britian's tactics in WW2.

The chronological structure makes it easy to follow and the narration gives characters and events an emotional impact. It is long because it covers 6 years of warfare and is nearly always engrossing and fascinating.

Engrossing and thought provoking

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