Showing papers by "Richard Overy published in 2014"

The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945

Abstract: E ven though almost seven decades have passed since the end of the Second World War, one of its most controversial episodes, the Allied strategic bombing campaign, still rests uneasy in the memory of many, including those future generations who have written about it. As I have declared elsewhere, wherein I have written reviews of books about aspects of the campaign, I had an uncle killed while serving as a mid-upper gunner on a Lancaster during a raid on Munich in April 1944, and therefore, I am not a totally disinterested commentator. To that end, it was with great interest that I learned of this book by noted British military historian Richard Overy, who, himself, is no stranger to writing of the Allied bombing campaign in Europe. My own library on this subject is quite extensive, and I wondered what could be new about this particular work. Quite early on, Mr. Overy states what distinguishes his work from others on the subject. First, it covers all Europe, including bombing in France, Scandinavia, the low Countries, Italy, and even Bulgaria, the latter being an event of which I was previously unaware, whose purpose was to knock that country out of the war, and which Overy uses quite deftly to examine the assumptions Allied leaders made in deciding to conduct bombing of this German ally. Second, despite popular myths to the contrary, the author offers: “Bombing in Europe was never a war winning strategy, and the other services knew it.” Finally, this book provides detailed perspectives both from those who did the bombing and those who endured it, whereas many accounts deal either with ‘the bombers,’ or ‘the bombed.’