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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 Submarine Air Force
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Simply put, Hastings argues the pros and cons of one of the most contentious chapters of World War Two military history in a clear, incisive and forensic way, yet manages to retain all the drama, feeling and conflicted emotions that this series of events inspires.

If you’ve read a bit about the Second World War, and think you know what the bombing campaigns were about, think again after you’ve listened to this brilliant narrative.

Max Hastings’ Masterpiece, undiminished by the passage of time.

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Without diminishing the legacy of the aircrew involved, Hasting offers a crushing honest portrayal of RAF Bomber Command.

Truthful, painful, sobering

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Huge losses and yet immense bravery of the crews. Area bombing now in light of Tokyo firestorm raids and Cold War threats of nuclear annihilation make this doctrine commonplace.
Thoughtful, well written and narrated it is a great look into the minds of all involved.

fascinating and troubling

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Max Hastings has a knack for making detail, even very technical detail, enthralling and pivotal to the story

Bloody interesting listen

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Like many I know I lost relatives who participated in Bomber Command. Thank you for writing and turning this into a talking book. There were so many things that were revealed to me and many aspects were included. We all have our views on Hitler and what he did but I was flabbergasted when I heard about the control his mistress had over him - cosmetics! He definitely wasn’t someone who should have held onto purse strings z

Many Feelings Built Up Inside Me as I Listened to this Historical Portrayal

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an excellently researched account of bomber command. The book contains a good balance of first hand accounts and historical facts with the main protagonist views covered in detail.

Very detailed account of bomber command

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I found this book to be well balanced between the historical fact and the authors opinion. Well worth a listen.

a good balance

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Good quality history lesson. Previously I had good opinion of Harris not so sure now. What astounding me most was how ‘self centred’ these top generals were/are. They appear to give no credit to their subordinates at all. Guess nothing has changed.

Well worth it

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very detailed account that demonstrates how bomber command came to be , the decisions made and how in hindsight , it was a mistake.
very good "read"

great history of bomber command

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I was expecting this to be all butterflies and rainbows. But its a true story of how politics gets in the way of everything. I think the commanders who sent those boys to war without proper navigation into suicide missions should be held as "war criminals!!"......this is not a happy good feeling book. But opens your eyes to rampant self interest of high command. Thank god the good guys had a "few good men (Churchill)"....as the top brass and officers were clearly incompetent!!!

Great book..."warts and all"

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