The Bombers and The Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945 by Richard Overy, Viking, New York, 2014, $36
This new history of the Allied bombing of Europe offers insights into the military and civilian leaders who planned the aerial campaign and the civilians on the ground who reeled under its impact. Richard Overy’s interest is in military, technological and ethical issues, and he gives us rich details of the Allied bombing of Nazi Germany, about which an abundance of literature is already available. But he also covers the air campaign’s effect on occupied countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, about which little has previously been published in English. The author points out that in many cases the Allies had to bomb the very people they hoped to liberate, civilians who were usually poorly prepared and unprotected from the devastation that fell upon them.
This is a useful look at how British and American bombing strategy evolved, lessons were learned and the effort shifted gradually from military targets in 1941 to city-busting in 1945. Aviation enthusiasts may feel Overy’s book could use more detail about aircraft and, especially, more personal narratives from crew members. This is not the place to learn how a Short Stirling differs from a B-17G Flying Fortress, or what life was like for a radio operator or tail gunner churning through flak-filled skies over the Reich. The “bombers” in the title aren’t airplanes but men—the men who oversaw the air campaign. Britain’s aptly nicknamed Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris is a recurring figure throughout the narrative, while Eighth Air Force commander Jimmy Doolittle makes only brief appearances.
Nearly all the photos in the book’s center depict bomber crews preparing to take off or bomb damage in the targeted cities. The only full-fledged airplane photo is a familiar if disturbing image of a B-24 Liberator on fire, about to go down.
This is not a beach book. Nor is it a men-and-machines history in the manner of Masters of the Air, by Donald Miller. To Overy’s credit, however, his book also is not Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942-1945, by Randall Hansen, which overtly brands American airmen as war criminals.
The Bombers and the Bombed is a solid reference work containing a wealth of information, without being overly opinionated throughout. Still, Overy does give us his conclusion. And as many others do, he believes strategic bombing was largely ineffective and that bombing civilians proved counterproductive, while also undermining the moral position of the Western powers.
Originally published in the September 2014 issue of Aviation History. To subscribe, click here.
