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

by Richard Overy

Overview

The ultimate history of the Allied bombing campaigns in World War II

Technology shapes the nature of all wars, and the Second World War hinged on a most unpredictable weapon: the bomb. Day and night, Britain and the United States unleashed massive fleets of bombers to kill and terrorize occupied Europe, destroying its cities. The grisly consequences call into question how “moral” a war the Allies fought.

The Bombers and the Bombed radically overhauls our understanding of World War II. It pairs the story of the civilian front line in the Allied air war alongside the political context that shaped their strategic bombing campaigns, examining the responses to bombing and being bombed with renewed clarity.

The first book to examine seriously not only the well-known attacks on Dresden and Hamburg but also the significance of the firebombing on other fronts, including Italy, where the crisis was far more severe than anything experienced in Germany, this is Richard Overy’s finest work yet. It is a rich reminder of the terrible military, technological, and ethical issues that relentlessly drove all the war’s participants into an abyss.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780698151383
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/20/2014
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	592
Sales rank:	582,785
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Richard Overy is Professor of History at the University of Exeter and one of Britain's most distinguished historians and an internationally renowned scholar of World War II. He is the recipient of the Hessell-Tiltman Prize, the Wolfson History Prize, the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize and is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society. His many works include Blood and Ruins,  The Bombing War, Dictators and The Morbid Age.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xvii

Maps xix-xxv

Abbreviations used in the text xxvii

Prologue: Bombing Bulgaria 1

Chapter 1 The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Bomber Command, 1939-42 33

Chapter 2 The Casablanca Offensive: The Allies over Germany, 1943-44 107

Chapter 3 The "Battle of Germany," 1944-45 171

Chapter 4 The Logic of Total War: German Society Under the Bombs 231

Chapter 5 Italy: The War of Bombs and Words 318

Chapter 6 Bombing Friends, Bombing Enemies: Germany's New Order 361

Epilogue: Lessons Learned and Not Learned: Bombing into the Postwar World 429

Notes 439

Bibliography and Sources 517

Index 543

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"What has long been needed is a sober, dispassionate, fully-sourced exploration of what the bombing campaign comprised, how it developed in the course of a long conflict and what it achieved. Richard Overy, a professor of history at Exeter University in Britain, has writen preceisely such a book, a detailed, meticulous analysis that is all the more powerful for eschewing the hysteria that has long colored this subject for too long.”
—Ben Macintyre, New York Times Sunday Book Review

“There will be debate over the bombing campaign in Europe for years to come…. In the future, though, that debate will have to take into account the facts and the arguments marshaled by Overy in ‘The Bombers and the Bombed,’ which immediately becomes an essential part of the literature of World War II. The conclusions it reaches about ‘strategic bombing’ will have to be reckoned with by any nation that takes it upon itself to bomb another into submission, if not oblivion, and anyone who takes those conclusions seriously will be hard-pressed to argue the efficacy of that strategy.”
—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post

“For anyone interested in the politics of the Allied air war, this is an indispensable and eye-opening book.”
—Adam Tooze, Wall Street Journal

“Overy delivers an insightful analysis of how all nations reversed their abhorrence of killing civilians when it became unavoidable. Overy provides an eye-opening and often distressing account… For a far more expansive view that includes those on the receiving end [of the bombing], Overy is the choice.”
—Kirkus 
 
“Superb… Overy has presented a very strong case in support of his view.”
—Booklist

“First comprehensive analysis of the Allied strategic bombing offensive in Europe.”
—Publishers Weekly

“What distinguishes Mr Overy’s account of the bombing war from lesser efforts is the wealth of narrative detail and analytical rigour that he brings to bear.”
—Economist “Excellent…. Overy is never less than an erudite and clear-eyed guide whose research is impeccable and whose conclusions appear sensible and convincing even when they run against the established trends."
—Financial Times

Editorial Reviews

What has long been needed is a sober, dispassionate, fully-sourced exploration of what the bombing campaign comprised, how it developed in the course of a long conflict and what it achieved. Richard Overy…has written precisely such a book, a detailed, meticulous analysis that is all the more powerful for eschewing the hysteria that has colored this subject for too long…Overy's writing is temperate, but his judgments are devastating, and through it all runs a vein of quiet anger at the sheer profligacy, in squandered blood and treasure, of waging war this way.

The New York Times Book Review - Ben Macintyre

11/25/2013
WWII scholar Overy (The Twilight Years) brings his expertise in aerial operations to this first comprehensive analysis of the Allied strategic bombing offensive in Europe. He addresses the subject from three interrelated perspectives: the planning and execution of the air campaign; the Axis responses; and the oft-overlooked experiences of those under Axis occupation who were “bombed into freedom.” Overy acknowledges that until mid-1944, an air offensive was the Western Allies’ only feasible way of attacking Germany directly, yet the raids’ limited success initially led some to question whether “bombing by itself” could be decisive in the war. Insistence that it “would shorten the war,” combined with the belief that daylight precision bombardment would “completely... dislocate German industry and communications,” led to an attrition campaign against the world’s most sophisticated defenses. It produced marginal results until the Americans concentrated on the aircraft industry, and on oil production and delivery. Overy’s model analysis of “German Society under the Bombs” reveals how the Reich’s economy and morale withstood the bomber offensive, though elsewhere in Germany’s New Order, as military considerations obscured political ones, bombing became “more vigorous and less discriminate.” Postwar reconstruction correspondingly resembled “recovery from a natural disaster”—which the bomber offensive closely resembled. Agent: Gill Coleridge; Rogers, Coleridge & White (U.K.). (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"What has long been needed is a sober, dispassionate, fully-sourced exploration of what the bombing campaign comprised, how it developed in the course of a long conflict and what it achieved. Richard Overy, a professor of history at Exeter University in Britain, has writen preceisely such a book, a detailed, meticulous analysis that is all the more powerful for eschewing the hysteria that has long colored this subject for too long.”
—Ben Macintyre, New York Times Sunday Book Review

“There will be debate over the bombing campaign in Europe for years to come…. In the future, though, that debate will have to take into account the facts and the arguments marshaled by Overy in ‘The Bombers and the Bombed,’ which immediately becomes an essential part of the literature of World War II. The conclusions it reaches about ‘strategic bombing’ will have to be reckoned with by any nation that takes it upon itself to bomb another into submission, if not oblivion, and anyone who takes those conclusions seriously will be hard-pressed to argue the efficacy of that strategy.”
—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post

“For anyone interested in the politics of the Allied air war, this is an indispensable and eye-opening book.”
—Adam Tooze, Wall Street Journal

“Overy delivers an insightful analysis of how all nations reversed their abhorrence of killing civilians when it became unavoidable. Overy provides an eye-opening and often distressing account… For a far more expansive view that includes those on the receiving end [of the bombing], Overy is the choice.”
—Kirkus 
 
“Superb… Overy has presented a very strong case in support of his view.”
—Booklist

“First comprehensive analysis of the Allied strategic bombing offensive in Europe.”
—Publishers Weekly

“What distinguishes Mr Overy’s account of the bombing war from lesser efforts is the wealth of narrative detail and analytical rigour that he brings to bear.”
—Economist“Excellent…. Overy is never less than an erudite and clear-eyed guide whose research is impeccable and whose conclusions appear sensible and convincing even when they run against the established trends."
—Financial Times

From the Publisher

09/01/2013
Overy, a University of Exeter history professor who specializes in World War II, here offers up some controversy. Documenting the extent to which Britain and the United States bombed German-occupied Europe, he asks us to ponder the morality of the Allies' "moral war."

Library Journal

2013-12-04
Historians still argue over how much, if at all, strategic bombing contributed to defeating Hitler. This magisterial overview will not end the debate, but it skillfully illuminates all sides. Demonstrating his exhaustive research, Overy (History/Univ. of Exeter; 1939: Countdown to War, 2011) begins the first chapter, "Bombing Bulgaria," with a description of a destructive campaign that undermined the pro-German government, which managed to persist until the Soviet army arrived. Few readers will ignore the lesson. Throughout World War II, British Bomber command believed that it could devastate the war-making capacities of the Nazis. Within months, losses forced a switch to nighttime bombing, which made accuracy nearly impossible. Overy delivers an insightful analysis of how all nations reversed their abhorrence of killing civilians when it became unavoidable. The British were not taking revenge for the Blitz; their conversion had already occurred. The United States assumed its more heavily armed bombers (with lesser payloads) could defend themselves during the day and hit targets precisely. Both beliefs proved wrong, but America stuck to daylight bombing despite terrible losses. Both nations exaggerated the damage that their bombers caused, but good evidence exists that a major effort against Nazi oil production caused crippling shortages during 1944 and 1945. Overy provides an eye-opening and often distressing account of the bombing of Europe's occupied nations, whose defenses were far less prepared than Germany's. More bombs fell on France and Italy than England. "The moral response to bombing and being bombed was historically complex and sometimes surprising," writes the author. Readers looking for dramatic accounts of specific bombing missions should read a selection of books by British military historian Martin Middlebrook. For a far more expansive view that includes those on the receiving end, Overy is the choice.

Kirkus Reviews