The Battle of Berlin was the longest and most sustained bombing
offensive against one target in the Second World War. Bomber Command’s
Commander-in-Chief, Sir Arthur Harris, hoped to ‘wreak Berlin from end to end’
and ‘produce a state of devastation in which German surrender is inevitable’. He
dispatched nineteen major raids between August 1943 and March 1944 – more than
10,000 aircraft sorties dropped over 30,000 tons of bombs on Berlin. It was the RAF’s
supreme effort to end the war by aerial bombing. But Berlin was not destroyed
and the RAF lost more than 600 aircraft and their crews. The controversy over
whether the Battle of Berlin was a success or failure has continued ever
since.
Martin Middlebrook brings to this subject considerable experience as
a military historian. In preparing his material he collected documents from both
sides (many of the German ones never before used); he has also interviewed and
corresponded with over 400 of the people involved in the battle and has made
trips to Germany to interview the people of Berlin and Luftwaffe aircrews. He
has achieved the difficult task of bringing together both sides of the Battle of
Berlin – the bombing force and the people on the ground – to tell a coherent,
single story.
The author describes the battle, month by month, as the bombers
waited for the dark nights, with no moon, to resume their effort to destroy
Berlin and end
the war. He recounts the ebb and flow of fortunes, identifying the tactical
factors that helped first the bombers, then the night fighters, to gain the
upper hand. Through the words of the participants, he brings to the reader the
hopes, fears and bravery of the young bomber aircrews in the desperate air
battles that were waged as the Luftwaffe attempted to protect their capital
city. And he includes that element so often omitted from books about the bombing
war – the experiences of ordinary people in the target city, showing how the
bombing destroyed homes, killed families, affected morale and reduced the German
war effort.
