Bomber Boys: The RAF Offensive of 1943.

Bomber Boys: The RAF Offensive of 1943 by Kevin Wilson. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Orion Publishing Group (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk), 5 Upper St Martin's Lane, London, WC2H 9EA, 2005, 464 pages, $39.95 (hardcover), $12.95 (softcover) (2006).

The bombing of Germany during World War II remains controversial more than 60 years after the war. However, no one disputes that the bombing was long, large, and costly. During the five-year campaign, British Bomber Command's bombers and (later) American heavy bombers unloaded 1.4 million tons of bombs on Germany, wreaking havoc on that country and killing at least a half million German civilians. During this effort, the two American strategic-bombing units (Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces) lost 6,500 heavy bombers and suffered 60,000 aircrew casualties while Bomber Command losses amounted to 8,000 bombers and 64,000 operational-aircrew casualties.

Journalist Kevin Wilson has written a long, sympathetic account of Bomber Command's operations against Germany in 1943. The author bases his study primarily on interviews he conducted, along with documents and secondary sources. The approach is chronological and anecdotal, seen mostly through the eyes of the aircrews.

Bomber Command began 1943 with high hopes. During that year, the unit's accelerated bomber and training production allowed it to increase its numbers but, more importantly, replace older bombers with the superb Lancaster. As a result, although Bomber Command flew only 10 percent more sorties in 1943 than during the previous year, its larger force and the greater number of Lancasters permitted the ambitious Royal Air Force (RAF) to increase bomb delivery on Germany more than threefold. During that year, the British demonstrated perseverance and improved capability as they faced and endured heavy losses, bad weather, and tough German defenses that were growing increasingly effective.

There is a macabre monotony to this story: sometimes success (the destruction of Hamburg), more often mixed results (the Dams Raid), but, most of all, grinding losses. Wilson focuses on the human element the individual experience. This reader was struck by the youth of the Bomber Command crews, their multinational origins, and, most of all, their persistence, despite knowing that the odds of survival were against them.

The author also reveals aspects that have generally been avoided or neglected, such as friendly fire from British bullets and bombs, cowardice ("lack of moral fiber"), and inadequate equipment-specifically, the Sterling bomber, Monica (a radar-detection device that unwittingly revealed the bomber's position to German night fighters), and the lack of ventral bomber protection. Wilson offers a very broad account, from the aviators' harrowing experiences during flight, through attempts to evade capture, actual capture, and survival at sea, to life in Britain between missions. The overall context, much less well told, is one of a unit driving toward the brink of disaster as it suffers crippling losses in air battles over Germany. In brief, Bomber Command was engaged in and losing a war of attrition while suffering its Passchendaele of World War II. As the author correctly notes, for all of their sacrifice and effort, the men of Bomber Command received poor treatment in the postwar years from both their government and people. Certainly, they were not accorded the honors and praise they so richly deserved for their achievement, devotion, and sacrifice.

Wilson's approach and book title force a comparison of Bomber Bays with an excellent book on RAF Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain that has a similar title and approach: Patrick Bishop's Righter Bays: The Battle of Britain, 1940 (2003). Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, Wilson's effort does not measure up. Clearly, bomber operations lack the glamour of fighter combat, and the Battle of Britain has a clear focus, in contrast to the much longer and diverse bombing campaign. But the author has created his own problems. By centering on 1943, Wilson drops the reader into the middle of a long, complex, and changing story. His writing is often strained and overdone at points; furthermore, his great reliance on the words of the participants makes for difficult reading. The strict chronological method is partially to blame.

In addition, the British and RAF jargon and slang can be difficult for American readers to decipher. The long text seems to cover the subject but does so again and again. This book required but lacked a skilled editor to focus and consolidate these numerous, similar vignettes. The length and repetition of the book, along with the complexity of the story, demand some analysis and synthesis, both of which are sadly lacking. Bomber Boys certainly will give most readers a feel for British strategic-bombing operations in 1943 from the aircrews' point of view, but I doubt that the benefits of gaining this perspective are worth the cost of the volume or the effort required to read it The bombing campaign, Bomber Command, and, most especially, the bomber boys deserve better.

Kenneth P. Werrell

Christiansburg, Virginia