The Killing Skies

Amid the carnage and destruction of the Second World War, RAF Bomber Command's efforts to blast Germany into submission would emerge as one of the bloodiest and most protracted campaigns of the war - this is the story of those who braved the killing skies of Nazi Germany. This book is an account of [...]
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Amid the carnage and destruction of the Second World War, RAF Bomber Command's efforts to blast Germany into submission would emerge as one of the bloodiest and most protracted campaigns of the war - this is the story of those who braved the killing skies of Nazi Germany. This book is an account of Bomber Command's bloody war of attrition against the urban and industrial centres of Hitler's third Reich. Facing the ravages of marauding night fighters, roving searchlights, flak and freezing temperatures that adhered flesh to metal and coated their lumbering machines in layers of ice, thousands of young British and Commonwealth airmen met violent ends above the cities they reduced to blazing ruins. Of the 125,000 airmen who flew with Bomber Command, more than 55,000 perished in the tortured skies over Nazi-dominated Europe. Although the bomber offensive was just one facet of Britain's war effort, it has emerged as the nation's most controversial. To this day, the veterans of Bomber Command remain without a campaign medal, while postwar critics equate their actions with those of war criminals.This book shows that not only were Bomber Command's actions a necessary and vital component of Allied victory, but also exposes the hardships and brutality British and Commonwealth airmen endured on their nightly ventures over enemy territory. It covers operations such as the daring low level Augsburg raid and the 'Battle of the Barges', a vital campaign during the Battle of Britain. Personal journals and military citations of bravery provide both gruesome and awe-inspiring accounts of bravery under the most adverse conditions.