Len Deighton’s “Bomber”

11/12/2011

Len Deighton’s “Bomber”

I just listened to the radio dramatisation of the Len Deighton book – I think it was repeated for Armistice Day 2011. I have seldom read, heard or seen a more harrowing war story. Quite apart from the human drama, the level of detail relayed by the narrator is impressive – right down to the economics of a bombing raid (and no wonder that we are still broke now!). No doubt the book contains much more and I really should read that now I guess.

Two things also spring to mind. Firstly, the bombing campaign makes all the talk of not having a second front in the west before D-Day totally bogus. And I am not sure that the then German use of the term “terror flyer” has much merit either.

skarach

Military

2 responses to “Len Deighton’s “Bomber””

John Palmer

11/14/2011

Your mention of the economic statistics quoted in “Bomber” is interesting. They point up the different histories of Britain and Germany, and maybe the different national characteristics. I was in Hamburg in 1957, twelve years after the war ended. The city had been re-built, after being destroyed by our bombing campaign. In contrast, one could still see “bomb sites” in London in the sixties…

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skarach

11/16/2011

Sounds about right.

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