First Blitz: The secret German plan to raze London to the ground in 1918

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‘Using first-hand witnesses plus government war records, Hanson draws a powerful picture of the impact of these first air raids’ - Time Out Far from the killing fields of France, a little-known battle was fought in the skies over London that nearly altered the course of the First World War and with it, the history of humanity itself. The margin between survival and total destruction came down to less than one hour. In four years, the Luftwaffe’s England squadron had moved from crude canvas-and-wire light aircraft to the four-engined giants as big as anything that flew in the Second World War. This, combined with the development of a revolutionary incendiary bomb, gave Germany the chance to raze London to the ground. It was a chance that they came within an inch of taking… Praise for First Blitz: ‘The 1940s bombing raids over London have taken such a powerful grip upon our imagination that the existence of an earlier Blitz, in the First World War I, will come to many readers as a complete surprise. Yet as Neil Hanson demonstrates in this gripping and well-researched book, it was in many ways more terrifying’ - Daily Mail ‘Clearly and engagingly written, his book puts more academic historians to shame by discovering a big subject, investigating it thoroughly and drawing bold but far-reaching conclusions from it’ - Sunday Telegraph Neil Hanson is the author of four acclaimed works of narrative history: The Custom of the Sea, The Dreadful Judgement, The Confident Hope of a Miracle and The Unknown Soldier. He lives in Yorkshire with his family.