The bombers and the bombed: Allied air war over Europe 1940-1945

Description

The ultimate history of the Allied bombing campaigns in World War II Technology shapes the nature of all wars, and the Second World War hinged on a most unpredictable weapon: the bomb. Night after night, Britain and the United States unleashed massive fleets of bombers to kill and terrorize occupied Europe, destroying its cities. The grisly consequences call into question how "moral" a war the Allies fought. The Bombers and the Bombed radically overhauls our understanding of World War II. It pairs the story of the civilian front line in the Allied air war alongside the political context that shaped their strategic bombing campaigns, examining the responses to bombing and being bombed with renewed clarity. The first book to examine seriously not only the well-known attacks on Dresden and Hamburg but also the significance of the firebombing on other fronts, including Italy, where the crisis was far more severe than anything experienced in ...;Prologue: Bombing Bulgaria -- The sorcerer's apprentice: Bomber Command 1939-42 -- The Casablanca Offensive: the Allies over Germany 1943-4 -- The "Battle of Germany", 1944-5 -- The logic of total war: German society under the bombs -- Italy: The war of bombs and words -- Bombing friends, bombing enemies: Germany's new order -- Epilogue: Lessons learned and not learned: bombing into the post-war world.