The Men Who Flew the Heavy Bombers

The Men Who Flew the Heavy Bombers written by Martin W. Bowman and

published by Pen & Sword Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 220

Martin Bowman’s considerable experience as a military historian has spanned over

forty years, during which time he has amassed a wealth of material on the participation

by RAF and Commonwealth and US 8th and 15th Air Force crews in the series of

raids on the cities and oil transportation and industrial targets in the Third Reich,

culminating in ‘Round-the-Clock’ bombing by the RAF, operating at night on the

largely forgotten Stirling, the gamely Halifax and ultimately the more successful

Lancaster, and the US 8th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator crews

by day on a target list so long and wide-ranging that it defies the imagination.

Hundreds of hours of painstaking and fact-finding research and interviews and correspondence with numerous airmen and women and their relatives, in Britain, America and beyond has been woven into a highly readable and emotional outpouring of life and death in combat over the Third Reich as the men of the RAF and Commonwealth and American air forces describe in their own words the compelling, gripping and thought-provoking narrative of the Combined Bomber Offensive in World War Two, which resulted from the RAF nocturnal onslaught and the American unescorted precision attacks on targets throughout the Reich until the P-51 Mustang escort fighters enabled the 8th to assume the mantle of the leading bombing partner in theatre.

Half of the U.S. Army Air Force's casualties in World War II were suffered by Eighth Air Force, with in excess of 47,000 casualties, with more than 26,000 dead. RAF Bomber Command lost 55,573 men killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrews and 8,403 wounded in action while 9,838 became prisoners of war.

RAF and American bomber crews could therefore be forgiven for thinking they had won a pyrrhic victory; one that had taken such a heavy toll that negated any true sense of achievement, though, if nothing else, the human effort spent by RAF Bomber Command and the Eighth Air Force did pave the way for the Soviet victory in the east.

The good thing about any of these ‘The Men Who Flew’ books by Martin Bowman is that you get another side of the story, rather than the battles or official details of warfare. You get the actual stories of bravery, worry and the social changes of men having to go to. Of course, these different planes all different types of pilot skills whether you're flying an English Lightning or a USAAF Heavy Bomber. What you also have in this book is the stories of the American pilots flying over here in a foreign country to them and having to learn about the new ways of being in a different country.

What you have is a number of very different stories, some sad, some euphoric being experienced by the American airmen. So not only were they having to participate in a war, they were having to learn to be accepted in a foreign country, where US servicemen weren’t always welcomed by everyone. I find these books fascinating and enjoy hearing from the flyers of these machines and the stories are always told in a detailed but fun way making them an easy read. An excellent book and recommended very much.

Himmler - Hitler's Henchman

Himmler - Hitler’s Henchman written by Ian Baxter and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £14.99 - Softcover - Pages 119

Heinrich Himmler has a strong claim to be Adolf Hitler’s most powerful subordinate.

He was certainly the main architect of the Holocaust. Appointed Reichsfuhrer-SS in

1929 he built the SS into a million strong paramilitary force and took control of the

Nazi concentration camps system. From 1943 he became Chief of German Police

and Minister of the Interior with command of the Gestapo as well as the

Einsatzgruppen, who committed appalling atrocities and murder in occupied Eastern

Europe and Russia.

Despite his lack of military experience in the closing stages of the War he was appointed by Hitler as Commander of Army Group Vistula. Realising the war was lost, Himmler attempted to open peace talks with the Allies. Learning of this, Hitler dismissed him of all his posts in April 1945. Detained and arrested by British forces, he committed suicide on 22 May 1945.

The wartime career of this cruel and capable man is captured brilliantly with contemporary fully captioned images in this Images of War series work.

A book about one of the most evil men in history, Heinrich Himmler was one of Adolf Hitler’s henchmen, one of the chosen few for the Third Reich. Himmler was the one who became the main architect for the campaign to rid the world of the Jewish population as he took control of the Nazi concentration camp system. Along with this he was also responsible for the SS, German police system and Minister of the Interior and also headed up the detested Gestapo & Einsatzgruppen. As you can see he certainly wasn’t the nicest of men to know in life. 

The book does look at his early life for a moment but the three chapters in the book, concentrate on the early invasion of the East, being the architect of Genocide and his role as War Lord. The information in the book is very comprehensive and detailed and is supported throughout with a great number of photographs which is primarily what the aim of the book is. But my only downside of the book is many of the photographs are very similar, it reminds me of a Tory minister being shown around workplaces during an election campaign so that the workers can wonder at the visiting gentry. But to be honest, most of these photos seem to be official-type publicity photos, so one shouldn’t really be surprised. I love the Images of War Series, and even this book I should think fits nicely into the range.

D-Day Gunners

D-Day Gunners written by Frank Baldwin and published by Pen & Sword Books

- £25 - Hardback - Pages 272

Part history book and part travel guide, D-Day Gunners is aimed at anyone interested

in the artillery on the D-Day beaches and landing grounds. While the heritage of the D-Day

beaches and landing sites is well documented, this rarely includes the artillery story.

The author of this book aims to correct this by providing a visitors' guide to the artillery

stories associated with the battlefield heritage that remains on the D-Day beaches,

mapping the fire-plan for D-Day against the known German locations, and looking

at what happened at these places.

There is relatively little explanation about the role of the artillery in general or the deeds of artillerymen, in particular those of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. This book tells of the significance of artillery on D-Day and the part it played in the outcome. Initial reports published stressed that the coastal defences were effectively neutralized by the bombing and that no significant counterattacks developed on D-Day. However, post-war accounts increasingly attributed allied success to allied firepower.

The book tells the story of the men who served the guns on the D-Day beaches, and the effects they had on the outcome of the battles on D-Day and afterwards. This volume is primarily about British Gunners and certain German Kannoniers. The book has been written as a guide to the battlefields on the D-Day beaches and landing grounds, telling the gunners’ stories that are not always commemorated on memorials, interpretation boards, or recorded in more general guides. These poignant stories include war poets and heroes decorated for bravery, or just the tales of some of the men buried in the war cemeteries or commemorated on the memorials. It also provides a guide in lay terms of the technical impact of field anti-tank and AA artillery on the war.

A second volume will tell the story of artillerymen on the American beaches and landing grounds.

This book covers the D-Day operations of World War Two, looking primarily at the locations of the landing grounds and the artillery used in the early morning attack. It looks at the importance of the artillery and tells the stories of the men manning the artillery units from both sides, which often gets forgotten about.

The book also serves as a battlefield guide that tours along the various beaches used for landings and then looks at the artillery guns & firing plans used. The book contains a large number of photographs, plans and maps which really do help explain the information though out and then does a great review of the beaches used. This feels like a thoroughly detailed and comprehensive book and in my very humble opinion, this has the look, feel and detail of a really decent book that would sit on the top of anyone's book on the D-Day subject. 

The Real Gladiator - The True Story of Maximus Decimus Meridius

The Real Gladiator - The True Story of Maximus Decimus Meridius written

by Tony Sullivan and published by Pen & Sword Books - £20 -Hardback -Pages 208

“Are you not entertained?” shouts Russell Crowe, playing the part of General Maximus

Decimus Meridius in the Oscar winning 2000 film Gladiator. The crowd, having

witnessed Maximus defeating several gladiators, cheer in response. Film goers

too were indeed entertained with the film grossing nearly half a billion dollars. This

book covers the historical events that film was based on. From the Germanic wars

on the northern frontier to the gladiatorial arena in Rome. From the philosopher emperor,

Marcus Aurelius to the palace intrigues during the reign of his son. We will discover

how Commodus really died and which of the characters actually fought in the arena.

Readers will meet two generals, Pompeianus and Maximianus, who most resemble our hero General Maximus. Also Lucilla, the sister of Commodus, who in reality married her General, but detested him. The book also focuses on warfare, weapons and contemporary battles. It will compare the battle and fight scenes in the film with reality from contemporary sources and modern tests and reenactments.

The reader will discover that fact is not only stranger than fiction, it is often more entertaining. The real history was certainly as much, if not more, treacherous, bloodthirsty, murderous and dramatic than anything the film industry has created. Anyone who answered “yes!” to the question posed by Russell Crowe’s character in the film, will indeed be entertained by this book.

This book is based upon the man Maximus Decimus Meridius, now while you might have seen the film Gladiator, which was fictional, this book is based upon the true story of the man and his life. A really fascinating and gripping read this book explains his life, career and what he managed to achieve. We read about army life, being a gladiator, Marcus Aurelius, taking part in the gladiatorial games, fighting and warfare all tidily done in seven chapters. The book contains a good number of pictures, diagrams and maps which really do add to the overall story. This was a well-written book by the author Tony Sullivan, who I have read before and I find him an excellent writer and to the point on most things. If your into Roman history you should really like this book, it’s not often you get such a good book about an individual soldier.

London A Fourteenth Century City and Its People

London A Fourteenth Century City and Its People written by Kathryn Warner

and published by Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 224

For the medieval period that was witness to a legion of political and natural disasters, the rise and fall of empires across the globe and one of the most devastating and greatest pandemics humankind has ever experienced, the fourteenth century was transformative.

Peering through the looking-glass to focus on one of Europe’s largest medieval cities, and the centre of an international melting pot on the global stage, this is a social history of England's (in)famous capital and its multi-cultural residents in the first half of the fourteenth century.

Using a rich variety of important sources that provide first-hand accounts of everyday life and personal interactions between loved ones, friends, foreigners and foes alike, such as the Assize of Nuisance, Coroners’ Rolls, wills, household accounts, inquisitions post mortem and many more, this chronicle begins at the start of the fourteenth century and works its way up to the first mass outbreak of the Black Death at the end of the 1340s. It is a narrative that builds a vivid, multi-layered picture of London’s inhabitants who lived in one of the most turbulent and exciting periods in European history.

Like the title says this book looks at life in 14th Century London, but from the average person’s level or viewpoint. What I loved about this book is the way it was written by the author Kathryn Warner, rather than chronologically year by year or decade by decade, the book looks at individual subjects in that century, for example, Health, Sanitation, Housing, Beer, Recreation and many more. But all this evidence and research is done through detailed research and first-hand accounts. The book is a fascinating read and a book that if you're a fan of English life, but especially London, you’ll really enjoy. Certainly, a book that enjoy social history. Would I recommend this book, hell yeah it’s one of my contenders for book of the year.

Air Power Supremo

Air Power Supremo written by William Pyke and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £25.00 - Hardback - Pages 280

Sir John Slessor was one of the twentieth century’s most distinguished wartime

commanders and incisive military thinkers, and William Pyke’s comprehensive

new biography reveals how he earned this remarkable reputation.

Slessor, a polio victim who always walked with a stick, became a First World War pilot in the Sudan and on the Western Front and a squadron and wing commander in India between the wars. When aerial warfare was still a new concept, he was one of the first to develop practical tactics and strategies in its application. In the Second World War, as the Commander-in-Chief of Coastal Command during the Battle of the Atlantic and the RAF in the Mediterranean during the Italian and Balkan campaigns, he made a remarkable contribution to the success of Allied air power. Then, after the war, as a senior commander, he established himself as one of the foremost experts on strategic bombing and nuclear deterrence. That is why this insightful biography of a great British airman and his achievements is so timely and important as we enter a new era of strategic doubts and deterrence at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

William Pyke follows each stage of Slessor’s brilliant career as a pilot and commander in vivid detail. In particular he concentrates on Slessor’s writings, from his treatise on the application of air power in support of land armies to his thinking on nuclear deterrence and Western strategy.

Well, this was a book that was full of surprises, having not read the info about the book from the back I had just gone by the front cover so I expected something detailed, dry and about an ‘office’ man. But I was quite wrong in that what this book provides us with is a story about a wily, courageous and distinguished fellow. A pilot in the first world war and during the inter-war years, he would eventually fly during the second world war and become an instrumental person in aerial tactics and the introduction of the new heavy planes of the nuclear weapon future. This was an enjoyable read and it was nice how the author took a linear approach to the book, I would certainly recommend this book about a man who had many talents and stories to tell.

Researching Local History

Researching Local History written by Stuart A. Raymond and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £16.99 - Softcover - Pages 240

How has the place we live in changed, developed, and grown over the centuries? That is

the basic question local historians seek to answer. The answer is to be found in the sources

of information that previous generations have left us. The records of parish, county, and

diocesan administration, of the courts, of the national government, and of private estates,

all have something to tell us about the history of the locality we are interested in. So do old

newspapers and other publications. All of these sources are readily available, but many

have been little used.

Local historians come from a wide diversity of backgrounds. But whether you are a student researching a dissertation, a family historian interested in the wider background history of your family, a teacher, a librarian, an archivist, an academic, or are merely interested in the history of your own area, this book is for you. If you want to research local history, you need a detailed account of the myriad sources readily available. This book provides a comprehensive overview of those sources, and its guidance will enable you to explore and exploit their vast range. It poses the questions that local historians ask, and identifies the specific sources likely to answer those questions.

This has to be said that as someone who has done lots of different jobs in my time involving local history, I can highly recommend this book. Why should I start with this stark statement? This book does exactly what you want when you want to learn about doing local history research, this book shows you how to research people, local government, agriculture, trade, business and leisure records and occupations. Of course one of the best things this book and the series does, is present a wide array of sources and links for you to get direct to the records system you need both via ‘old’ communications or via the internet. The book is well written and presented and fits in nicely to this series dedicated to the local history or genealogy world.