"Enthralling eye witness histories" John Keegan
On the night of 17-18 August 1943, RAF Bomber Command attacked a remote
research establishment on the German Baltic coast. The site was
Peenemünde, where Hitler's scientists were developing both the V-1
flying bomb and the V-2 rocket whose destructive powers could have swung
the course of the War. The raid was meticulously planned and hopes were
high. But the night sky was so cloudless that the British bombers
presented an easy target for German night fighters, and over 40 were
lost.
Martin Middlebrook draws on the memories of over 400 people involved in
the dramatic events on that night: RAF and Luftwaffe aircrew, German
personnel at the research site and foreign laborers who had been forced
to work there. The result is a truly compelling account of this
hazardous attempt to disrupt Hitler's V-weapons program.