Blood and Fears: How America’s Bomber Boys and Girls in England Won their War
Most of us are, to varying degrees, aware of the appalling loss of life sustained by the men of Bomber Command and the USAAF during the build up to the D-Day assault and the ensuing push across occupied France towards Berlin. This book gives us an in-depth overview of the intricate planning of that assault, the huge investment of men and machines and some lesser known facts, such as the “red-herring” bombing of the Calais area in order to suggest that it, and not the Normandy beaches, was to be the actual site of the landings. During that period of the war over 55,000 Bomber Command fliers lost their lives and only slightly less from the USAAF. The accidental loss of planes and lives caused by the conditions in which the operations were carried out was huge. Mid-air collisions, many during the hazardous process, immediately after take-off, when the aircraft, emerging often through dense cloud, attempted to get into formation before heading across the channel, frequently resulted in collisions with catastrophic results. It is unfortunate that the publisher could not have given this publication a more engaging jacket cover and a better title, neither of which do justice to contents of the book.
