---
product_id: 4805572
title: "Bomber Command (Zenith Military Classics)"
brand: "max hastings"
price: "$35.73"
currency: USD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/4805572-bomber-command-zenith-military-classics
store_origin: US
region: United States of America
---

# Bomber Command (Zenith Military Classics)

**Brand:** max hastings
**Price:** $35.73
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Bomber Command (Zenith Military Classics) by max hastings
- **How much does it cost?** $35.73 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    The politics, command and implementation of mass slaughter
  

*by T***S on Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2019*

This book by prolific and lauded British writer Max Hastings argues -- successfully, I believe -- that there was no consensus among British leaders in World War Two about what strategy to pursue in the aerial bombing of Germany.  Throughout the war, different strategies were proposed at different times by different people, based on various theories of what makes aerial bombing effective, which metrics to use for evaluating its efficacy, and how best to employ the weapons in Bomber Command's hands.  Some advocated precision bombing; others area bombing.  Different methods of area bombing were advocated, some targeting buildings, others people.  Of course, if you target buildings, and those buildings are people's houses, then you also target the people who live in those buildings, especially if you're bombing at night while they are asleep.Amidst this lack of consensus, a de facto strategy of civilian terror-bombing prevailed, in which the targets were whole cities, chosen primarily for their susceptibility to night area-bombing, employing fire and high explosives, by setting huge swathes of a city on fire and creating massive fire storms.  This strategy was due largely to the autocratic leadership of Air Marshal Arthur Harris (a.k.a. "Bomber" Harris in the British press, "Butcher" or "Butch" Harris in the RAF), who was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Bomber Command from 1942-45.  Harris developed his own particular method of civilian terror-bombing, which involved targeting easy-to-locate cities containing built-up areas of densely packed buildings made of wood, using pathfinders, master bombers, and electronic navigational aids like H2S and Oboe, and dropping bombs containing a unique mix of high explosive and incendiary devices of various sizes.  Harris measured efficacy using visual analysis of aerial reconnaissance photos to count the damage done to buildings.  He claimed, quite falsely, that this was more effective at defeating Nazi Germany than the entire Soviet war effort.  He clung to this strategy long after the USAAF began targeting oil production, sometimes to the point of disobeying orders, although he was never sacked from his command, either.  This was the British "de-housing" strategy, advocated at various times by scientists, civil servants, RAF officers, politicians, and for the entire war by Harris.What this book does not explicitly discuss, but nonetheless is implicit at every step, is the rhetoric of semantics, in which the "intended" target is not civilians, but nonetheless the method employed is designed to be as effective as possible at killing city residents.  The de facto result is the terror-bombing of civilians, but with plausible (or implausible) deniability, as the "intention" is merely to destroy buildings.  This is usually presented along with the justification that they started the war, they did it to us first, this is the way war works, civilians are just regrettable collateral damage, etc.Author Max Hasting's chapter about the RAF's Darmstadt raid on the night of 11-12 September, 1944, demonstrates how irrelevant such justifications are.  Whatever else you call it, this is still war waged against civilians, killing as many as possible.  It culminated in the infamous attack on Dresden in the final weeks of the war, which caused many in Britain to question the morality of such raids, and which seemed to have little relation to hastening the end of the war.  In the end, Winston Churchill criticized and distanced himself from Bomber Command, while no campaign medal was awarded to them by Parliament, and Harris was rejected as a candidate for leading the post-war RAF, instead moving to Rhodesia to command their small air force in the fight to retain white minority rule in southern Africa.In the decades since the war, some historians, leaders, veterans and pundits have denied there ever was any strategy by the RAF to terror-bomb civilians -- a claim which the author successfully refutes -- while others have defended Air Marshal Harris.  Readers who share these opinions would do well to read this book, as it lays out the opportunity costs of terror-bombing, which preempted other successful strategies like targeting energy, industry, transportation, communications, and reserves, which demonstrably did help cripple Germany's war-making ability.  It is tragic insofar as this detracts from the heroism of Bomber Command personnel, whose crews suffered an average mortality rate of 44.4%, higher than that of British infantry officers on the Western Front in World War One.  Author Max Hastings provides good detail of their perspective on the war, as the people tasked to carry out Harris' strategy.  Often it is the tragedy of war that the ultimate sacrifice is expected of those who must carry out the most odious ends.I recommend this book to anyone interested in the war in the air during World War Two, or in the history of aerial warfare.  It is a case study in the moral ambiguity and lack of consensus that attends aerial warfare against civilian populations, whether they are the primary targets or merely "collateral damage."

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Bomber Command: Interesting facts intermixed with debating points
  

*by F***R on Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2023*

I knew that Americans bombed Nazi-controlled Europe by day and Britain bombed Nazi-controlled Europe by night.  I knew Britain used radio signals to enable accurate nighttime bombing.  But I knew little more than that about the British bombing campaign.  And even what I thought I knew wasn’t necessarily accurate.  So this book provided lots of additional information and perspective.  For example:[1] After Dunkirk, there were no British land forces in Europe, so bombers were Britain’s only way to take offensive actions against targets within Nazi-controlled Europe and especially within Germany itself.  But in the early days of the war, Britain quickly learned that bombers could not attack during the day without suffering massive losses from German’s fighters.  Bombing at night had its share of risks, but was clearly nowhere as suicidal as daylight bombing.[2] Many know that, by 1944, massive British nighttime bombing raids were beginning to devastate Germany’s cities.  But in the earlier years (especially, 1939-1941), Britain’s nighttime bombing raids were minimally effective as radio/radar guided bombing was not yet developed, allowing German’s routine blackout practices to be a simple but effective means to frustrate Britain’s nighttime attempts to try and target Germany’s cities and factories.This book is completely focused on Britain’s Bomber Command and consequently provided more information, historical perspective, personal experiences, tactics and strategy on that subject than any other book I’ve read.Unfortunately, pervading the whole book is the author’s opinion that Britain’s bombing campaign was mostly ineffective and so drained human and material resources away from other wartime priorities where they could have had a more meaningful impact (e.g., against the U-boats).  The book had a fair number of quotes (certainly more than I wanted to see) – and those quotes tended to buttress the author’s opinion.  Of course, if you get to pick which quotes to use, your arguments will always appear sound.Bottom line: Excellent description of the constantly evolving nighttime air war over Germany.  But the author’s claims of Bomber Command ineffectiveness suffered by only presenting one side of a debate.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Outstanding condition for a book almost 25 years old
  

*by J***Y on Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2023*

Book arrived in great condition. Was even wrapped in bubble wrap by the vendor. First time I've seen that. Spine is tight to the point I'm pretty sure the book has never been read cover to cover. Anyway, great service, everything arrived as described and even 3 days early.

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*Last updated: 2026-02-20*