Combined Round the Clock Bombing Offensive: Attacking Nazi Germany (Images of War)

In World War Two, the most effective fighting units were usually small – submarine crews, infantry platoons, commandos, and bomber crews. Of these it could be said that the men who crewed the bombers caused more damage to the enemy and had a greater impact on the outcome of the conflict than any number of the rest. Most of the aircrews were volunteers (in the RAF, they all were), intelligent, fit, and highly trained. Each knew he was essential to the team; he knew that a mistake by anyone could mean the death of all. Their interdependence was a welding influence. This library of rare archive photography provides a pictorial history with which to better understand the true extent of Allied operations during the second half of the Second World War, after America had fused its allegiance and the Allied contingent fired itself up for a reactionary attack against Nazi Germany, following a series of defeats and setbacks at their hands during the first half of the war. First-hand accounts from both American and British bomber pilots feature. An account of the dramatic attack at Peenemunde is included as well as a host of accounts of the 3 December 1943 RAF bombing raid on Berlin. They work to create a real sense of precisely what ‘round the clock’ actually meant, as these concentrated attacks drained pilots of every ounce of energy they possessed.