282 Pages
ISBN 978-1-917120-41-8
B&W Images
 
8 May 1945 saw peace descend upon Europe as six bitter years of fighting came to an end. For RAF Bomber Command, another battle was beginning.
 
Formed in 1936, Bomber Command became Britain’s primary means of striking back at Nazi Germany during which a relentless air campaign and Germany was conducted which devastated cities, crippled industrial production and forced the diversion of German resources away from the front lines.
 
During the course of the campaign, known as area bombing, which sought to cripple Germany’s capacity to wage war, cities such as Lübeck, Rostock, Hamburg, Dortmund, and Dresden were reduced to rubble. Yet the cost was staggering: over 55,000 aircrew, all of whom were volunteers, would lose their lives making serving as an airmen in Bomber Command one of the most dangerous roles of the war.
 
In the aftermath of victory and in the shadow of Germany’s ruined cities, Bomber Command faced condemnation rather than celebration. Vilified for its methods, it was omitted from Churchill’s VE Day speech and largely shunned, its legacy becoming one of moral controversy and historical neglect.
 
Reaping the Whirlwind traces the shifting legacy of Bomber Command’s campaign against Germany from the war years through to the twenty-first century, examining how Bomber Command has been portrayed in literature, on screen and in the public memory. In this a fresh and unique analysis of the campaign and of the service is offered which looks at whether the campaign could have unfolded differently and whether the post-war judgement has been entirely fair and justified.
 
Through rigorous research, Reaping the Whirlwind offers a compelling reassessment of Bomber Command’s operations over Europe and the long shadow that its efforts to bring about victory during the Second World War have cast over Britain’s remembrance of war.