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Cassell Military Classics: The Night Blitz: 1940 -1941 (Cassell Military Paperbacks) Paperback – January 1, 2000

by John Philip Ray (Author)

4.0 25 ratings

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Defeated in the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe crossed the Channel with a new plan in mind. For eight months, they ceaselessly pounded industrial cities and seaports in order to smash England's war economy and break the spirit of its citizens--who had never before experienced such a massive attack. In this finely structured account, a World War Two historian assesses the tactics employed throughout the night blitz and graphically recalls its effects throughout the country, month by month.
Defeated in the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe crossed the Channel with a new plan in mind. For eight months, they ceaselessly pounded industrial cities and seaports in order to smash England's war economy and break the spirit of its citizens--who had never before experienced such a massive attack. In this finely structured account, a World War Two historian assesses the tactics employed throughout the night blitz and graphically recalls its effects throughout the country, month by month.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

UNKNO
Publication date

January 1, 2000
Dimensions

5 x 1 x 7.75 inches
ISBN-10

030435676X
ISBN-13

978-0304356768
See all details

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ UNKNO; New ed edition (January 1, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 030435676X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0304356768
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1 x 7.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #7,058,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #49,740 in World War II History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.0 25 ratings

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Kiwiwriter

I highly recommend this excellent book on the desperate days and nights of the British people in that most bitter time

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2016

This was one of the most interesting books I've read on how the Luftwaffe tried to break British morale through nightly bombings of her major and medium-sized cities during 1940 and 1941.

Mr. Ray tells the story with skillful prose and vivid material, often using quotes from witnesses, mixed with comprehensive assessments of both sides' capabilities, both offensive and defensive. For example, he gives a complete listing of German ordnance, which shows quite dramatically how the Luftwaffe was simply not capable of dealing the heavy grade of destruction that Hitler sought, and the Allies delivered upon Germany starting in 1943.

He also gives a good deal of coverage of the Blitz beyond London -- which is only commonly remembered for the devastating attack on Coventry. He comes down firmly that Coventry was a British failure, not a cover-up of Enigma.

I highly recommend this excellent book on the desperate days and nights of the British people in the bitter winter and spring of 1940 and 1941.

2 people found this helpful

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Gerald A. Perrett

Needs a better editor

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2014

Verified Purchase

The author includes a lot of facts and figures regarding number of aircraft, number of bombs dropped, tonnages, etc. The detail is welcome. However, more detail could have been given to the critically important German navigational beams (how they worked, etc.) and I would have been interested to get, in detail, how a non-radar equipped night fighter would have made an interception. I read the kindle edition, so I don't know if this is present in the hard copy, but there was an abundance of over-punctuation. There were commas every second word (or so it seemed) colons in the middle of sentences for no reason, and occasional misspelled or incorrectly substituted words. Punctuation may seem like a small thing but when you're reading it causes you,to,pause,in,the,middle,of,a,sentence which drives your inner voice crazy.

5 people found this helpful

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Amaxon Customer

You Had to Live There to Know Their Pain

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2014

Imagine, an insane person next door is trying to murder you- not only that, but wipe your hometown off the map- and there is no diplomatic recourse. Previous negotiation only encouraged Hitler to take whatever he wants by force. The U.S. Ambassador (Joe Kennedy), writes home: 'I cannot impress on you strongly enough my complete lack of confidence in the entire conduct of this war'. (p. 134)
And Churchill's tribute to the 'Few' also applied to ordinary citizens:
"...if the British Empire and its commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, 'This was their finest hour'."
So they endured, and read of other cities coming under attack, beautiful old cities, havens for many years, burnt while the RAF only delivers 4% of the same bombload to far away Germany. This book covers the winter of 1940-41, before Hitler turned his forces to attack Greece and Russia. The raids never stopped; but certainly decreased in severity after summer. Not only London suffered; 16 cities suffered multiple attacks, and 81 suffered some bombing.
The night Blitz was a last-ditch effort to hurt England, after the Luftwaffe had bled during the daytime raids. Not just that, but German morale was hurt, the Stukas and Me 110s proven to be obsolete. Radar would place interceptors to break up raids; shooting down some and leaving others to drag themselves back across the deadly cold channel if they could.
Night raids would stream in without fear of Spitfires- whose pilots could not see anything in the murky night. Too few RAF planes carried radar to track bombers.
Bases in France allowed planes to make more than one trip per night. Bombs, packed with efficient explosive or incendiary material, sank ships in harbor and set timbered houses alight. Specialized Gruppes were equipped to receive radio beams; a technique RAF Bomber Command will refine and use on German cities in coming years.
Appendices contain a listing of cities struck during the Luftwaffe campaign & the weight of bombs delivered, civilians serving in defense, night fighters in the order of battle, German bomber strength and the German radio beams used to find a city.
See also: Air raid: The bombing of Coventry, 1940 .

4 people found this helpful

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C. J. Thompson

Moderately Interesting

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2011

This book covers the Blitz in 260 odd pages (excluding appendices) and thus is able to provide little more than an overview. There is some discussion of the developing electronics war which is fairly interesting (although covered much better elsewhere) and the rest of the narrative is given over to a week by week and night by night recounting of the raids. This does rather tend to get a bit tedious after a bit. The author loses no time in announcing that he lived through the Blitz and it becomes apparent that his views on the subject have long ago been set in stone. He brooks no criticism of Churchill and, when he is forced to acknowledge that the populace did not face the onslaught with universal 'stiff upper-lips', it is clear that he does so grudgingly and with some irritation. This is the most unfortunate limitation of the book since it could have been much improved by combining the military side of the story with a more detailed and unbiased look at the effect of the campaign on the citizenry.

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Melvyn

Bought for research

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2018

Verified Purchase

Used in the research for my second novel. Many useful insights.

sue stringer

john ray author

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

These books are so well written and engaging,I couldn't put them down.Absolute masterpieces,I would recommend them to your customers as they are so easy to read and informative

One person found this helpful

Mr. J. J. Rushbrooke

I would recommend

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2013

Verified Purchase

If, unlike some of the reviewers of this book, you do not already know everything there is to know and heve read everything ever written on the Blitz, you will find this book both interesting and informative. Personally I found it quite fascinating with information and insights I had not already come across. If you have an interest in the subject matter or the period, buy it - you'll enjoy it.

Mr Peter Tomlinson

Some interest but!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

Some interesting material but generally poorly written and poorly edited. The story jumped around a lot and lacked consistency. Ok

Cosher

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2014

Verified Purchase

Excellent - thanks

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