"In examining the role of Canadian airmen in the controversial night-bombing campaign against Germany, Sarnia newspaperman Dan McCaffery has produced a fast-paced and readable book, fleshed out with many interesting interviews with people who were there at the time... there's no doubt McCaffery has done his research... His concluding chapter, in which he weighs the pros and cons and moral conflicts of Bomber Command's campaign, is fair, well thought out and he backs his views with logic, statistics and common sense." (Pat Currie London Free Press 19960107)
"...a first-rate account and one that was much needed." (Mo Morrison Air Force 19960113)
"Battlefields in the Air ... should be required reading for anyone who wants to know about the basics of the Second World War." (Elizabeth Cran Charlottetown Guardian 1998)
"The slim volume is an entertaining read taking one through the history of aerial warfare from the Zepplins of the First World War to the heavy bombers of the Second World War... extensive research... McCaffery removes the romanticism of the fly boys in another ugly chapter of war." (Patrick Murphy Victoria Times-Colonist )
"In Battlefields in the Air, author Dan McCaffery has produced a balanced, well-researched response to the air force portion of CBC-TV's controversial documentary The Valour and the Horror." (Ron Lowman Toronto Star )
"...contains some riveting accounts of the terror felt by Canadian airmen who flew bombers against Germany." (John Ward Daily Herald-Tribune )
"McCaffery found plenty of evidence in the record and Harris' own words to back up the claims made by The Valour and the Horror." (Barrie Cook Vancouver Province )
"McCaffery gives us a balanced perspective of how events unfolded and the overwhelming consequences of those events. He is able to fly us through the flak surrounding the issue without the blinders that so many people seem to wear." (Robert Wilson Record )
"Battlefields in the Air is a well-researched, reflective, and readable introduction to a complex and subject." (The Canadian Historical Review )
Product Description
This book by the popular author of Air Aces and Billy Bishop: Canadian Hero explores the role of the Allied bomber command during World War II.
The importance of the bomber command to the Allied victory has always been hotly debated. In Battlefields in the Air, Dan McCaffery sets out to examine the role that the bomber command played and to decide if Arthur Harris's strategy of area bombing was central or incidental to the Allied victory.
Beginning with the Allies' early losses, the author describes how their position improved dramatically under the leadership of Harris. He discusses the bombing of the Ruhr dams, the raids on Hamburg, Berlin, Nuremberg, and Dresden, and he looks at the devastating effect that these campaigns had on the Germans.
Relying on a wide range of sources, including interviews with Allied pilots and eyewitness civilian accounts, Battlefields in the Air offers a fascinating look at a dramatic chapter in World War II.
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