Night Duel Over Germany (Paperback)
Bomber Command’s Battle Over the Reich During WWII
Imprint: Pen & Sword Aviation
Pages: 224
Illustrations: 60 black and white images in plates
ISBN: 9781399075336
Published: 28th February 2025
(click here for international delivery rates)
Order within the next 10 hours, 44 minutes to get your order processed the next working day!
Need a currency converter? Check XE.com for live rates
Other formats available | Price |
---|---|
Night Duel Over Germany Hardback Add to Basket | £14.99 |
Night Duel Over Germany ePub (16.6 MB) Add to Basket | £6.99 |
Bomber Command’s night offensive against Nazi Germany, which lasted for nearly six years, was one of Britain’s major contributions to the Allied effort during the Second World War. But the decision to conduct its main operations at night only came about following heavy losses by day, when its pre-war medium bombers had been found lacking in modern air warfare. The Luftwaffe, too, had its early problems. Initially without a dedicated night fighter, it was ill-equipped to defend the Reich, and so the stage was set for what would become one of the most critical strategic encounters of the war.
Things had to change on both sides. Soon there came new and more capable aircraft, in ever-increasing numbers, coupled with new tactics and technology, as each side strove to gain the upper hand. It became a fascinating encounter between the crews of Bomber Command and the Luftwaffe’s night fighter force, the Nachtjagd, with no shortage of courage and heavy losses on both sides. Amongst the epic encounters were Bomber Command’s Thousand Bomber raids, the attack on the German V-weapons research establishment at Peenemünde, the campaigns against the industrial Ruhr, Hamburg and Berlin, and the disastrous raid on Nuremberg.
This new publication consolidates accounts from both sides and from all ranks of service in an effort to provide a comprehensive account of some of the most ferocious nocturnal engagements of the Second World War.
I found Night Duel Over Germany an excellent read and would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. I found plenty that was new to me, as well as fresh perspectives on topics I had already researched elsewhere.
Armorama
Read the full review here
Night Duel Over Germany is a satisfying read, successfully balancing stories, statistics and technical detail to create an absorbing account of one of the War’s epic struggles.
Schopenhauer's Workshop
Read the full review here
Pulls together some gripping stories from both sides of the battle, overall a useful and accessible introduction to Bomber Command's war.
Flightpath Magazine
This is a fascinating book that tells about the Bomber Command's nightly attacks on Germany, and of the German night fighters trying to prevent that from happening. With our current state of affairs in our digital age, with mind boggling electronics and miniaturization ever progressing, the tools that were invented, developed and used back then during those WW2 years were extremely crude. But, they worked, in an ever increasing way.
FSAddon, Francois A. Dumas
And on both sides, too.
The book explains the techniques used in the new radar systems like the British Gee and Oboe navigation systems, the German ground based systems
like Freya and Würzburg, the Spanner Anlage in-plane infrared targeting system, the Liechtenstein search radar and others.
But it does not only cover the radars and their technique. The book also describes the strategies that evolved, the people behind it all, the politics and, of course the aircraft used and the units they were used by.
It is a real treasure in that sense, as it covers all aspects of the bomber/defender war in-depth in over 18 chapters, and describes what happened on the TWO sides of the conflict.
Very well researched and well written, with a small collection of photos in the center of the book.
I found Night Duel Over Germany an excellent read and would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. I found plenty that was new to me, as well as fresh perspectives on topics I had already researched elsewhere.
Aeroscale, Rowan Baylis
Read the complete review here.
For six years, Bomber Command waged a strategic war over Germany at huge cost in terms of lives lost and aircraft shot down. The author, a former Phantom and Tornado navigator has written a well-researched book that captures the enormous bravery of RAF aircrew and the bitter battle fought nightly over Germany between bombers and night fighters. Most Highly Recommended.
Firetrench
Read the full review here.