Richard Overy's The Bombers and the Bombed recounts the Allied fight in the skies above Europe during World War II with an encyclopedic depth most appealing to readers who already have a strong interest in the war. Those willing to brave a barrage of statistical information, including everything from bomb tonnages and industrial output to civilian deaths and aircrew casualties, will be rewarded by a nuanced, truly objective understanding of European air operations and their consequences.
Most of The Bombers and the Bombed is devoted to the bombing campaign against Germany and its impact on the Nazi war effort and civilian life. Overy (Why the Allies Won; The Twilight Years) discredits deliberate falsehoods and popular misunderstandings that have propagated since the war, such as the ideas that firestorms in German cities like Hamburg and Dresden were unintentional products of environmental conditions or missed targets. In fact, the firebombing of civilian city centers was an explicit Royal Air Force Bomber Command strategy, with considerable effort spent studying how best to ignite German homes through various incendiary bombing patterns. Overy avoids moralizing these raids, focusing instead on their implementation and outcomes for both sides. He also applies this meticulous style to the much more constrained campaign in Italy and the politically tricky bombing of occupied populations.
The Bombers and the Bombed is not an ideal book for general readers. However, those with a strong interest in World War II will find this exhaustive exploration of the European air war thoroughly rewarding. --Tobias Mutter, freelance reviewer