Impressive and breathtaking history about the bombing war against Nazi Germany。 A history with a rich narrative that manages to weave intense and horrific individual accounts in amongst the grander scale of technical， social and economical and operational picture。 At this level of reading history it is difficult to get the full feeling of ‘how’ it was。 It’s difficult to truly imagine the mind numbing horror and shock of hundreds of bombers dropping thousands of bombs on cities。 The descriptions Impressive and breathtaking history about the bombing war against Nazi Germany。 A history with a rich narrative that manages to weave intense and horrific individual accounts in amongst the grander scale of technical， social and economical and operational picture。 At this level of reading history it is difficult to get the full feeling of ‘how’ it was。 It’s difficult to truly imagine the mind numbing horror and shock of hundreds of bombers dropping thousands of bombs on cities。 The descriptions of individual young men flying through walls of flack as metal and bullets smash through the cockpit and fuselage。 How men in some stories flew continued to fly with headless dead friends in the seat next to them （the pilots flew directly into the walls of flack and German planes fired cannon directly into the cockpit）。 It was freezing cold and airmen suffered frostbite and sometimes death came silently when oxygen was cut off。 Young men were to fly 25/30/35 missions before going home。 They battled constant anxiety & the incessant fear drove some insane。 Flyers fought in their vomit， urine and sweat which froze like ice blankets beneath their bulky outfits exacerbating hypothermia。 An exhausting and powerful reading experience。 Finding out how the ‘freedom’ that damaged planes and crews sought in flying into Switzerland。 The ‘neutral’ Swiss airforce used German bought planes to shoot down crippled allied bombers。 Sending allied survivors into harsh internment camps and refusing to repatriate even the wounded and sick。 The role of the Swiss in WW2 once again shows its ugly hand。 Swiss Germans were very enthusiastic Nazi sympathisers。 One story of an Airman Culler is tough to comprehend （p。 335）。 This book is a history of the men who dropped the bombs not about the thousands upon thousands of dead on the ground。 Though the book does let the reader through horrific historical anecdotes from those below。 Brilliant historical read。 Bought from Big W Library $15。00。 。。。more