|
Showing 1 - 2 of
2 matches in All Departments
RAF and East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold War is the result
of ten years of research, involving many visits to the former
German Democratic Republic by a small Anglo/German team of military
specialists. Their purpose was to explore the lives of RAF and East
German ?ghter and ?ghter-bomber pilots, in the air and on the
ground, at work and play, during the Cold War in North Germany. The
book is based largely on personal testimony from these pilots,
coupled with facts drawn from of?cial archives and comment from
other historical sources. Where possible, political considerations
have been avoided and no outright criticism has been intended,
readers being left to draw their own conclusions on the thinking,
strategies, equipment and tactics discussed. Far from being an
intellectual polemic on the Cold War, the text and photographs
merely record a slice of history as seen through the eyes of a
select few who took up arms in the defence of their respective
homelands - and faced each other daily across the Iron Curtain. In
an insightful conclusion, Nigel Walpole reassess the threat that
both sides believed was genuine during those tense decades of the
Cold War and examines the possible course and nature of a conflict
which neither NATO nor the Warsaw Pact wanted but both actively
planned for.
From September 1940 until May 1941, Britain - especially Greater
London - suffered heavily under a barrage of day and night-time
raids by the then mighty Luftwaffe; raids which killed some 20,000
people and destroyed or damaged one million homes during what came
to be known as the London Blitz. A baby blitz' followed, from
January to May 1944, which was destined to be the final manned
bomber offensive by a much depleted Luftwaffe. Afterwards, there
came the last gasp, the final blitz on London, this time delivered
by the V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets which were aimed at the
capital. Overall, the V weapons killed or seriously injured 31,000
in London and destroyed or seriously damaged 1.6 million houses
throughout Britain. Yet despite all this, British industry, economy
and morale remained largely intact. Group Captain Nigel Walpole
grew up in London during the Blitz and he has traced the full
history of the V1 'doodlebugs' and V2 rockets that terrorised so
many at this time. He looks at the infamous missile development
site at Peenemunde and the engineers who brought Hitler's horrific
visions to life. He reports his vivid memories of the three Blitz
campaigns and the countermeasures taken in response to them. Having
been granted direct access to the history of the V weapons, he
describes the evolution, development, production deployment and
launch of the flying bombs and rockets. Whilst acknowledging the
terrible damage inflicted by these weapons, Nigel also recognises
them as an example of Germany's extraordinary capacity for
innovation and determination during one of the darkest periods of
world history.
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.