Allied Bombing Campaign in WWII - A Failure....

[rainbow]

"Area bombing of precision targets" v "Precision bombing of area targets".......

Question: Were they precise enough to miss Cologne Cathedral?

[Clinton Huxley]

"Area bombing of precision targets" v "Precision bombing of area targets".......

Question: Were they precise enough to miss Cologne Cathedral?

God did it.....

[klr]

I'd have bunged Bletchley Park a few more quid. Was watching Science Britannicus last night. Story of Bill Tutte, who broke the Lorenz cipher with a piece of paper, a pencil and a stupendously clever brain.

Strange as it may seem: Compared to the Axis, the British and Americans really valued this sort of intellectual effort as part of the war effort.

Viewed in retrospect, all the participants had what seem to us to be terrible "blind spots" in terms of what was important, or the right approach to something.

[rainbow]

God did it.....

Clearly, but this might upset some of our more sensitive Atheists.

[klr]

God did it.....

Clearly, but this might upset some of our more sensitive Atheists.

Why? You can't bomb nothing ...

Anyway, Cologne cathedral may have survived partly because the allies wanted to keep it as an aiming/navigation point. That and the fact that it would have been much more sturdily built than anything around it.

[Tyrannical]

All the earlier stuff I have read suggested it had a significant effect, at least in part in diverting resources such as anti-aircraft batteries and fighters, which reduced German efforts on the eastern front...

There is always the ethical issue, especially the night bombing of cities, but that is separate...

And that the bombing also cut off supplies to POW and concentration camps.

[klr]

Well, I saw in the shops this afternoon ... 40 Euro plus. I think I will indeed wait for the paperback version.

[Clinton Huxley]

Well, I saw in the shops this afternoon ... 40 Euro plus. I think I will indeed wait for the paperback version.

that's steep...

[klr]

Indeed. It seems to be a tradition for new books to issue first in expensive hardback format, but whatever the rationale for this is/was is lost on me.

I did dither over Max Hasting's new book about the first year of WW I (Catastrophe), as that was much more reasonably priced - same size as a hard back, but paperback. That seems to cut the price in half. Eventually though, there will be a "true" paperback size version issued for even less. I think I'll wait for that, as I'm still working through The Guns of August.

I didn't leave the bookshop empty-handed though - two other books for the collection.

[Clinton Huxley]

Tease. The books were?

[laklak]

Backdoor Bangkok Babes and How to Raise Ear Mites for Fun and Profit?

[klr]

Tease. The books were?

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 - Christopher Clark
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sleepwalkers- ... 006114665X

The World Until Yesterday - Jared Diamond
http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Until-Y ... 0670024813

Backdoor Bangkok Babes and How to Raise Ear Mites for Fun and Profit?

Nah, I wanted something lighter than than those.

[Clinton Huxley]

Bought The Sleepwalkers the other week. Not read it yet.

[klr]

Bought The Sleepwalkers the other week. Not read it yet.

Skimmed through it today. He seems to be unable to resist making comparisons with more recent history in the Balkans. That sort of thing always sets off warning bells in my head. But it will probably be just a minor gripe: The book looks to be thorough. He covers the years leading up start of WW I in great detail. Not just between the Great Powers, but also in the Balkans itself.

There is a very good (and readable) 100 pages or so on the start of WW I towards the end of Dreadnought by Robert Massie, as well as at the start of the sequel, Castles of Steel. Doubtless Max Hastings has covered it well in Catastrophe as well.

[Clinton Huxley]

Dreadnought is epic.