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Bomber
The classic novel of the Second World War that relates in devastating detail the 24-hour story of an allied bombing raid. Bomber is a novel of war. There are no victors, no vanquished. There are simply those who remain alive, and those who die. Bomber follows the progress of an Allied air raid through a period of twenty-four hours in the summer of 1943. It portrays all the participants in a terrifying drama, both in the air and on the ground, in Britain and in Germany. In its documentary style, it is unique. In its emotional power it is overwhelming. Len Deighton has been equally acclaimed as a novelist and as an historian. In Bomber he has combined both talents to produce a masterpiece.
576 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
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2851 people want to read
About the author
Len Deighton
221 books928 followersDeighton was born in Marylebone, London, in 1929. His father was a chauffeur and mechanic, and his mother was a part-time cook. After leaving school, Deighton worked as a railway clerk before performing his National Service, which he spent as a photographer for the Royal Air Force's Special Investigation Branch. After discharge from the RAF, he studied at St Martin's School of Art in London in 1949, and in 1952 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1955.
Deighton worked as an airline steward with BOAC. Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator in New York and, in 1960, as an art director in a London advertising agency. He is credited with creating the first British cover for Jack Kerouac's On the Road. He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his own military history books.
Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became The Observer's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. In September 1967 he wrote an article in the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop - an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II. The following year David Stirling would be awarded substantial damages in libel from the article.
He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of Playboy, before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel Only When I Larf, Deighton and photographer Brian Duffy bought the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! He had his name removed from the credits of the film, however, which was a move that he later described as "stupid and infantile." That was his last involvement with the cinema.
Deighton left England in 1969. He briefly resided in Blackrock, County Louth in Ireland. He has not returned to England apart from some personal visits and very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four. He and his wife Ysabele divide their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey.
Deighton worked as an airline steward with BOAC. Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator in New York and, in 1960, as an art director in a London advertising agency. He is credited with creating the first British cover for Jack Kerouac's On the Road. He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his own military history books.
Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became The Observer's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. In September 1967 he wrote an article in the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop - an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II. The following year David Stirling would be awarded substantial damages in libel from the article.
He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of Playboy, before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel Only When I Larf, Deighton and photographer Brian Duffy bought the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! He had his name removed from the credits of the film, however, which was a move that he later described as "stupid and infantile." That was his last involvement with the cinema.
Deighton left England in 1969. He briefly resided in Blackrock, County Louth in Ireland. He has not returned to England apart from some personal visits and very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four. He and his wife Ysabele divide their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey.
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July 26, 2019
“The whole aeroplane rattled and vibrated with the power of the piston engines. The instruments shuddered and the figures on them blurred. Oxygen masks were mandatory and they needed microphones and earphones to even converse. At these altitudes their power-weight ratios made these planes very vulnerable to the condition of the air through which they flew. Although now, in the cool of the night, the aircraft was steadier than it had been in the heated turbulence of afternoon, the air was still full of surprises. They hit hard walls of it and dropped sickeningly into deep pockets. They bucketed, rolled, and yawned constantly. Their degree of stability depended as much upon the pilot’s strength as upon his skill, for the controls were not power-assisted and it required all of a man’s energy to heave the control surfaces into the airstream. And all the time there was the vibration that hammered the temples, shook the teeth and played a tattoo upon the spine, so that even after an uneventful flight the crew were whipped into a condition of advanced fatigue.”
- Len Deighton, Bomber
Len Deighton’s Bomber might be the best war novel I have ever read. I should say, however, that I mean “war novel” in a very specific way. This novel bears no resemblance to other, better-known classics like The Naked and the Dead or All Quite on the Western Front. There is very little inward soul-searching about the nature of man as he indulges his ultimate trade. The characterizations are almost nonexistent. The prose, at times, is barely a step up from technical writing (it is, of course, an important step). The stress is on war. Its mechanistic functions. Its technological contours. Its body-shredding consequences.
This is, in very real ways, a horror novel.
Bomber is set during one 24-hour period during a nighttime raid by Great Britain’s Bomber Command during World War II. It revolves around the crew of a Lancaster bomber called Creaking Door, piloted by Flight Sergeant Sam Lambert. To say that Sam and his men are the main characters would be a mischaracterization. Bomber takes on an ever-expanding number of viewpoints, and new characters are being introduced right up to the final pages.
A short list of (the hundreds of) characters would include: Lambert and the men of Creaking Door, obviously; the unscrupulous Flight Lieutenant Sweet, who keeps plucking Lambert’s crew to fly on his own plane; Lambert’s wife Ruth, who serves in the auxillary; a dozen other men and women – pilots, crew, ground crew, townspeople – of the airfield at Warley Fen and its nearby village; August Bach, who commands a Luftwaffe radar station; Bach’s mistress, who lives in the town of Altgarten; the mayor, fire chief, and residents (including Jews) of Altgarten; and Victor Lowenherz, a German night-fighter pilot (along with the many other men of the base).
As Deighton makes clear at the outset, this is a novel about a fictional event. The British base at Warley Fen, the Luftwaffe base at Kroonsdijik, and the bombed village of Altgarten (hit by mistake) are all inventions. To hammer home this point, the raid takes place on June 31, a date that Deighton cheekily reminds us, never occurred “in 1943 or any other year.”
Despite this, Bomber feels exceptionally real. Deighton is a historian as well as a novelist, and the technical aspects of the novel are precise. He piles on details and specifications about the flight envelope of the Lancaster, the plotting techniques of German radar operators, the methods of Luftwaffe night fighters, and the physics of white phosphorous.
In telling this story, Deighton purposefully utilizes a sweeping, third-person omniscient point of view, which allows him to delve into the thoughts and consciousness of any character he wants. On any given page, the point-of-view might shift between two or more characters. At the beginning of the novel, however, there is spatial separation between the viewpoints, with the chapters alternating between British and Germans. As the raid reaches its climax, Deighton erases that distinction, and switches rapidly between the bombers and the bombed. This is an amazingly effective tactic. For instance, Deighton is able to cross-cut between a British bombardier (called a bomb aimer) who drops a bomb and the specific German person that bomb killed. Such details are impossible in real life. Here, it marvelously demonstrates an intimate connection that counterbalances the faceless anonymity of aerial warfare.
Deighton’s tone, in keeping with the omniscient narrator, is almost Godlike. There is a certain detachment and distance to the proceedings. This is not the same as indifference. There is compassion to be found, but it comes organically from the travails of the characters, rather than overt insistence by the author.
Bomber started rather slow for me. None of the characters are particularly memorable, and it was hard to keep them straight at first. And, as mentioned above, there are a lot of characters. Before a single bomb falls, you must push through dozens of subplots, as these people make their unknowing journey to doom. Many of these subplots are rather lame. August Bach, for example, the Luftwaffe radar officer, begins a tepid love affair with his child’s nanny, Anna-Luisa. Within four pages of meeting these two, they have unconvincingly fallen in love. They also engage in discreet congress, which bears mentioning only because the violence in this novel is so unrelentingly graphic, while the few mentions of sex are euphemistic and puritanical. Then there is the Burgomaster of Altgarten, whom we follow through an endless-seeming day of petty maneuvering through Westphalian politics. Deighton also strives (unsuccessfully) for a bit of Heller-like farce in the person of a base commander who tries to get a reluctant Sam Lambert to play cricket on his team.
The mundane minutiae of these men and women accumulate throughout hundreds of pages of set-up. It tests the patience of the reader. Of course, this is partially intentional. All the inane chatter, humble plans, and general ignorance of what is coming tends to build incremental tension. When that tension is finally released, it does so by way of some of the most harrowing descriptions of combat you’re likely to read.
Death is the overarching character in Bomber. It presents itself in many faces. There are flight accidents, bird strikes (“By the time [the bird] entered the cockpit it had no wings or head. It was a little more than half a pound of bloody offal that hit [the pilot] in the face…But it came in at two hundred miles per hour”), machine-gunfire, and of course, the fire from above. Deighton takes the time to describe many of these fatalities in clinical detail, as though writing an autopsy. The images he creates are as terrifying as they are memorable.
Here, a dying airplane, a wounded pilot, and a wireless operator who has fallen without a parachute:
Here, a dying church in Altgarten:
The use of such exacting details (the terminal velocity of a falling man; the number of shell fragments in an anti-aircraft burst; etc.) is part of Deighton’s attempt to demonstrate the gross modernity of mechanized warfare. He is not using Bomber to debate the rightness or wrongness of the Allied air campaigns over Germany (or, by implication, Japan). He uses it to express the conclusion that in war, all humans are victims of machines.
Roger Ebert used to quote the filmmaker Truffaut for the proposition that it is impossible to make an anti-war film. The reason: war’s inherent kinetic energy, the bonds between fighting men, and the sacrifices made by soldiers ultimately lend war the virtues of heroism and nobility.
It’s easier for a novel to take anti-war stance, and the most famous war novels – such as the aforementioned All Quiet on the Western Front – do just that. Bomber is unique in that it doesn’t tell you that war is hell. It shows you that hell in relentlessly grim and graphic vignettes. This is a book that gave me actual nightmares and left me troubled and unsettled.
I must add that I say that with great admiration for Deighton’s accomplishment.
- Len Deighton, Bomber
Len Deighton’s Bomber might be the best war novel I have ever read. I should say, however, that I mean “war novel” in a very specific way. This novel bears no resemblance to other, better-known classics like The Naked and the Dead or All Quite on the Western Front. There is very little inward soul-searching about the nature of man as he indulges his ultimate trade. The characterizations are almost nonexistent. The prose, at times, is barely a step up from technical writing (it is, of course, an important step). The stress is on war. Its mechanistic functions. Its technological contours. Its body-shredding consequences.
This is, in very real ways, a horror novel.
Bomber is set during one 24-hour period during a nighttime raid by Great Britain’s Bomber Command during World War II. It revolves around the crew of a Lancaster bomber called Creaking Door, piloted by Flight Sergeant Sam Lambert. To say that Sam and his men are the main characters would be a mischaracterization. Bomber takes on an ever-expanding number of viewpoints, and new characters are being introduced right up to the final pages.
A short list of (the hundreds of) characters would include: Lambert and the men of Creaking Door, obviously; the unscrupulous Flight Lieutenant Sweet, who keeps plucking Lambert’s crew to fly on his own plane; Lambert’s wife Ruth, who serves in the auxillary; a dozen other men and women – pilots, crew, ground crew, townspeople – of the airfield at Warley Fen and its nearby village; August Bach, who commands a Luftwaffe radar station; Bach’s mistress, who lives in the town of Altgarten; the mayor, fire chief, and residents (including Jews) of Altgarten; and Victor Lowenherz, a German night-fighter pilot (along with the many other men of the base).
As Deighton makes clear at the outset, this is a novel about a fictional event. The British base at Warley Fen, the Luftwaffe base at Kroonsdijik, and the bombed village of Altgarten (hit by mistake) are all inventions. To hammer home this point, the raid takes place on June 31, a date that Deighton cheekily reminds us, never occurred “in 1943 or any other year.”
Despite this, Bomber feels exceptionally real. Deighton is a historian as well as a novelist, and the technical aspects of the novel are precise. He piles on details and specifications about the flight envelope of the Lancaster, the plotting techniques of German radar operators, the methods of Luftwaffe night fighters, and the physics of white phosphorous.
In telling this story, Deighton purposefully utilizes a sweeping, third-person omniscient point of view, which allows him to delve into the thoughts and consciousness of any character he wants. On any given page, the point-of-view might shift between two or more characters. At the beginning of the novel, however, there is spatial separation between the viewpoints, with the chapters alternating between British and Germans. As the raid reaches its climax, Deighton erases that distinction, and switches rapidly between the bombers and the bombed. This is an amazingly effective tactic. For instance, Deighton is able to cross-cut between a British bombardier (called a bomb aimer) who drops a bomb and the specific German person that bomb killed. Such details are impossible in real life. Here, it marvelously demonstrates an intimate connection that counterbalances the faceless anonymity of aerial warfare.
Deighton’s tone, in keeping with the omniscient narrator, is almost Godlike. There is a certain detachment and distance to the proceedings. This is not the same as indifference. There is compassion to be found, but it comes organically from the travails of the characters, rather than overt insistence by the author.
Bomber started rather slow for me. None of the characters are particularly memorable, and it was hard to keep them straight at first. And, as mentioned above, there are a lot of characters. Before a single bomb falls, you must push through dozens of subplots, as these people make their unknowing journey to doom. Many of these subplots are rather lame. August Bach, for example, the Luftwaffe radar officer, begins a tepid love affair with his child’s nanny, Anna-Luisa. Within four pages of meeting these two, they have unconvincingly fallen in love. They also engage in discreet congress, which bears mentioning only because the violence in this novel is so unrelentingly graphic, while the few mentions of sex are euphemistic and puritanical. Then there is the Burgomaster of Altgarten, whom we follow through an endless-seeming day of petty maneuvering through Westphalian politics. Deighton also strives (unsuccessfully) for a bit of Heller-like farce in the person of a base commander who tries to get a reluctant Sam Lambert to play cricket on his team.
The mundane minutiae of these men and women accumulate throughout hundreds of pages of set-up. It tests the patience of the reader. Of course, this is partially intentional. All the inane chatter, humble plans, and general ignorance of what is coming tends to build incremental tension. When that tension is finally released, it does so by way of some of the most harrowing descriptions of combat you’re likely to read.
Death is the overarching character in Bomber. It presents itself in many faces. There are flight accidents, bird strikes (“By the time [the bird] entered the cockpit it had no wings or head. It was a little more than half a pound of bloody offal that hit [the pilot] in the face…But it came in at two hundred miles per hour”), machine-gunfire, and of course, the fire from above. Deighton takes the time to describe many of these fatalities in clinical detail, as though writing an autopsy. The images he creates are as terrifying as they are memorable.
Here, a dying airplane, a wounded pilot, and a wireless operator who has fallen without a parachute:
Three shells – one HE, one AP and one incendiary – exploded in glancing contact with the starboard fuselage exterior immediately to the rear of the mid-upper turret. Apart from mortally harming the gunner the explosion of the HE shell fractured the metal formers at a place where, after manufacture, the rear part of the fuselage is bolted on. The incendiary shell completed the severance. A structural bisection of [the plane] occurred one and a half minutes later and two thousand feet lower. Long before this, another HE shell passed through the elevator hinge-bracket on the tail and blew part of the servo trim tab assembly into the rear turret with such force that it decapitated the rear gunner. Those six hits were the most telling ones, but there were thirty-two others…
[The pilot] couldn’t hold her, he couldn’t. Oh dear God, his arms and legs! Dropping through the night like the paper aeroplane. “I’m sorry, chaps,” he shouted, for he felt a terrible sense of guilt. Involuntarily his bowels and bladder relaxed and he felt himself befouled. “I’m sorry.”
It was no use for [him] to scream apologies; there was no one aboard to hear him. He outlived any of his crew, for from 16,000 feet the wireless operator falling at 120 mph (the terminal velocity for his weight) reached the ground ninety seconds later. He made an indentation twelve inches deep. This represented a deceleration equivalent to 450 times the force of gravity. He split open like a slaughtered animal and died instantly. [The pilot], still strapped into the pilot’s seat and aghast at his incontinence, hit the earth (along with the front of the fuselage, two Rolls-Royce engines and most of the main spar) some four minutes after that. To him it seemed like four hours…
Here, a dying church in Altgarten:
Suddenly from the Liebefrau church there was a tremendous crash. A sheet of flame rose and sprinkled white-hot sparks across the roofs of the town.
The firemen had been expecting it. Half of a canister of incendiaries jettisoned by Munro’s younger brother Ian had been the deciding factor. Molten lead had been dripping on to the firemen below for some minutes. As soon as the men on the church roof saw the trusses buckling they hurried back down to the ground. The bells fell soon after that with a monstrous din. The stonework of the outer walls was expanding and it made angry growls and sudden cracks. The nave of the church was ablaze and the great stained-glass window had never shone more beautifully than it did in the Liebefrau’s final agony. A buttress fell with an awful crash. The stonework continued to expand until, with an earth-shaking roar, it released the roof upon the burning interior. Sparks flew into the air for a thousand feet and the windows flashed red.
The fifteenth-century altarpiece, the carved pulpit and the painting of the martyrs that was said to be a Van der Weyden were gone forever…
The use of such exacting details (the terminal velocity of a falling man; the number of shell fragments in an anti-aircraft burst; etc.) is part of Deighton’s attempt to demonstrate the gross modernity of mechanized warfare. He is not using Bomber to debate the rightness or wrongness of the Allied air campaigns over Germany (or, by implication, Japan). He uses it to express the conclusion that in war, all humans are victims of machines.
Roger Ebert used to quote the filmmaker Truffaut for the proposition that it is impossible to make an anti-war film. The reason: war’s inherent kinetic energy, the bonds between fighting men, and the sacrifices made by soldiers ultimately lend war the virtues of heroism and nobility.
It’s easier for a novel to take anti-war stance, and the most famous war novels – such as the aforementioned All Quiet on the Western Front – do just that. Bomber is unique in that it doesn’t tell you that war is hell. It shows you that hell in relentlessly grim and graphic vignettes. This is a book that gave me actual nightmares and left me troubled and unsettled.
I must add that I say that with great admiration for Deighton’s accomplishment.
July 25, 2023
We have three stories bound together as one during a fateful night in WW2.
An RAF bomber, its captain leading a green crew, set out on their mission to the Ruhr Valley in Germany.
Rising from his airfield to resist them is a German night fighter pilot in his Junkers Ju 88.
And far below is a young German boy asleep in his bed.
Deighton sets his spy novels aside to create a war story of pathos and fire.
An RAF bomber, its captain leading a green crew, set out on their mission to the Ruhr Valley in Germany.
Rising from his airfield to resist them is a German night fighter pilot in his Junkers Ju 88.
And far below is a young German boy asleep in his bed.
Deighton sets his spy novels aside to create a war story of pathos and fire.
November 22, 2008
The title of this book implies it's the story of a single British bomber crew flying over Germany during 1943. It's much more. Deighton, known for his in-depth research, has given us a very realistic portrayal of both sides, the families of the bomber crews, the German citizens and defenders. Soldiers on both sides are frustrated by awkward interpersonal relationships and comrades with differing motivations. Deighton follows the crews of several bombers, sent on night-time raid against the Ruhr. Lacking night-vision goggles the crews had to release their bombs guided by flares dropped by scout planes. On this raid, the scout plane is shot down and its flares released short of the intended target, on the innocuous little town of Altgarten — of no military significance.
British strategy was to drop bombs in the center of cities, usually targeting more civilians than military installations and to mix in lots of incendiaries and horrible phosphorous bombs to increase the damage. The soldiers of both sides are beleaguered by insidious forces in command. On the German side, Himmel, one of the best night-fighter pilots has stolen some medical documents that expose SS medical researchers using concentration camp as human guinea pigs in freezing experiments, so the Abwehr and Sicherheitsdienst want him arrested. In Britain, Lambert has the temerity to want to be with his wife rather than play cricket for the squadron team in an important match. He's also something of a rebel and because of that is being labeled LMF (Lacking Moral Fiber), i.e., a coward.
In the meantime, the farmers and citizens bemoan the loss of excellent farmland to huge airfields, land they know will never be returned. Neither are the citizens without flaws, as they funnel stolen and looted goods into their own pockets.
I particularly enjoyed one exchange. August Bach, a German pilot, is returning to his base with his friend, Max, when they are held up by a convoy directed by Vichy police.
"A Frenchman," said Max angrily. "They are a logical race. They should make good traffic police."
"Huh," said Max. "Logical. They put a knife between your ribs and spend an hour explaining the rational necessity of doing it."
"That sounds like a lot of Germans I know."
"No, a German puts a knife into your ribs and weeps a sea of regretful tears."
"August smiled. "And after the Englishman has wielded the knife? He says, 'Knife? What knife?' "
Sometimes the horror of war is brought home more vividly by almost dispassionately describing the raw facts. For example, a crew member’s chute fails to open after bailing out from his Lancaster. Falling from 16,000 feet at 120 miles per hour (his body's terminal velocity) he hits the ground in 90 seconds and makes an indentation 12 inches deep.
Neither side is favored in this work. Deighton read several hundred books in preparation and interviewed many survivors and the epilogue tells us where they are today. He focuses on the shared humanity and suffering, selflessness and heroism endemic to war. This book rivals Slaughterhouse Five and Hiroshima as a statement of the horror and stupidity of war.
British strategy was to drop bombs in the center of cities, usually targeting more civilians than military installations and to mix in lots of incendiaries and horrible phosphorous bombs to increase the damage. The soldiers of both sides are beleaguered by insidious forces in command. On the German side, Himmel, one of the best night-fighter pilots has stolen some medical documents that expose SS medical researchers using concentration camp as human guinea pigs in freezing experiments, so the Abwehr and Sicherheitsdienst want him arrested. In Britain, Lambert has the temerity to want to be with his wife rather than play cricket for the squadron team in an important match. He's also something of a rebel and because of that is being labeled LMF (Lacking Moral Fiber), i.e., a coward.
In the meantime, the farmers and citizens bemoan the loss of excellent farmland to huge airfields, land they know will never be returned. Neither are the citizens without flaws, as they funnel stolen and looted goods into their own pockets.
I particularly enjoyed one exchange. August Bach, a German pilot, is returning to his base with his friend, Max, when they are held up by a convoy directed by Vichy police.
"A Frenchman," said Max angrily. "They are a logical race. They should make good traffic police."
"Huh," said Max. "Logical. They put a knife between your ribs and spend an hour explaining the rational necessity of doing it."
"That sounds like a lot of Germans I know."
"No, a German puts a knife into your ribs and weeps a sea of regretful tears."
"August smiled. "And after the Englishman has wielded the knife? He says, 'Knife? What knife?' "
Sometimes the horror of war is brought home more vividly by almost dispassionately describing the raw facts. For example, a crew member’s chute fails to open after bailing out from his Lancaster. Falling from 16,000 feet at 120 miles per hour (his body's terminal velocity) he hits the ground in 90 seconds and makes an indentation 12 inches deep.
Neither side is favored in this work. Deighton read several hundred books in preparation and interviewed many survivors and the epilogue tells us where they are today. He focuses on the shared humanity and suffering, selflessness and heroism endemic to war. This book rivals Slaughterhouse Five and Hiroshima as a statement of the horror and stupidity of war.
May 21, 2016
A brutal read this. Deep in detail, the plot follows the planning, execution and conclusion of a bombing raid during World War Two. Told from the viewpoint of both British and German sides, Deighton utilises a clinically detached vantage point. This affords us a unique view, one in which terrible injuries and deaths are described in the same detail as the tactical approach of modern warfare.
This is surprisingly effective, and as each successive event is dissected, the pointlessness and barbarity of war is laid bare. There are no winners here, and I defy any reader to make their way through this and not feel absolutely gutted by the end.
Not for the faint-hearted.
This is surprisingly effective, and as each successive event is dissected, the pointlessness and barbarity of war is laid bare. There are no winners here, and I defy any reader to make their way through this and not feel absolutely gutted by the end.
Not for the faint-hearted.
December 20, 2013
This is an incredibly detailed look at the bombing of Germany, from both sides. For me the most poignant moment came when the Germans learned which city was about to get bombed, and a crew of women set to work peeling potatoes - knowing that the soup kitchens would be filled that night with thousands of homeless civilians. It's a fair and sympathetic look at the terror that people experienced, both on the ground and in the air. A must-read for anyone with even a cursory interest in war.
January 8, 2023
An absolutely fantastic account of a single bombing raid during WW2 told from perspective of both Allied and Axis participants. Incredibly detailed, packed with interesting characters, tense and action-packed, and very even handed. A genuinely excellent read.
November 21, 2014
Deighton employs fiction to bring home the reality of the British bomber offensive against Germany in WWII. Describing a single raid on the night of 31 June 1943 (a date calendar watchers will know never occurred), this is a comprehensive look at the kind of event that had taken on a near-ritualistic nature by this stage of the war. RAF bombers run the gauntlet of night-fighters and flak guns whilst civilians and firemen deal with the havoc they create on the ground. Deighton remains agnostic about the rights and wrongs of this form of warfare, leaving the reader to ponder questions which remain contentious to this day. Powerful and often harrowing, but definitely not one to miss for those interested in the stark realities of history.
August 13, 2017
Originally published on my blog here in February 2004.
I have always found this the hardest of Deighton's novels to get into, partly because it is so unrelentingly serious, but mainly because its beginning is poor. The first chapter in particular has some really terrible, clunking dialogue, and the mechanics of introducing his large cast of characters are not well handled. Even further into the novel, the prose is ponderous and Bomber is very slow moving for a thriller.
The idea of Bomber is to describe a twenty-four hours in the air war towards the end of the Second World War, without demonising the Germans or idolising the British. The airmen on both sides, in particular, are presented as normal people under a lot of stress. (Some of the ancillary characters are a bit more stereotyped, like the German secret policeman who tries to prove that one of the fliers is sabotaging the war effort, but even he has a less formalised counterpart among the British officers.)
Part of the reason for the ponderousness of Bomber is the literary weight of what Deighton is trying to do - conveying the brutality of war, the waste of a generation of young men, while making his portrayal evenhanded with the reader caring for people on both sides. The unpleasantness of twentieth century warfare and its wastefulness is a common theme from All Quiet on the Western Front to Mash, but it is far harder to think of other examples of war novels which do not just concentrate on one side. In many cases, the ability this gives to have a small number of central characters makes the writing more effective than it is here - the main characters in All Quiet on the Western Front form a single platoon of German soldiers, and M.A.S.H. never looks far beyond just two doctors. By contrast, there are dozens of characters in Bomber of approximately equal importance, which causes serious difficulties - they tend to be introduced with dull and lengthy biographical sketches, holding up the plot, and it is hard for the reader to remember who is who. (This second is a problem even in War and Peace, the most famous "cast of thousands" novel.) I certainly had the impression that Deighton's ambition here overreached his technique. Nevertheless, there are things to admire about the novel. Bomber is meticulously researched, with close attention to detail. (In current TV terminology, Bomber would definitely belong to the genre of docudrama.)
Thankfully, Bomber livens up a bit once the planes are airborne, about halfway through the five hundred pages. (The bombers being British, the raid is a night-time one; the Americans who carried out daylight raids are not even mentioned by Deighton.) For me, this was really too little too late.
Bomber is massively ambitious, which has led to many aspects of it better done by other authors. The touchstones novels about Second World War bombing are both American: Catch-22 about the stresses and strains of being a pilot, and Slaughterhouse-Five about the effects of saturation bombing (as experienced by P.O.W.s in Dresden). Both these novels are much more effective at conveying the horrors of war and the ways in which people cope with them; both are darkly humorous. Black humour is usually something of a Deighton trademark, but here it seems to have been squeezed out by the serious nature of his intentions.
To me, this novel is mainly of interest as a piece of historical research. Bomber is far less successful as a work of fiction, and remains the nearest to unreadable of any of Deighton's novels.
I have always found this the hardest of Deighton's novels to get into, partly because it is so unrelentingly serious, but mainly because its beginning is poor. The first chapter in particular has some really terrible, clunking dialogue, and the mechanics of introducing his large cast of characters are not well handled. Even further into the novel, the prose is ponderous and Bomber is very slow moving for a thriller.
The idea of Bomber is to describe a twenty-four hours in the air war towards the end of the Second World War, without demonising the Germans or idolising the British. The airmen on both sides, in particular, are presented as normal people under a lot of stress. (Some of the ancillary characters are a bit more stereotyped, like the German secret policeman who tries to prove that one of the fliers is sabotaging the war effort, but even he has a less formalised counterpart among the British officers.)
Part of the reason for the ponderousness of Bomber is the literary weight of what Deighton is trying to do - conveying the brutality of war, the waste of a generation of young men, while making his portrayal evenhanded with the reader caring for people on both sides. The unpleasantness of twentieth century warfare and its wastefulness is a common theme from All Quiet on the Western Front to Mash, but it is far harder to think of other examples of war novels which do not just concentrate on one side. In many cases, the ability this gives to have a small number of central characters makes the writing more effective than it is here - the main characters in All Quiet on the Western Front form a single platoon of German soldiers, and M.A.S.H. never looks far beyond just two doctors. By contrast, there are dozens of characters in Bomber of approximately equal importance, which causes serious difficulties - they tend to be introduced with dull and lengthy biographical sketches, holding up the plot, and it is hard for the reader to remember who is who. (This second is a problem even in War and Peace, the most famous "cast of thousands" novel.) I certainly had the impression that Deighton's ambition here overreached his technique. Nevertheless, there are things to admire about the novel. Bomber is meticulously researched, with close attention to detail. (In current TV terminology, Bomber would definitely belong to the genre of docudrama.)
Thankfully, Bomber livens up a bit once the planes are airborne, about halfway through the five hundred pages. (The bombers being British, the raid is a night-time one; the Americans who carried out daylight raids are not even mentioned by Deighton.) For me, this was really too little too late.
Bomber is massively ambitious, which has led to many aspects of it better done by other authors. The touchstones novels about Second World War bombing are both American: Catch-22 about the stresses and strains of being a pilot, and Slaughterhouse-Five about the effects of saturation bombing (as experienced by P.O.W.s in Dresden). Both these novels are much more effective at conveying the horrors of war and the ways in which people cope with them; both are darkly humorous. Black humour is usually something of a Deighton trademark, but here it seems to have been squeezed out by the serious nature of his intentions.
To me, this novel is mainly of interest as a piece of historical research. Bomber is far less successful as a work of fiction, and remains the nearest to unreadable of any of Deighton's novels.
April 25, 2023
A couple of weeks ago, I was inspired by an article about the novels of Len Deighton to seek out some of his books. My goal was to pick up a secondhand copy of one of his Harry Palmer novels, but when I searched for them in my nearby used bookstore I found none on offer. Among his books they did have, though, was his novel about a Bomber Command raid on a German town. As it was one of the works singled out by the author of the article I decided to give a try.
At first, I wasn’t impressed. Deighton takes his time building up to the main event, spending a little over half of the book recounting a day in the lives of both the British aircrews and the Germans who would be involved in the attack. Yet this proves important to his goal, as doing so invests the reader emotionally in his subjects. There are no outright heroes or villains in his book, just flawed people caught up in the war around them. Though they know that the prospects for death loom over them, Deighton shows how they endeavor to get on with their lives and work towards futures that could be taken from them at any moment.
Having then built up a range of characters in the first half of the book, Deighton then spends the rest of it on the raid and its aftermath. It’s a highly detailed account that reflects a considerable amount of research, yet Deighton never lets the details of Lancaster design or German air defense operations overwhelm the text. His focus remains resolutely on his characters, as we see the people with whom we’ve become familiar interact with each other as strangers. Known to us, their actions impact each other anonymously, showing how war could be both personal and impersonal at the same time.
That Deighton has invested thought in developing his characters is reflected at the end of the book, in which he provides brief summaries of the subsequent fates of the survivors of the attack. It’s a coda that serves as further evidence of how much effort he put into this fine work, which serves as a powerful commentary on the horrors of war. Because for all of Deighton’s obvious admiration for the boys who flew for Bomber Command, it’s the tragedies of their mission that stand out most dramatically after the last page.
At first, I wasn’t impressed. Deighton takes his time building up to the main event, spending a little over half of the book recounting a day in the lives of both the British aircrews and the Germans who would be involved in the attack. Yet this proves important to his goal, as doing so invests the reader emotionally in his subjects. There are no outright heroes or villains in his book, just flawed people caught up in the war around them. Though they know that the prospects for death loom over them, Deighton shows how they endeavor to get on with their lives and work towards futures that could be taken from them at any moment.
Having then built up a range of characters in the first half of the book, Deighton then spends the rest of it on the raid and its aftermath. It’s a highly detailed account that reflects a considerable amount of research, yet Deighton never lets the details of Lancaster design or German air defense operations overwhelm the text. His focus remains resolutely on his characters, as we see the people with whom we’ve become familiar interact with each other as strangers. Known to us, their actions impact each other anonymously, showing how war could be both personal and impersonal at the same time.
That Deighton has invested thought in developing his characters is reflected at the end of the book, in which he provides brief summaries of the subsequent fates of the survivors of the attack. It’s a coda that serves as further evidence of how much effort he put into this fine work, which serves as a powerful commentary on the horrors of war. Because for all of Deighton’s obvious admiration for the boys who flew for Bomber Command, it’s the tragedies of their mission that stand out most dramatically after the last page.
June 28, 2018
Description: It is 18 February 1943, and RAF Lancaster bomber FW 183 - call sign O-Orange - is about to set off on its final mission. It is a raid which will touch the lives of hundreds: the civilians in the small German town of Altgarten, consumed by blazing fire, and the crews, both German and British, men and women.It is a night of horror that few will forget...
When the dramatised version of Bomber was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it was transmitted in "real time" throughout the day, to incredible critical and audience response.
Bomber is a thrilling, action-packed and ultimately poignant story that will stay in the listener’s imagination for a long time to come.
Cast:
Tom Baker............ Commentator
Frank Windsor........ Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris
Samuel West.......... Flt Sgt Sam Lambert
Emma Chambers........ Corporal Ruth Lambert
Jack Shepherd........ Oberleutnant August Bach
Brian Murphy......... Willi Reinecke
Alice Arnold......... Anna-Luisa
Michael Throughton... Flt Lt Terry Sweet
Siriol Jenkins....... Corporal Madge Scott
Dominic Rickards..... Oberleutnant Baron Victor von Lowenherz
John Woodvine........ Walter Ryessman
David Antrobus....... Sgt ‘Batters’ Battersby
Clive Hill........... Sgt Huw ‘Binty’ Jones
Jonathan Keeble...... Sgt Digby
Ian Peck............. Sgt ‘Flash’ Gordon
Joshua Towb.......... Sgt Simon ‘Kosher’ Cohen
Terry John........... Sgt Jimmy Grimm
Russel Floyd......... S.S. Sturmbahnfuhrer Fischer
November 2, 2010
A terrific and meticulously researched piece of writing, showing a WW2 RAF bombing raid on a German town. The novel has characters on both sides, so not only do we get the bomber crews' perspective but also those of the German night fighter crews, radar operators, civil defence workers and civilians on the ground.
Bomber is written in a matter-of-fact style that brings home the random nature of warfare - the lucky escapes, the pointless deaths. If you ever need convincing that in modern warfare there are no winners this is the book to read.
Bomber is written in a matter-of-fact style that brings home the random nature of warfare - the lucky escapes, the pointless deaths. If you ever need convincing that in modern warfare there are no winners this is the book to read.
April 11, 2013
This could very well be the best book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I discovered Len Deighton in the late 80's, while stationed in Germany and read everything I could find of his from the post library. I devoured all of his books but, 'Bomber' eluded me until a few months ago. To be honest, I am glad it took me so long to finally read this book because I don't think the younger version of "me" was ready to fully comprehend the brutal honesty of war that is depicted by Deighton in 'Bomber'.
I came to appreciate all of the characters (100+) in this book and welcomed a chance to see the war from the British and German perspective. Granted, this book is a work of fiction but based on careful research of actual bombing campaigns during the war. I have to believe that anyone that lived through these events would readily relate to the feelings and actions portrayed by the characters brought to life by Deighton.
My personal thoughts and bias follows..... may contain spoilers.
The more I read and thought about each chapter, the more I came to realize that Deighton is not glorifying war. There are no heroes and there are no winners...... people caught up in the complex machinery of war that are simply trying to survive another day and return to a peaceful existence. Deighton tackles many themes in a subtle manner to include class warfare, sexism, bigotry and technology. This book is brutal and does not glorify any aspect of the fighting. It was hard, dangerous and, well, deadly. IMHO, it is a book about war that is decidedly anti-war.
It has been several days since I finished reading and I am still thinking about the characters and the final moments painted so vividly by Deighton. I felt a personal connection to these people and am still saddened by the outcomes. I can't think of another time when I have been so attached to a story.
I came to appreciate all of the characters (100+) in this book and welcomed a chance to see the war from the British and German perspective. Granted, this book is a work of fiction but based on careful research of actual bombing campaigns during the war. I have to believe that anyone that lived through these events would readily relate to the feelings and actions portrayed by the characters brought to life by Deighton.
My personal thoughts and bias follows..... may contain spoilers.
The more I read and thought about each chapter, the more I came to realize that Deighton is not glorifying war. There are no heroes and there are no winners...... people caught up in the complex machinery of war that are simply trying to survive another day and return to a peaceful existence. Deighton tackles many themes in a subtle manner to include class warfare, sexism, bigotry and technology. This book is brutal and does not glorify any aspect of the fighting. It was hard, dangerous and, well, deadly. IMHO, it is a book about war that is decidedly anti-war.
It has been several days since I finished reading and I am still thinking about the characters and the final moments painted so vividly by Deighton. I felt a personal connection to these people and am still saddened by the outcomes. I can't think of another time when I have been so attached to a story.
November 29, 2023
The bombing of civilians during wartime and the concept of “collective guilt;” particularly today with events in Gaza is very controversial. The moral dilemma and the psychological component are aptly portrayed in Kurt Vonnegut’s work, SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE as well as in non-fiction offerings such as historians Richard Overy’s THE BOMBERS AND THE BOMBED: ALLIED AIRWAR OVER EUROPE, 1940-1945; Frederick Taylor’s DRESDEN: TUESDAY FEBRUARY 13, 1945, AND COVENTRY NOVEMBER 14, 1940; Jorg Friedrich’s THE BOMBING OF GERMANY 1940-1945; and Keith Lowe’s INFERNO:THE FIERY DESTRUCTION OF HAMBURG 1943. These accounts are accurate and extremely impactful.
Four decades ago, probably the most precise novel dealing with the air war over Germany was Len Deighton’s BOMBER. The book has recently been reissued depicting an RAF Squadron in devastating detail over a 24 hour period, June 31, 1943, a date the author created. It focuses on an RAF attack on a German city of Krefeld that went wrong resulting in the bombing of the village of Altgarten and the German pilots who met them in the air.
The main characters are RAF pilot, Sergeant Sam Lambert, one of England’s best pilots, and German ace, Oberleutnant Baron Victor von Lowenherz. Deighton develops these fictional characters very carefully integrating their private lives, members of their squad, and their views about the war. Deighton’s detail is exceptional, from the Operations room, mental and mechanical preparations of the pilots, strategies, aircraft design and capabilities. Deighton goes as far as charting the arc of survival for pilots based on the number of missions flown, in addition to factoring the cost of each bomber that was launched on June 31. In all areas the author’s diligence and knowledge of air campaigns is remarkable as is his precise depictions of planes, weapons, and behind the scenes war strategy.
Deighton does well in creating background biographies for all the major characters he introduces which provides insight into their emotions and reactions to the war, air combat preparations, and human relationships. A number stand out including Sergeant Simon Cohen, Flight Sergeants Battersby and Digby all members of Lambert’s squad. Christian Himmel, a twenty-two year old experienced German pilot who steals and leaks information concerning “freezing” experiments of Jews at Dachau to assist German aviators who were shot down in freezing climates. Flight Lieutenant Sweet, Commander of Lambert’s group who believes his underling is too pro-communist. Johannes Iif, a fireman in Altgarten who experienced the fire-bombing of Cologne, an anti-Nazi who was an expert on British ordinance. Gerd Boll and Oberzugtuhrer Bodo Reuter who were in charge of damage control in Altgarten after the waves of British attack planes. Luftwaffe Oberleutnant August Bach, commander of radar station “Ermine” who falls in love with his young housekeeper. Willi Reinecke, Bach’s second in command, and lastly, Hansil, a German boy in the small market town of Altgarten. There are numerous other characters who scheme, plot, fall in love, and experience life as normally as possible based on their situation. Deighton creates an enormous cast that includes airmen, soldiers, firemen, nurses, doctors, wives and civilians of all descriptions which lends itself to an intricate plot despite the fact that the story is developed within the confines of one day.
The author makes many insightful observations. First, the social class component involving aviators and those that work with them. Certain characters find it abhorrent that bakers, miners, milkmen, firemen, etc. can become pilots. These individuals cannot accept the ranks members of the “lower class” achieve but are forced to work with them. Deighton continuously points to the experiences of German soldiers and aviators on the eastern front which creates a great deal of sarcasm and anti-Nazi commentary among those who survived Stalin’s armies. He points out correctly that Hitler was running out of soldiers and teenagers from the Hitlergund were forced to fight in combat roles. There are also observations pertaining to pilot attitudes toward the rear echelon bureaucrats who made strategic decisions far from the air war provoking aviator anger. The pettiness of certain individuals is clear, i.e.; trying to force Lambert’s wife, Ruth to convince her husband to play cricket for the company team or he would be prosecuted for supposed leftist views. These are just a few insights, there are many more.
Deighton compares Krefeld, the German city, which was the original target of RAF planes, a city known for heavy industry, textiles, light industry, communications in the Ruhr Valley, and Altgarten, the unfortunate victim of RAF error, a sleepy village made up of mostly wooden structures with no wartime industry. As the 700 RAF planes are launched, Deighton focuses on the arial combat in a realistic fashion. However, the German pilots are not able to prevent the disaster that was about to fall on the small German village. Throughout the aerial scenes that Deighton develops, realism is the key allowing the reader to feel that they are aboard RAF or Luftwaffe aircraft.
The British strategy to send hundreds of planes, night after night, to bomb the civilian areas of German cities was based on the decisions of Arthur Harris, head of the RAF Bomber Command. As Malcom Gladwell writes in his review of the reissuance of BOMBER; “Harris was resolutely unsentimental about his decision. He once wrote that it “should be unambiguously stated” that the RAF’s goal was “the destruction of German cities, the killing of German workers, and the disruption of civilized life throughout Germany … the destruction of houses, public utilities, transport and lives, the creation of a refugee problem on an unprecedented scale.” His nickname was “Butcher” Harris, a sobriquet employed with a certain grudging respect, on the understanding that butchers can be useful in times of war. Harris was a psychopath. Twenty-five thousand people in Cologne once burned to death, in one night, on his orders.” According to British novelist Vera Brittain the people of England acquiesced to his decision because they did not have the imagination to appreciate what those deadly bombing campaigns meant to those on the ground.*
I agree with Gladwell that Deighton’s BOMBER is perhaps the greatest antiwar novels that has been written. It may come across as a bit dated, but in reality it is a superb account of aerial combat and the people whose lives depended upon it. For the author one of his goals was to convey the dehumanizing effects of mechanical warfare, a goal he clearly achieved.
*Malcom Gladwell, “Bomber” is one of the Greatest British antiwar novels ever written,” Wsahington Post, August 18, 2023.
Four decades ago, probably the most precise novel dealing with the air war over Germany was Len Deighton’s BOMBER. The book has recently been reissued depicting an RAF Squadron in devastating detail over a 24 hour period, June 31, 1943, a date the author created. It focuses on an RAF attack on a German city of Krefeld that went wrong resulting in the bombing of the village of Altgarten and the German pilots who met them in the air.
The main characters are RAF pilot, Sergeant Sam Lambert, one of England’s best pilots, and German ace, Oberleutnant Baron Victor von Lowenherz. Deighton develops these fictional characters very carefully integrating their private lives, members of their squad, and their views about the war. Deighton’s detail is exceptional, from the Operations room, mental and mechanical preparations of the pilots, strategies, aircraft design and capabilities. Deighton goes as far as charting the arc of survival for pilots based on the number of missions flown, in addition to factoring the cost of each bomber that was launched on June 31. In all areas the author’s diligence and knowledge of air campaigns is remarkable as is his precise depictions of planes, weapons, and behind the scenes war strategy.
Deighton does well in creating background biographies for all the major characters he introduces which provides insight into their emotions and reactions to the war, air combat preparations, and human relationships. A number stand out including Sergeant Simon Cohen, Flight Sergeants Battersby and Digby all members of Lambert’s squad. Christian Himmel, a twenty-two year old experienced German pilot who steals and leaks information concerning “freezing” experiments of Jews at Dachau to assist German aviators who were shot down in freezing climates. Flight Lieutenant Sweet, Commander of Lambert’s group who believes his underling is too pro-communist. Johannes Iif, a fireman in Altgarten who experienced the fire-bombing of Cologne, an anti-Nazi who was an expert on British ordinance. Gerd Boll and Oberzugtuhrer Bodo Reuter who were in charge of damage control in Altgarten after the waves of British attack planes. Luftwaffe Oberleutnant August Bach, commander of radar station “Ermine” who falls in love with his young housekeeper. Willi Reinecke, Bach’s second in command, and lastly, Hansil, a German boy in the small market town of Altgarten. There are numerous other characters who scheme, plot, fall in love, and experience life as normally as possible based on their situation. Deighton creates an enormous cast that includes airmen, soldiers, firemen, nurses, doctors, wives and civilians of all descriptions which lends itself to an intricate plot despite the fact that the story is developed within the confines of one day.
The author makes many insightful observations. First, the social class component involving aviators and those that work with them. Certain characters find it abhorrent that bakers, miners, milkmen, firemen, etc. can become pilots. These individuals cannot accept the ranks members of the “lower class” achieve but are forced to work with them. Deighton continuously points to the experiences of German soldiers and aviators on the eastern front which creates a great deal of sarcasm and anti-Nazi commentary among those who survived Stalin’s armies. He points out correctly that Hitler was running out of soldiers and teenagers from the Hitlergund were forced to fight in combat roles. There are also observations pertaining to pilot attitudes toward the rear echelon bureaucrats who made strategic decisions far from the air war provoking aviator anger. The pettiness of certain individuals is clear, i.e.; trying to force Lambert’s wife, Ruth to convince her husband to play cricket for the company team or he would be prosecuted for supposed leftist views. These are just a few insights, there are many more.
Deighton compares Krefeld, the German city, which was the original target of RAF planes, a city known for heavy industry, textiles, light industry, communications in the Ruhr Valley, and Altgarten, the unfortunate victim of RAF error, a sleepy village made up of mostly wooden structures with no wartime industry. As the 700 RAF planes are launched, Deighton focuses on the arial combat in a realistic fashion. However, the German pilots are not able to prevent the disaster that was about to fall on the small German village. Throughout the aerial scenes that Deighton develops, realism is the key allowing the reader to feel that they are aboard RAF or Luftwaffe aircraft.
The British strategy to send hundreds of planes, night after night, to bomb the civilian areas of German cities was based on the decisions of Arthur Harris, head of the RAF Bomber Command. As Malcom Gladwell writes in his review of the reissuance of BOMBER; “Harris was resolutely unsentimental about his decision. He once wrote that it “should be unambiguously stated” that the RAF’s goal was “the destruction of German cities, the killing of German workers, and the disruption of civilized life throughout Germany … the destruction of houses, public utilities, transport and lives, the creation of a refugee problem on an unprecedented scale.” His nickname was “Butcher” Harris, a sobriquet employed with a certain grudging respect, on the understanding that butchers can be useful in times of war. Harris was a psychopath. Twenty-five thousand people in Cologne once burned to death, in one night, on his orders.” According to British novelist Vera Brittain the people of England acquiesced to his decision because they did not have the imagination to appreciate what those deadly bombing campaigns meant to those on the ground.*
I agree with Gladwell that Deighton’s BOMBER is perhaps the greatest antiwar novels that has been written. It may come across as a bit dated, but in reality it is a superb account of aerial combat and the people whose lives depended upon it. For the author one of his goals was to convey the dehumanizing effects of mechanical warfare, a goal he clearly achieved.
*Malcom Gladwell, “Bomber” is one of the Greatest British antiwar novels ever written,” Wsahington Post, August 18, 2023.
March 20, 2011
Without any doubt my favourite book of all time. I must have read Bomber at least ten times. It paints a vivid picture of a bombing raid over Germany during WWII. From the prejudices of RAF officers, the workings of a bomber station, to the German radar installations on the Dutch coast and the small market town of Altgarten to suffers a 750 heavy bomber raid.
An exercise in futility but so well researched and put together. A fantastic book, very highly recommended.
An exercise in futility but so well researched and put together. A fantastic book, very highly recommended.
May 26, 2010
Bomber was my intro to Deighton, bought it off a discount rack for
a $1. A good read and detailed tale of the various characters
on both sides of a bomber raid.
Some of the various stories followed: the Ju-88 night fighters
with their experimental nitrous-oxide superchargers
stalking the british pathfinders, the air raid warden & mayor coping
with a huge raid on his small town, the bomb expert, the
off shore AA gunner, all progress to the finale.
January 23, 2025
It's slow going for the first 150-200 pages as Deighton familiarizes you with the many (probably too many) characters in this historical novel; there are probably some smaller storylines that were better left out. Deighton also goes into a lot of detail about the mechanics of the planes and equipment, but barring those things, if you have the patience to get through the first half of the book, the second half is absolutely riveting.
February 6, 2024
This was an interesting companion read to Catch 22, and my brain is doing all kinds of fun analysis right now
“These armchair warriors,” murmured Digby, “they’ll fight to the last drop of our blood.”
“These armchair warriors,” murmured Digby, “they’ll fight to the last drop of our blood.”
July 23, 2021
Bomber has got to be contender for one of the best-researched works of historical fiction. Set entirely within a 24-hour period, its historical detail, vivid descriptions and writing style make for a compelling and at times chilling read which presents a well-rounded account of war's brutality. It is truly hard to fault.
July 14, 2016
An exhaustive and, to some extent, exhausting fictional account of a British bombing raid on a German town in mid-1943. Deighton, who did not serve during World War II, draws on voluminous research as well his experience as an RAF pilot to re-create the physical experience of war, right down to an attack of diarrhea while flying an airplane 20,000 feet over occupied Europe. His knowledge of British and German fighter planes gets a bit monographic at times, but I'm guessing it fascinates military history aficionados. As for his writing, it's smooth as always, but the glibness he displays in his spy novels here becomes an unsettling detachment as he describes the dismemberment, disembowelment, and disintegration of characters with whom the reader has just spent the last several hundred pages.
February 19, 2015
Twenty-four hours in the air war. Amazingly detailed without boring; amazingly peopled without stock characters.
Read
November 29, 2023Dnf
Exhausting amount of detail and innumerable characters made this a real slog.
Exhausting amount of detail and innumerable characters made this a real slog.
February 27, 2025
"Bomber" by Len Deighton is a masterpiece. Absolutely a solid five stars from me. I've read a lot of war novels, but this one really stuck with me.
What struck me most was the sheer vividness of it all. Deighton doesn't just tell you a story; he throws you right into the cockpit of a Lancaster bomber, into the cramped operations rooms, and into the shattered streets below. The descriptions are so incredibly detailed, you can practically smell the burnt cordite and feel the bone-chilling cold of the night air. Every dial, every switch, every creak of the aircraft is brought to life. He paints such a clear picture of the technology, the procedures, and the absolute chaos of aerial warfare that it's almost overwhelming.
The tension build up throughout the book is equally intense, gripping and horrifying . It's a slow burn, meticulously built up from the first page. You know things are going to go wrong, and you can feel that dread tightening its grip as the story progresses. The way Deighton weaves together the perspectives of the aircrew, the ground controllers, and the civilians on the receiving end is brilliant. It creates this incredibly immersive and claustrophobic atmosphere.
Yes, the devastation and death are chilling. There's no sugarcoating the horror of war. But there's also something strangely mesmerising about it. Deighton doesn't glorify violence, but he forces you to confront its brutal reality. The sheer scale of the destruction, the waste of human life, it's laid bare in all its starkness. It's a powerful and disturbing experience, but one that leaves a lasting impression.
"Bomber" isn't just a war story; it's a meticulously crafted, intensely detailed, and utterly compelling exploration of human experience under extreme pressure. Highly recommended.
What struck me most was the sheer vividness of it all. Deighton doesn't just tell you a story; he throws you right into the cockpit of a Lancaster bomber, into the cramped operations rooms, and into the shattered streets below. The descriptions are so incredibly detailed, you can practically smell the burnt cordite and feel the bone-chilling cold of the night air. Every dial, every switch, every creak of the aircraft is brought to life. He paints such a clear picture of the technology, the procedures, and the absolute chaos of aerial warfare that it's almost overwhelming.
The tension build up throughout the book is equally intense, gripping and horrifying . It's a slow burn, meticulously built up from the first page. You know things are going to go wrong, and you can feel that dread tightening its grip as the story progresses. The way Deighton weaves together the perspectives of the aircrew, the ground controllers, and the civilians on the receiving end is brilliant. It creates this incredibly immersive and claustrophobic atmosphere.
Yes, the devastation and death are chilling. There's no sugarcoating the horror of war. But there's also something strangely mesmerising about it. Deighton doesn't glorify violence, but he forces you to confront its brutal reality. The sheer scale of the destruction, the waste of human life, it's laid bare in all its starkness. It's a powerful and disturbing experience, but one that leaves a lasting impression.
"Bomber" isn't just a war story; it's a meticulously crafted, intensely detailed, and utterly compelling exploration of human experience under extreme pressure. Highly recommended.
July 25, 2024
This is a brilliant book. Yes, the start is slow, the vast cast sometimes tricky to recall exactly who is who, but goodness, the writing is so good that by the end the descriptive power of seeing the results of this one bombing raid (fictional, but incredibly vivid) is heartbreaking. This is war as a human-mincing machine, and at turns is incredibly lyrical and incredibly brutal. No one wins. We feel liking and hating for men on both sides.
I thought it was going to be non-fiction, like his Fighter - I’m glad it wasn’t.
I thought it was going to be non-fiction, like his Fighter - I’m glad it wasn’t.
May 23, 2020
A fascinating, tightly-written chronicle of many lives on or between two continents across 24 hours. My appreciation of this book is Deighton’s acute attention to detail in the development of its locales, characters, procedures, and equipment described page by page. He brings you vivid experiences in this book.
August 30, 2025
Long slog to get to around 20%, gave up. Possibly interesting characters developing and it was a quality build of the WWII world in the UK + Germany, maybe I was just reading this at the wrong time and distracted with a bunch of other books.
July 9, 2024
The ultimate walkthrough of everything that can happen to you in an air raid, either in the air or on the ground, at every level. Quite gruesome in places for that reason but extremely well written.
July 30, 2025
Such a detailed account of the horrors of war through the eyes of a bomber command, revealing all the terrible effects on them, the German fighters and the civilians on the ground.
It is a powerful commentary showing the pointlessness of war and the dreadful destruction it wreaks on everyone and everything.
It is a powerful commentary showing the pointlessness of war and the dreadful destruction it wreaks on everyone and everything.
March 18, 2025
So much information and detail written a masterly manner. If you want an insight into the bombing raids of the RAF and the defenders of 1943 this is a fine way to find it.
May 16, 2025
Does for world war what Threads does for nuclear conflict.
June 24, 2024
I'm left undecided about this one. It's an epic compressed into a few hours, a bombing raid leaving England, crossing the Netherlands, attacking Nazi Germany. Your sympathies are logically with the Allied aircrew, your sympathy is with the German civilians about to be bombed, you can recognise the human problems of the German aircrew trying to defend their homeland against attack. And it's a horror which is made even more immediate, intense and visceral by the current attrocities being inflicted on Gaza and Palestinian civilians.
It has all the hallmarks of an epic - it's tackling world events, it's exploring major issues (whether emotional, moral or political), and it has a cast of thousands, some of whom you're going to get to know better. Deighton keeps keeps quoting facts and figures at you - casualty rates, accidental bombings, chances of dying for RAF aircrew, etc. There's this weave of statistics and 'fact' ... is it real, is it an accurate description of epic events from World War 2, or is it merely colour added to camouflage a fiction?
OK, so he's working his socks off to create atmosphere, to draw you into a tale, to win your sympathies for characters across the divide of war. You find yourself at both ends of the bombers' flightpath. It's obviously not going to end happily for all the characters ... .
A slow build, setting the scene, civilians going about their lives, people doing their everyday wartime jobs - being a fireman in a war is significantly different from being a fireman in peacetime. You can sense the strain, the exhaustion, the fatalism, the fear.
And I was waiting for something to happen. I was struggling to remember who was who. I found my interest drifting, my attention drifting. Surely going off to bomb somewhere is hardly routine, surely going about your everyday life concerned that, maybe, tonight there will be an air raid ... surely there can't be routines ... or maybe you accommodate yourself to fatalism, to the timetable of war?
I simply couldn't immerse myself in the story. It was predictable to the extent you know the bombers are going to take off, some won't be coming back, you know some of the characters you've visited at the receiving end will end up being bombed, but I couldn't actually get absorbed in their tales.
Interesting piece of writing, instructive piece of writing is you want to work on some epic of your own ... there are pointers here, questions you may care to ask yourself about structure and characterisation, about pacing ... about a score of practical and professional aspects of the writing process. But I couldn't get in to it ... and that's the major question I'm left asking - because I couldn't get wholly absorbed in the tale, I can't put my finger on why it failed to engage me.
It has all the hallmarks of an epic - it's tackling world events, it's exploring major issues (whether emotional, moral or political), and it has a cast of thousands, some of whom you're going to get to know better. Deighton keeps keeps quoting facts and figures at you - casualty rates, accidental bombings, chances of dying for RAF aircrew, etc. There's this weave of statistics and 'fact' ... is it real, is it an accurate description of epic events from World War 2, or is it merely colour added to camouflage a fiction?
OK, so he's working his socks off to create atmosphere, to draw you into a tale, to win your sympathies for characters across the divide of war. You find yourself at both ends of the bombers' flightpath. It's obviously not going to end happily for all the characters ... .
A slow build, setting the scene, civilians going about their lives, people doing their everyday wartime jobs - being a fireman in a war is significantly different from being a fireman in peacetime. You can sense the strain, the exhaustion, the fatalism, the fear.
And I was waiting for something to happen. I was struggling to remember who was who. I found my interest drifting, my attention drifting. Surely going off to bomb somewhere is hardly routine, surely going about your everyday life concerned that, maybe, tonight there will be an air raid ... surely there can't be routines ... or maybe you accommodate yourself to fatalism, to the timetable of war?
I simply couldn't immerse myself in the story. It was predictable to the extent you know the bombers are going to take off, some won't be coming back, you know some of the characters you've visited at the receiving end will end up being bombed, but I couldn't actually get absorbed in their tales.
Interesting piece of writing, instructive piece of writing is you want to work on some epic of your own ... there are pointers here, questions you may care to ask yourself about structure and characterisation, about pacing ... about a score of practical and professional aspects of the writing process. But I couldn't get in to it ... and that's the major question I'm left asking - because I couldn't get wholly absorbed in the tale, I can't put my finger on why it failed to engage me.
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