The Red Line

by John Nicol

A gripping account of the disastrous 10,000 bomber raid on Hitler's lair, told for the first and final time. In March 1944 - as part of Bomber Command's 'Battle of Berlin' to decimate Hitler's capital city - the RAF attacked the spiritual home of the Nazi Party - Nuremberg. The raid that began on the evening of 30 March 1944 was a run-of-the-mill operation for the by then 'Thousand-Bomber' raids the RAF and United States Air Force were undertaking every week - as would be seen with Dresden's destruction in late 1944. What makes this operation so significant was that it would be the costliest in terms of aircraft losses that RAF Bomber Command suffered in a single night attack during the whole of the Second World War. The average attrition rate of a night raid was twenty planes, but, during this raid the British lost 96 Lancaster, and Halifax, bombers shot down and a further 10 written-off after landing, making a total of 106 aircraft lost (nearly 700 men killed or missing) and resulted in one pilot being awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. In addition, Nuremberg suffered comparatively light damage and the raid has since come to be seen by historians as a comparative failure. This new book would tell the human story of this disaster. John will look into the archives to research official reports on what went wrong with the operation, and how the RAF reacted to it. He will also look at the air crews debriefing notes as to their first-hand accounts of the disaster and why they feel it was ill-timed and the Germans were waiting for them. But, the main crux of the book is the human angle and Nichol brings his insightful and empathetic skills to bear with interviews of the very last survivors of this raid (who are all in their late 80s and 90s) to finally tell the true story of this most terrible night in Bomber Command's history.

Genres: World War II, Aviation, Nonfiction

298 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2013

Reviews

[Mike]

The Red Line gets 4 Stars for telling the story of the worst night in RAF history, the raid on Nuremburg, on 30 Mar 1944. Mr. Nichol tells the story of the raid through the eyes of the participants on both sides, pilots, aircrew, ground crews, families, civilians seeing the bombers off and civilians being bombed. Just a little bit of it covers the RAF leadership that sent the raid. I have read about many USAAF daylight raids in European skies but little about the RAF. It is certainly harder to tell the story of nighttime raids because each aircraft is on its own. Nichol pulls the stories of this night together in a mostly coherent manner. He tells the pre-raid stories of the main players, how they came to be in the RAF and on the mission. I took away one star because the scene often jumps from one aircraft or crew member to another with no transition. Sometimes very hard to remember who he is talking about.

The story begins with the opening of the Bomber Command Memorial. I was immediately choked up as the brave and unassuming members of WWII RAF are finally recognized…in 2012! What a travesty they had to wait so long for their moment of recognition. Bomber Command was shabbily treated for doing the job their political and military leaders asked them to do. So many were killed over 6 long years of war. I am glad the author brings the participants to the fore and relates their experiences. Mr. Nichol tells many stories of serendipity or unbelievable coincidence. Men perish in droves on the raid, but some survive in astonishing ways.

You have heard about a lack of atheists in foxholes and perhaps there similar experiences in the airwar. Most prefer to keep a religious feeling private. But there is always that one who speaks out loud:

For the more religious amongst them, it often paid to keep their prayers to themselves. Rusty knew of one skipper who took a senior officer out over Germany. Their aircraft came under heavy fire from a night fighter. When the rear gunner shouted, ‘The bastards are everywhere!’ their guest replied, ‘Never fear, rear gunner, never fear — the Lord is with us.

‘He might be up your fucking end,’ the gunner replied, ‘but there’s no sign of him back here.’

The stories of several German night fighter pilots/crews are told. For several it was like shooting ducks off a pond. At the time of the raid, the German tactical innovation of upward firing guns, called Schräge Musik, was still unknown to the allies. It was a killer invention:

He (Oberleutnant Martin Drewes) took off from Loan-Athies in France shortly after 11 p.m. with two other crew members crammed into his twin-engine Messerschmitt 110. Directly behind him was his radar operator, Georg Petz. The pair had 38 kills to their name. Their air-gunner was huddled to Petz’s rear in a small glasshouse with two 2 cm drum-fed cannons at his knees, each holding 75 rounds of ammunition, built into the back of the cramped cabin and aimed upwards: Schräge Musik .

Drewes pointed his aircraft across Belgium and headed for the Ida beacon. Ground Control’s running commentary told him to take an easterly course. He saw a bomber above them almost instantly, but their relative speeds were such that he was unable to turn and give chase.

‘Not to worry,’ he said to Petz. ‘Where there is one, there will be others.’

Petz switched on his radar screen. Drewes was right. Three clear blips appeared on the screen. A few seconds later they could see a Lancaster silhouetted in the moonlight. As it flew on, heedless of the threat, Drewes manoeuvred into position beneath its massive belly. Mindful that the full bomb load only metres above his head could destroy them as well as their prey, Drewes delayed their attack until the air-gunner could target the bomber’s engines. After a prolonged burst of Schräge Musik he dived away to safety as flames started to consume the wounded Lancaster then tore it apart.

Ten minutes later Drewes slid his Messerschmitt beneath a second Lancaster. His gunner’s cannon jammed, but he still managed to score a hit. The bomber tried to dive to avoid further damage, but its starboard wing was soon ablaze. Georg Petz watched as its nose started to fall. ‘As Drewes pulled away, the Lancaster blew up, showering the sky with thousands of fiery fragments ... Around us, bombers were dropping like flies sprayed with an insecticide gun.’

The raid occurs in bright, moonlit skies. At least 50 bombers are shot down before reaching the target, in fact most on the long run in to the east before turning toward the target. Imagine how tough it must have been to see your friends shot from the sky, blowing up or streaming down in flames:

Chalky White, down in the bomb aimer’s position in Sam Harris’s aircraft, saw fire in the sky. The night fighters and the main waves of the bomber stream had reached the radio beacons simultaneously.

‘Bomber going down in flames off the port bow,’ he called.

‘I’ve seen that too,’ Mac said. ‘There’s another going down on the starboard side.’

Sam switched off the tiny light perched on his desk and looked out from behind his curtain.

‘I’ve just seen two more get hit on the port side.’ Eric moved through the aircraft to get a clearer view. The moonlight glanced off the crisp, snow-laden peaks below them. Then there was a blinding flash, the sky turned blood red, and he could see the clear outline of a bomber in flames.

‘Do you want me to log these, Ken? he asked, overcome with a profound sense of helplessness. It was the navigator’s job to record and note the approximate position of aircraft losses.

Ken shook his head. ‘It’s just a Scarecrow.’

Rumours had spread amongst the crews that winter of a new type of flak designed to undermine the morale of the raiding crews. The shells burst in a shower of debris at the height of the stream to mimic the appearance of an exploding aircraft. Some were even said to release a succession of small parachutes, to create the illusion of escaping crew. After the war Scarecrows were discovered to have been a myth, and what the men were seeing really was an exploding bomber, but many of the men clawing their way towards Nuremberg that night may have found it easier to believe in it than to accept that they were witnessing the violent death of friends and fellow aviator.

An excellent account of a night raid on Germany in WWII. Maybe it wasn’t a German victory but it certainly wasn’t a RAF success either. Highly recommended.

[Huw Rhys]

You know when you watch a good film, or read a good book, and you're left thinking "why did it say this", or more often "why didn't it say that?" as some sort of tying off the loose ends, moralizing conclusion to what was otherwise a rip roaringingly gripping piece of narrative? Do you ever feel this? Do you get ever so slightly disappointed?

If that resonates at all, then you should go out and buy this book straightaway, and start reading it on the bus home - or on the walk from the letter box back to the sofa if that's how you buy your books these days.

This is a superbly told telling of one of the most harrowing nights of the Second World War, Bomber Command's ill fated raid on Nurnberg. In itself, the meticulously researched, historical and political background as well as the anecdotal and biographical detail is worth the price of the book in itself - one of the best history lessons I've enjoyed in a long time. But it's written and presented with a really engaging writing style which is very easy on the eye - even if some of the vast amounts of detail on so many different individuals at first are a little bit overpowering. And the book probably only misses perfection on that one little, almost inconsequential, point. But its strengths far, far outweigh any small weaknesses - and the concluding chapters, where everything is bought together - well, it's simply one of the best, most satisfying (and oh did I want to type that in bold, shouty type typing) conclusions to any book of the genre.

If you like your war stories, you can't miss this. If you like your stories with some appropriate, balanced morality, lacking any hyperbolic jingoism, this is a must. If you like to be royally entertained whilst having your brain cells stimulated.... what are you doing wasting your time reading this piece of third rate literary criticism? Get on line or on a bus and go and buy this book now!

[Shaunc]

Imagine turning up for work and at the end of the day, there would be a good chance that some of your colleagues would be dead. And with little time to mourn, if you survived then you'd front up next day to do it all again. And that was (to a degree) like as a member of a Lancaster crew in Bomber Command.

This book doesn't go into the ethics of the Allied missions over Germany. They are other books for that. It does go into detail about the poorly planned raid on Nuremberg in 1944 where many Lancasters never made it back. And it is horrifying reading the accounts of the raid. And Nicol also includes accounts from German night fighter pilots as well as people on the ground who witnessed the impact of shot down Lancasters. He also goes into the impact of the families of those who didn't return.

It is hard to believe the men who got into these machines were only in their early 20s. I was in awe of the their bravery and sacrifice but anger at the lives cut short.

[Coriolana Weatherby]

A terrifically written, very accessible account of one of the most infamous raids of the RAF in WW2. Nichol has a way of combining personal stories and dry facts, which make his books very easy to read. By picking a select cast of characters, you as the reader experience the entire raid with the different crews and squadrons.
Did I cry? Obviously.

[Lucas Van Meeuwen]

Amazing story telling. So exciting to read that you just want to finish the book in one go. Super clear writing about multiple characters which was easy to follow. Gripping stories about night raids and the men of bomber command. 10/10 would recommend.

[Jan]

Carried by heartfelt empathy with especially the crews of the Bomber Command aircraft this is an important companion volume to Martin Middlebrook's classic account

[Tony Pedley]

Most books of this genre, especially ones written from the winning side concentrate on the military successes. However this book is very much about a military failure, one however it is likely few have heard about.

In 1944 795 RAF heavy bombers took off, nearly 100 did not return together with almost 700 airmen. It is a story of one of bombers commands greatest failures, but it is also a story of the courage of these men who took off night after night even though they knew there was a 1 in 10 chance of not returning.

Told through 1st hand accounts of both allied aircrew and German night fighter pilots sent up to stop them, this is gripping account of one of the lesser known battles of world war 2