The Red Line: The Gripping Story of the RAF’s Bloodiest Raid on Hitler’s Germany - Hardcover

Nichol, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007486839 ISBN 13: 9780007486830

Publisher: Collins, 2013

Synopsis

From bestselling author of Tail-End Charlie and Tornado Down comes this powerful and deeply moving account of Bomber Command’s 1944 Nuremberg Raid – the RAF’s bloodiest night of the Second World War

More men from Royal Air Force Bomber Command died on one single night of the Second World War than the total RAF aircrew losses during the whole of the four-month-long Battle of Britain. 30 March 1944 was the night when everything conspired against bomber command.

This is the story of that terrible night, the air raid intended to be the climax of Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris’s relentless campaign to defeat Nazi Germany. 795 aircraft set out, nearly 700 men did not return. Piecing together the dramatic stories of these young fliers – the fledgling crews and the veterans, the survivors and the fallen, former RAF Flight Lieutenant John Nichol has interviewed the few surviving veterans, British and German, in the air and on the ground, to record the voices of a diminishing generation.

While the airmen of Bomber Command were among the greatest heroes of the conflict, their contribution and sacrifice has, until recently, been sidelined in the face of post-war criticism of Bomber Command’s tactics. Yet they were among the best of their generation. John Nichol’s dramatic tribute to the men who flew on the RAF’s bloodiest raid has provided the surviving veterans with the chance to tell the story of that terrible night – the night they flew to Nuremberg.

About this title

Review:

‘A truly epic tale of courage and sacrifice – an intensely moving epitaph to the men of Bomber Command’ ANDY McNAB

‘Full of poignant episodes ... A fitting tribute to the raw courage of these young men’ Daily Express

About the Author:

John Nichol is a former RAF flight lieutenant whose Tornado bomber was shot down on a mission over Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1991. He was captured and made a prisoner of war. He is the bestselling co-author of Tornado Down and also The Last Escape, and Tail-end Charlies. He is also a journalist and widely quoted military commentator.

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0007486839
• ISBN 13: 9780007486830
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 309