The American Spectator : Operation Overload

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Operation Overload

By Paul Johnson on 12.12.06 @ 12:06AM

Sixty years after the event, the mass bombing of Germany still raises anxious thoughts.

p> strong> The Fire: The Bombing of Germany 1940-1945 br> by Jorg Friedrich, translated by Allison Brown br> (Columbia University Press, 552 pages, $34.95) /strong> /p> p> strong> Firestorm: Allied Airpower and the Destruction of Dresden br> by Marshall De Bruhl br> (Random House, 368 pages, $25.95) /strong> /p>

Sixty years after the event, the mass bombing of Germany still raises anxious thoughts, and reading these two impressive books is a sad experience. Jorg Friedrich's volume is the first comprehensive and deeply researched book on the subject written from a German point of view, while Marshall De Bruhl's study of what is widely regarded as the worst atrocity, the attack on Dresden in February 1945, is the best book on this subject I have read, obliterating the effect of the earlier and sensational work by David Irving, which we now know to be grossly exaggerated.

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topics:
Books, Military, Russia

About the Author

Paul Johnson is the author most recently of Churchill (Viking). His books include Modern Times, Intellectuals, and A History of the American People.