Gott Strafe England: The German Air Assault Against Great Britain 1914-1918 Volume 1

Description

Gott Strafe England is the definitive account detailing the German air attacks against Great Britain during the First World War. This method of attack was a totally new concept, taking the war away from the battlefield and into the previously safe territory of the enemy's homeland. As a result the concept of strategic bombing was born. This two-volume series will explore all the German air operations against the British Isles during 1914 to 1918, and assess the effectiveness of this new form of warfare. It will detail the routes taken by the raiders, where the bombs fell and the casualties inflicted. Alongside this are details of the responses taken by the defenders to counter the attacks. Full details about the airships, aircraft and their crews that were brought down are examined. This evidence includes contemporary accounts by those involved, in the form of intelligence summaries and personal accounts which graphically impart the full drama and horror of the events. Gott Strafe England was conceived following the publication of the author's books on German Air Force losses over Great Britain during the Second World War,""Luftwaffe Crash Archive"" (Red Kite 2013, volumes ongoing). This present volume completes the overall picture by including details of those airships and aircraft that were lost on operations over Great Britain during the First World War, as there has been no previous complete reference giving details of the fate of the machines and their crews. The great amount of information available regarding the air-raids, the airships and aircraft and losses involved has been used to produce a clear overview, using many primary sources available in the National Archives, Kew and thus adding invaluable evidence to accounts written in retrospect, which rely on sometimes unreliable anecdotal evidence. ""Gott Strafe England"", translated as ""God Punish England"", is an expression that often appeared in the German Press and was soon picked up by the British Tommy serving over in France and Belgium, so that everything unpleasant from Jerry, to the food, mud and the Sergeant-Major was `Gott Strafed'. The evidence given in these volumes makes it clear that this title is indeed appropriate.

Nigel J Parker was born in Kent and initially lived in Surrey, close to the RAF station at Biggin Hill. His interest in military aviation was nurtured at an early age, initially making model aircraft construction kits. On moving to Oxfordshire he became involved in the research and recovery of crashed aeroplanes across the country along with collecting and researching related artefacts, building up a large and unique collection. When he saw the film Zeppelin in 1971, his interest in airships was stimulated and he subsequently built up an extensive library on military aviation. At the age of eighteen he was introduced to what was then the Public Records Office, now the National Archives, Kew a place that has now almost become a second home. Through his interest in military aviation he was fortunate to be the editor of the Bomber Command Association Newsletter for seven years. Having spent a career in engineering and finally running the Cryogenics department at Oxford University for twenty three years, he chose to concentrate on his writing and continue his ground breaking research into the aviation history of the twentieth century.

There is a plaque on the wall in the town where I live showing the place where the first bomb from a German Zeppelin air raid was dropped during WW1. I think further bombs were dropped along the East coast, but this marked a different approach to warfare, bombing innocent civilians in their homes rather than leaving it to the infantry to slog it out in the horrors of the Western Front. Nigel Parker's excellent book explains the thinking behind this innovative and horrific strategy. * Books Monthly *