First Blitz by Neil Hanson

First Blitz: The Secret German Plan to Raze London to the Ground in 1918 by Neil Hanson. Corgi Books [2009] PB 640 p.

The subtitle of this book is a bit of a misjustice. The book covers, and covers well, the German air bombing campaign of the whole war. The clear narrative focuses at both an individual and unit level, on the efforts of the "England Squadron" and others to break the morale of the the citizens of London and the corresponding British efforts to defence the capital. 

Covering the early phases, including Zepplins, the main thread of the book is the strategic bombing campaign [using Gotha and Giant aircraft] against London, it's surrounds and by extension the Empire's war effort. The author has skillfully weaved together the story of governmental, military and civic responses to this new style of warfare. The personal testimonies included in this book give a raw, often unsettling, insight into the experiences of both the bomber and the bombed.

More detail on the evolution of the Royal Flying Corps in it's efforts to defeat the invader would have been welcome and those who check the book's index for individual squadrons or locations before buying might miss out. My interests lie in Essex and many of the airfields/locations mentioned in the text were missed from the index or only listed once or twice.

The book concludes with an interesting consideration of the lessons learnt by the respective sides and their effects on planning in the inter-war years.

Comments

[Brett]

I was disappointed by First Blitz. It's based on a huge amount of primary source research, which I love, but the value of that is diminished by sloppy editing and a lack of care in distinguishing between primary and secondary sources. (Many of the eyewitness accounts he uses were collected and published in 1934, but he treats them as if they were contemporary.) Plus the subtitle is accurate to the extent that Hanson does argue that there was such a plan, not quite convincingly to my mind, but what's worse is that he rather bizarrely claims that the plan could have and almost did work ...

So I'd still rather cite Fredette's The First Battle of Britain for the Gotha campaign, though it's over 40 years old now.

[Ali Hollington]

Fair comment on the identification of sources, but as a new comer to this area I found it a good entry piece.

I felt Hanson was pushing the idea that the morale of the general public was the weak spot, specifically contrasting it with the "blitz" spirit of WW2.

I have access to [but have yet to read] The German Raid on Great Britain by Joseph Morris and The Battle of Britain 1917: The First Heavy Bomber Raids on England by Sutherland and Canwell, which will hopefully broaden my outlook. How would you place these in the histriography?

[Brett]

The historiography is pretty thin! Morris is quite old (1925), it's a good narrative account if you'd like a near-contemporary view. I actually haven't come across Sutherland and Canwell before, so I can't comment on that.

Otherwise ... stay away from Andrew Hyde's The First Blitz (2002): it was okay for the daylight raids but he seems to have completely lost interest in what came after. Aside from Fredette's book I mentioned above, the only other "academic" tome I've come across which discusses the bomber raids in much detail is Barry Powers' Strategy Without Slide-rule (1976), which I like a lot. But the Gotha raids are only one chapter in that, and it's more about the political and press reaction to the raids than the raids themselves, though. Finally, if you're interested in the defending RFC/RAF squadrons and airfields, Christopher Cole and EF Cheesman's The Air Defence of Britain 1914-1918 (1984) has blow-by-blow accounts of all the raids and intercepts and is really excellent for that level of detail.