Strategic Air War Against Germany, 1939-1945: Report of the Birtish Bombing Survey Unit, The

The Strategic Air War Against Germany, 1939-1945: Report of the British Bombing Survey Unit. London: Frank Cass, Publishers, 1998 (pp. 195+ liv.$59-50).

It is a curious fact that this report first saw the light of day more than fifty years after its beginnings. Despite the U.S. Army Air Force initiating, executing, and publishing a similar study shortly after World War II, the British government showed little interest. Indeed, Churchill himself did everything possible to block the effort for reasons that are unclear to this day, although lack of national pride in the effort should not be discounted.

The book is of interest in a sociological context partly because of the tendency in all bureaucracies, well brought out in the analysis by Sebastian Cox (Head of the Air Historical Branch, Ministry of Defense), to reach preconceived conclusions. One very important instance lay in the decision by the RAF (mainly due to Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur Tedder and civilian advisor Sir Solly Zuckerman) to concentrate on the destruction of railway rolling stock. This, despite evidence that bombing railway marshaling yards and oil refineries would be of greater value to prosecution of the war. Secondly, the report stresses the perceived unwillingness of the Nazi government to expand the employment of women in the war work force. Actually, the Nazis began the large scale employment of women before the British did. The authors of the report seem to have been influenced by their preconceptions of Nazi ideology. These examples are only two of the sociologically interesting facets of the study.

The book is not easy to read, encumbered as it is by numerous graphs and tables and some photographs that are not woven smoothly into the text. Moreover, its physical dimensions (legal size) render it awkward to handle with too much print, at least for this reviewer, on a single page. Nevertheless, if a reader is willing to accept these limitations, it is a treasure-trove of the sociology of war, both regarding the impact of war on civilian populations and the actions of bureaucracies that study and evaluate such effects.

Copyright Dr. George Kourvetaris Summer 2000
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