I like books. I am excited to say that I got an email saying my pre-order of the latest Uhtred adventure is on it's way to me from Booktopia. I haven't really read a lot of books this year but I just read a great one. Lancaster Men, The Aussie Heroes of Bomber Command by Peter Rees.
Australia was another supplier of the expendable human resource for the RAF and Bomber Command in WWII. More than 10,000 Australians served with Bomber Command. Even though in the beginning it was made clear that Aussies should have Australian squadrons etc in England this was difficult to achieve in practice. What is clear in this book is that returning Aussies got a raw deal after returning from wartime service in Europe. We know that allied servicemen from the Italian theatre could be called 'D-Day dodgers'. Returning Lancaster crews got called 'Jap dodgers' once home. Shocking really, especially when you consider the many deaths and hair raising encounters as told in this book and the length of service away from home that many had to endure.
Another aspect that contributed to the general lack of recognition to these veterans was the abysmal political sell out. It seemed OK for Churchill and others to support the prosecution of the war against the Axis with the strategies they used during the war such as the controversial bombing of population centres including Dresden which is explained very clearly in this book. However as Nazi propaganda with massively exaggerated figures about deaths bounced around the world they would distance themselves from the awful task they had given the men who flew in Bomber Command. In Dresdens case approx 20,000 deaths suddenly became an inflated 202,040. Anyway that is only one aspect covered in this book and it has a lot of mission stories that are hair raising accounts of what the crews experienced.
It is a great read and even if you think you know a lot or have read a lot about Bomber Command I think you will learn a few surprising things in this book. I was highly amused when I read about the Lancaster that flew under the Sydney Harbour bridge. If you are ever in Canberra be sure to visit the Australian War Memorial Museum which has a great display built around the Lancaster G for George.
In part 2 of this post I will mention that I have been assigned a target for
Secret Santa gifting. No doubt someone out there has been assigned me as well.
£15 translates to roughly 27 down under dollars. It's been fun to Blog stalk my target and think about what they would not be entirely opposed to receiving as a surprise and I think I am very close to making a purchase online. I should probably post some ideas for my Secret Santa or perhaps online links to Australian web sellers to help with postage. Irresistible Force, Combat Company and War and Peace are shops I have visited online recently. As far as ideas...I like a large range of wargaming but saying that, may not be helpful. At the moment I am at the start of a 28mm War of the Roses project but you may have already made a purchase or have an interesting idea already. Progress has been stalled for the past few weeks due to having this crazy idea about removing my backyard of crappy grass and replacing with a mixture of paving and rocks. Made a lot of progress so far but it's starting to drive me a little bonkers and my patience is starting to thin.
Cheers for now from Brendon (The Kiwi)
One more thing..on the couch I watched the All Blacks beat the Wallabys, then Kiwis beat the Kangaroos and then I heard that Taranaki won the ITM cup. If this makes no sense to you..fair enough....but knowing all this makes me happy.
