Night After Night New Zealanders in Bomber Command.

• Jurisdiction: New Zealand
• Author: McGibbon, Ian
• Date: 01 July 2006

NIGHT AFTER NIGHT New Zealanders in Bomber Command

Author: Max Lambert

Published by: HarperCollins, Auckland, 2005, 459pp, $50.

The costly Allied bombing campaign against Germany in the Second World War has always been controversial. At the time, claims by its proponents that it might bring rapid victory proved overblown, though there can be little doubt that it was a major factor in Hitler's eventual defeat. Ever since the war a debate has swirled around the moral issues raised by the deliberate bombing of enemy cities, designed to de-house enemy workers and disrupt their war effort. As Max Lambert suggests, this may be one reason why New Zealand's part in this campaign, which lasted more than five years, has been largely ignored in New Zealand in recent times. Land battles such as Crete, Cassino and El Alamein have received much attention, with veterans taking part in commemorations attended by government ministers, but the air war has been given comparatively little attention.

Lambert sets...