Bomber (novel)

The novel Bomber is a roman à clef written by Len Deighton and published in the UK in 1970. It is the fictionalised account of the events of June 31 (sic), 1943 in which an RAF bombing raid on the Ruhr area of western Germany goes wrong. In each chapter, the plot is advanced by seeing the progress of the day through the eyes of protagonists. The action is fast and vivid while at the same time giving much factual information in an almost documentary fashion about the preparation and delivery of a heavy bomber raid, the defence against it and its impact on the unfortunate victims. The novel is weaker when it comes to characterisation; individuals are somewhat one-dimensional stereotypes to represent differing points of view and attitudes.

Plot

Sam Lambert is an experienced RAF pilot based at an East Anglian bomber station. He has been flying missions over Germany since the start of the war and as he nears his tour's end, he is developing stressful exhaustion. But his crew revere him and believe he is the one factor that will ensure they survive. RAF Bomber Command is organising a large air raid on Krefeld tonight. We join the bomber crews at rest and in preparation for the ordeal. The men, their planes, weapons, responsibilities, attitudes, thoughts and fears are described to us in great detail with minute historical accuracy.

Related Topics:
East Anglian - Bomber Command - Krefeld

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There are frequent references to weather conditions, meteorological phenomena and forecasts that add to the foreboding in the plot.

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Meanwhile across the Channel in northwest Germany the small market town of Altgarten goes about its daily business, its residents and wartime guests aware of the war's progress but curiously untouched by it. They are even less aware of the horrors that will befall their town later.

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We follow Oberleutnant August Bach returning from leave in Altgarten to his duties at the Freya radar installation on the remote Dutch coast looking out towards England. His job is to detect and track the Tommi Terrorfliegers on their night-time raids against the Fatherland then guiding by radio a Luftwaffe Nachtjagd (nightfighter) to intercept and attack.

Related Topics:
Freya - England - Nightfighter

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Back in Altgarten the burgermeister finalises preparations for his own birthday banquet. It is to be held in a cosy restaurant located in the timber built, medieval town square. We are introduced to the Altgarten TENO engineers who regularly work heroically in the nearby Ruhr cities following air raids, and the local fire crew, adequate for a small country town but useless against what is to come.

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The bombs are loaded into the Lancasters, the German radars are allowed to "warm up", the aircrews adjust their night vision and everyone sits and waits and waits. Superstitions, rites and rituals are respected as the combatants ready themselves. Meanwhile Altgarten's people continue with their day-to-day routines.

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Eventually the raid gets under way. The British bomber stream forms up and navigates its dogleg course avoiding known flak concentrations and searchlight batteries. As the bombers are pinpointed by German nightfighters, we discover in the minutest detail how tiny pieces of shrapnel from an 88mm anti-aircraft shell can destroy one of 750 Lancasters each costing more than £42,000 at 1943 prices.

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Despite the meticulous planning, things inevitably go wrong immediately. A Lancaster almost crashes on take-off. A Junkers fighter crashes into the sea after hitting birds over the IJsselmeer. Another is shot down by a friendly flak-ship. A pathfinder Mosquito is downed and its marker bombs explode south east of Altgarten. With little flak and clear bombing conditions Christmas Tree marker pyrotechnics are placed with unusual accuracy. Creepback ensures the entire town of 5,000 inhabitants is precision carpet bombed by a force designed to destroy a city and a firestorm results.

Related Topics:
IJsselmeer - Mosquito - Creepback - Firestorm

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The author maintains a clinically distanced vantage point, understating and implying the horror of the character's situations. Even so, the protagonists' injuries and deaths are described in the same detail as the airmen's tactics. Each successive event is clinically dissected and analysed almost as though in slow-motion. We discover how fragile is the barrier separating life and death for bombers and the bombed. We are left with a disgust of the futility and horror of war and the bureaucratic trivialities that dominate life for the survivors.

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