WORLD WAR II.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

R.A.F. Narrative (First Draft): The R.A.F. in the Bombing Offensive Against Germany. Copy number 8, from a small, restricted circulation, classified "secret." Drawing on high-level government papers and reports, this report follows extensive background with discussion of individual operations and assessments of efficacy, tactics, and strategy. The only copies traced are in the complete sets held by the Imperial War Museum and the National Archives.The Air Historical Branch was revived in 1941 under the leadership of John Combes Nerney (1890-1973) and immediately began gathering material for a six-volume narrative, The R.A.F. in the Bombing Offensive Against Germany. Volume I, on the development of Bomber Command up to 1939, was completed by the end of hostilities, and the remainder were finalized in the immediate postwar years. In this volume, chapters are devoted to major offensives including Operation Pointblank, Operation Chastise, and the Battle of Berlin, as well as the devastation of the industrial city of Hamburg. The text cites large quantities of sensitive information and data.Although there is no stated limitation, we have located no volume with a copy number above 17. The narrative formed the basis of The Strategic Air Offensive Against Germany, 1939-1945, written by Sir Charles Webster and Noble Frankland and published for the public in 1961. Frankland's 1951 monograph, The Planning of the Bomber Offensive and its Contribution to German Collapse, was published by

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.