Bomber

Bomber
Len Deighton

The classic novel of the Second World War that relates in devastating detail the 24-hour story of an allied bombing raid.Bomber is a novel war. There are no victors, no vanquished. There are simply those who remain alive, and those who die.Bomber follows the progress of an Allied air raid through a period of twenty-four hours in the summer of 1943. It portrays all the participants in a terrifying drama, both in the air and on the ground, in Britain and in Germany.In its documentary style, it is unique. In its emotional power it is overwhelming.Len Deighton has been equally acclaimed as a novelist and as an historian. In Bomber he has combined both talents to produce a masterpiece.

LEN DEIGHTON

Bomber

Events relating to the last flight of an RAF Bomber over Germany on the night of June 31st, 1943

Copyright (#ulink_f8dd740f-8e69-542e-9f8e-93e3c9c042a5)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape Ltd 1970

Copyright © Pluriform Publishing Company BV 1970

Introduction copyright © Pluriform Publishing Company BV 2009

Len Deighton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Cover design © Arnold Schwartzman 2009

The words from the song ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’ (composed by John Green and written by Edward Heyman; copyright 1934 by Warner Bros 7 Arts Music) are reproduced by kind permission of Chappell & Co Ltd

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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Source ISBN: 9780586045442

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2009 ISBN: 9780007347728

Version: 2017-05-22

Epigraph (#ulink_1eddbbe2-ad16-5651-90e8-d541e501a782)

Ritual: A system of religious or magical ceremonies or procedures frequently with special forms of words or a special (and secret) vocabulary, and usually associated with important occasions or actions.

Dr J. Dever,

Dictionary of Psychology (Penguin Books)

Between February 1965 and July 31st, 1968, the American bombing missions in Vietnam numbered 107,700. The tonnage of bombs and rockets totalled 2,581,876.

Keisinger’s Continuous Archives

The attitude of the gallant Six Hundred which so aroused Lord Tennyson’s admiration arose from the fact that the least disposition to ask the reason why was discouraged by tricing the would-be inquirer to the triangle and flogging him into insensibility.

F. J. Veale,

Advance to Barbarism (Mitre Press, 1968)

Table of Contents

Cover (#u9614db58-1dac-520c-913a-41f85f01a0fe)

Title Page (#u5b84f730-f89f-5469-88f6-cb995a599906)

Copyright (#u31dca9fd-2906-5c28-bb4b-4fbf00cfdd66)

Epigraph (#u92abd2c0-5e7c-5ed9-8c0e-5ef248739148)

Map (#u65aaa5c0-5926-5016-9d6f-3d602dd95755)

Introduction (#u5789e7a9-3a4d-5198-9946-fd7efcf2f569)

Chapter One (#u68e8464e-6f79-5594-be19-b7f568c56879)

Chapter Two (#ub18f0dfe-2065-52b3-aaa2-77293cb48936)

Chapter Three (#u33f2b928-5719-571e-ba6b-b123833af30e)

Chapter Four (#u2981991a-edd0-51c4-a0e0-7e77d678f4a9)

Chapter Five (#ue51f60b5-2ec8-5df2-8216-b57a9dd94a77)

Chapter Six (#u83166aa7-2761-5aa5-b8e3-2ab7d1a530f2)

Chapter Seven (#u6a0bdd9d-d628-5731-9a57-211d96eaa938)

Chapter Eight (#u2bbe7759-d54e-5acf-a5f8-93f11d5bbbcb)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)