I've just finished this book. I wanted to drop a note to the author,
Rowland White who I follow on
Twitter (I still won't call it "X") to say how much I enjoyed it, but the character limit wouldn't let me do it justice. I've therefore written this review which I'll link in a Tweet to him.
I've never written a review of a book before, so I guess that's a testament to how good I found this one!
Firstly, some background. I started following Rowland when someone retweeted a post he'd written about writing this book. I have a passing interest in both aircraft and history, although admittedly this is VERY much from a layman's perspective. However, I followed Rowland's tweets to eventual publication, and asked for and got, this book for my birthday a month or so ago.
It's probably, as far as my 64 year old mind can recall, one of the first historical books I've ever read (or rather started and finished). Often I find historical tomes a little hard going. Mosquito was anything but.
I also have a soft spot for the
de Havilland Mosquito. The very, very tenuous link for this comes from the fact that my late mum's cousin, actress
Barbara Archer who we all knew as "Aunty Barbara" was in the 1964 film "
633 Squadron" about an attack on a WWII rocket fuel factory by the aforementioned (but fictional) squadron flying the Mosquito. She was the barmaid in the Black Swan pub where the fictional crew drank. I also built a 1:72 scale Airfix model of the Mosquito when I was a lad. I think also, the fact that it was an aircraft built of wood, when (virtually) every other plane of its era was metal, gave it an intriguing status.
Anyway, to the book.
I expected this to be a book solely about the aircraft and its role, and specifically when used on attacks on
Gestapo HQ's in Denmark. Whilst the book built up to this, and particularly the climactic attack
Operation Carthage on the Shellhus in Copenhagen, the building being used at Gestapo HQ, and with prisoners there as a human shield, the book is far more involved than just telling the story of the aircraft.
Broadly, it covers the war in Denmark, and the role of the
Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the role of it's Denmark section, the spies involved and the resistance in fighting the Nazi regime. This was made all the more problematic because Denmark had been invaded by Germany, but then set out as a protectorate. In effect, Denmark was being "protected" by Germany, and therefore was not an "ally". Obviously, that's not how the majority of Danes saw it though.
The Mosquito played a huge part in the war against Germany. Not only on its attacks on German military targets, but ferrying personnel and equipment to and from Denmark and neutral Sweden in order for the SOE members and Danish resistance to carry out their work.
There are too many people in the book to remember and reference here, but two stand outs from the RAF's point of view were
Basil Embry who's flying and leadership of the Mosquito (and other) squadrons throughout was incredible, and
Ted Sismore, an exceptional and very young navigator - indeed most of the flying crew were frighteningly young.
What makes this book so readable is the detail and research that Rowland White has gone into. You really get a sense during the flight operations of what it must have been like to fly those ops - and mostly it was scary and frightening. The bravery, composure and skills of pilots, navigators can only be imagined, flying sometimes twice a night and on daylight raids against relentless flak and the risk of interception by enemy fighters. Sadly there were all too many losses of both aircraft and crew, although it's pointed out in the epilogue that the "Mossie" had one of the best rations of ops to losses of all aircraft in the war.
The other "act' to this book, is the outstanding bravery of those members of the Danish population who were recruited and trained by SOE then parachuted back into Denmark to co-ordinate the resistance, undertake sabotage and report back. These were ordinary members of the public. I think our view of spies/saboteurs is so easily influenced by television and film, but this book really brings home the challenges, constant threat of nature, torture and death that members of the SOE/resistance, and indeed our armed forces faced during the conflict.
Sadly, there are also the civilian casualties to record. In conflict, as we know all too well in current events around the world, civilians die and that's terrible. This book's climatic operation against the Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen, also bore a terrible civilian loss, as one of the Mosquitos crashed near a school and the ensuing fire and smoke was mistaken by following aircraft as the primary target. Many children and adults lost their lives in the resulting bombing. Those risks were known, as was the fact that the actual target had many members of the resistance and SOE spies in captivity on it's top floor, meaning the mission had condemned them to almost certain death. In the event, some managed to escape the bombing, but the horror of it is well captured in the book. But it must also be remembered the torment that the Danish SOE chief had whilst deciding whether to go ahead with the mission knowing that both SOE/resistance colleagues were being held in the target, and that the target was smack bang in the middle of a residential area in Copenhagen. No one would want to be put in that position.
Soon after the raid the Germans surrendered. The efforts of the Danish resistance, the SOE and the RAF (amongst many others) came at a terrible price, but by defeating Germany, there was at least the chance to rebuild.
For myself one of the most harrowing passages of the book, is not about the the raids, or the Mosquito, or the SOE or resistance, but a statement from Herr
Walter Darré a once influential Nazi theoretician. I hope Rowland will forgive me for putting this down verbatim here, because it reminds us all, what the Allies were fighting against, and for:
As soon as we beat England we shall make an end of you Englishmen once and for all. Able-bodied men and women will be exported as slaves to the Continent. The old and weak will be exterminated. All men remaining in Britain as slaves will be sterilized; a million or two of the young women the Nordic type will be segregated in a number of stud farms where, with the assistance of picked German sires, during a period of 10 or 12 years, they will produce annually a series of Nordic infants to be brought up in every way as Germans. These infants will form the future population of Britain. They will be partially educated in Germany. Only those who satisfy the Nazi's requirements will be allowed to return to Britain and take up permanent residence. The rest will be sterilized and sent to join slave gangs in Germany. Thus in a generation or two, the British will disappear.
And so in summary, I found this a fascinating book on a number of levels. Learning more about the fabulous Mosquito and the men who flew it. The SOE, which I knew of, but little about. The Germans and their approach to administering Denmark and fighting the resistance. The Resistance, and how compartmentalised it was. The civilians and all they did to help where they could.
But mostly, the brutality and horrors of war, and the bravery of all those involved in fighting and eventually defeating the Nazi threat.
Highly recommended.
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