A new book has been released in New Zealand and was reviewed on the radio tonight. I intend to look out for it, it sounds very good.
“Night After Night” by Max Lambert tells the story in depth of New Zealanders who served in RAF Bomber Command. Apparently the author, a well-known journalist, has interviewed around two hundred ex-aircrew members. The book got a very favourable review on the radio, and there are a few good reviews online like this from the Whitcoulls site here
http://www.book-club.co.nz/books03/whitcoullspage.htm
(I’ll copy and paste it as it is Book of the Month page and may change soon)
Night After Night
Max Lambert
$44.99
Over the past five years there has been a renewed interest in both the first and the second world wars as new generations try to understand more about the events that shaped the lives (and deaths) of their parents, grandparents and great grandparents. The numbers attending Anzac Day services continues to grow yearly and there has been many outstanding books published about New Zealanders at war, as you will see later in this newsletter. Out of all those books we have chosen Night After Night as our hot pick as it covers an aspect of our military history that has never been explored in so much detail before.
Thousands of New Zealanders fought and died in what proved to be one of England’s most potent weapons – Bomber Command. In this comprehensive history, full of facts, figures, names and anecdotes Night After Night is a deeply moving account provided by survivors, family members, colleagues and fellow serviceman. This book is essential reading for everyone interest in the part New Zealanders played in the Allied victory.
Another review of interest is on the NZ Herald newspaper site here
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10119086
Unsung heroes of the bombing war
07.04.05
It was while squeezing through the cramped belly of a Lancaster bomber that Wellington author Max Lambert realised what the experience must have been like for aircrew who knew they were about to die.
That was in Auckland, at the Museum of Transport and Technology, and Lambert wasn’t bogged down by a World War II flying suit or bulky parachute. Nor was a prowling German night fighter slamming bullets into the bomber’s fuselage thousands of feet above Berlin.
“I could hardly move in the bloody plane, there’s bits everywhere and this tiny, narrow passage to move along. You try to imagine getting out of one of those in the dark with the thing on fire, smoke and damage, and going down.
“There’s no show.”
That realisation is borne out by the horrifying casualties among the 6000 New Zealanders who served in Bomber Command during the war. Thirty per cent – 1850 to be precise – died. Others beat the odds, surviving crashes and aerial combat, although many suffered appalling injuries.
But, says Lambert, 68, the experiences of those young New Zealand airmen have remained largely untold in the 60 years since the war.
His new book Night After Night: New Zealanders in Bomber Command bridges the gap, weaving decades-old anecdotes into a 170,000-word volume.
His sources were the veterans, their widows, families and a mountain of official and personal documents.
He clocked up 20,000km driving to interviews around the country, having found old airmen through veterans’ organisations and word of mouth.
Some tales relayed to Lambert are well known, such as Sergeant Jimmy Ward’s bravery in clambering on to the wing of his Wellington bomber in flight to douse flames belching from an engine.
Sergeant Ward’s July 1941 exploit – tens of thousands of feet above Holland’s Ijsselmeer – won him the Victoria Cross. Sadly, he was killed in action just a couple of months later.
Others’ stories were almost lost, snatched in the nick of time by Lambert in one of his 200-odd interviews.
“Most of them were pretty happy to talk, I think because they feel they’re getting to an age where they’ve only got a short time to go … and they want their efforts remembered.”
The interviews were often emotional, and Lambert confesses that there were “tears on both sides”.
“Ones that had lost mates on a plane going down were very emotional and they sort of felt responsible.”
One almost forgotten yarn told in Lambert’s book is that of Squadron Leader Phil Lamason’s time at the notorious Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald.
“Out, out, bale out!” Squadron Leader Lamason screamed as his stricken Lancaster plunged towards a French paddock in June 1944.
He was nabbed by the Gestapo and, along with 167 other downed airmen, thrown into Buchenwald.
“It amazed me that people could be so inhuman,” he told Lambert about the SS guards. “They hung prisoners and bet on how long the victims would continue to kick.”
The SS goons were ordered to exterminate the flyers, but Squadron Leader Lamason, the senior Allied officer in the camp, had other ideas.
He quickly built a rapport with other inmates, desperately trying to get word to the Luftwaffe, believing they wouldn’t allow Air Force POWs to be held by the SS.
It worked. The German Air Force rescued the rag-tag, emaciated band and took them to a prison camp for downed airmen.
Squadron Leader Lamason “emerged from Buchenwald with a giant reputation”, Lambert writes.
“Despite the obvious dangers, he stood up to the Germans and his work as spokesman of the group, his personality, spirit and leadership skills are acknowledged.”
Yet he received no recognition for his role in saving the 167 airmen, nor were his efforts mentioned in the official history of New Zealand’s prisoners of war.
These points don’t rest well with Lambert. “This guy should have had a decoration for that … I would hope, maybe, there’ll be some recognition for him as a result of this.”
Among the stories in Lambert’s book are ones reflecting the decades-old heartache of wives and former fiances.
Flight Lieutenant Owen Foster met his wife-to-be, Olive Williams, while serving in 487 Squadron in England, where they both worked.
Secret notes were passed between the pair. They thought no one knew, comments Lambert, but the “whole station knew”.
Flight Lieutenant Foster was shot down over Amsterdam in May 1943 and Olive kept a lonely vigil for her lost Kiwi boy, “waiting, praying” he would make it home.
He did, after two years in a POW cage. The pair were promptly married.
It’s stories like these – and others, too – that Lambert has used to breathe life into the events of 60 years ago.
It was, in many ways, a labour of love, one that dates back to his schooldays when a highly decorated cousin returned from the war.
That cousin was Squadron Leader Keith Thiele, DSO, DFC and two bars.
“His mother took him all around the relatives. She was very proud of him,” Lambert says.
“I was only a little guy … and she had his medals, so there was a bit of hero worship,” he says, adding that his study of New Zealand airmen in World War II began there.
“There’s been virtually nothing written about these guys … and most of them never spoke much about it, not to anyone.”
Lambert’s book fills that void.
* Night After Night: New Zealanders in Bomber Command by Max Lambert (HarperCollinsPublishers, $44.99) goes on sale tomorrow.
– NZPA
Proud record
* About 6000 New Zealanders served in Bomber Command during World War II.
* 1850 died, most killed over occupied Europe.
* Several hundred others bailed out to become prisoners of war.
By: Dave Homewood - 25th April 2005 at 12:21
Hi Errol,
Sorry if I confused with my hastily typed remark from last night, I meant the journalist who wrote the Whitcoulls review, not author Mr Lambert. I have heard that Max Lambert is an extremely well respected writer, and I certainly didn’t mean him.
I am very much looking forward to seeing the book ‘Night After Night’. It sounds by all accouints (and I’ve now read and heard several reviews) like an extremely important and useful book. I’m glad to hear that you have the same opinion as others on the book, and I’m very keen to find a copy. I’ll seek it out this week.
It does seem rather sad that more Official Histroy books were not done earlier for the airmen, and the sailors. Some of the Official Histories have been written on much less important subjects. It actually annoys me that so little was done on the Pacific airmen, and also the RNZAF at home in the training area. There are of course good non-official histories of some NZ squadrons and also personal memoirs, but little else has been done. It is great that at last a new crop of writers are turning out excellent books to fill some of the gaps, including your own excellent works, and the books by Chris Rudge, Paul Sortehaug, Colin Hanson and others. I guess this decade will be pretty much the last chance to get down any first-hand stories that have not been recorded before, and very little bit helps.
That is pretty funny, as well as plain stupid, about the Rushdie book. 🙂
By: Errol Martyn - 25th April 2005 at 11:58
Dave,
“I see your point there Allan, usual journo botch probably”
If by ‘journo’ you mean the author I am afraid you are in very grave error. The erroneous ‘England’ reference can be sheeted home to the publicity section of the nationwide Whitcoulls bookselling organisation. Who knows, the blurb may well have been written by their very same staff member who, on being asked a few years ago if the shop had a copy of British novelist Salmn Rushdie’s latest book, directed the potential client to the cooking section…
Max Lambert is, incidentally, a well-published and credible author and a recently retired staffer from the New Zealand Press Association, and thus possessed of a somewhat superior reputation than most mere newspaper journos. Having been closely associated with Max as he compiled his magisterial account of New Zealanders in Bomber Command I can confirm that he knows well of what he writes, and knows what he does not and where to go to find out. Given that the official New Zealand war history volumes for WWII run to some 30 for the Army and a mere four for the air (even though the latter suffered a casualty rate in the European/Middle East theatre some three times greater than the former), Max’s 456-page book fills a very large void in our country’s war record. Although not a history per se (it concentrates more on personal experiences), ‘Night After Night’ corrects a number of errors and ommisions found in the Official Histories. It will come as no surprise to learn that the general editor of the official war histories was an Army general, in civilian life a qualified solicitor, not historian.
Errol
By: allan125 - 24th April 2005 at 14:35
Hi Dave – Race over, you can take a short break now !! 🙂 – I hope your Anzac Day ceremonies pass off okay – cheers – Allan
By: allan125 - 24th April 2005 at 14:20
Hi Dave – Schumacher still getting closer !! ref. your comment “Around 30 are probably going to lose their jobs – just when we are already desperately short of cops.” maybe you could apply for one of the vacancies, providing you don’t tell them you use this site of course!! 🙂
Did you see the new Pope moving into his quarters at the Vatican ? – another German moving swiftly into former Polish territory 🙂 – cheers – Allan
By: Dave Homewood - 24th April 2005 at 14:05
Sure is a good race, but that ruddy Schumacher is getting too close to the lead for my liking. Blast him!
Yep, I agree about the England/Briatin thing. In those days we were also part of Britain (not geographically, of course, but legally and emotionally we were British as were many other Empire nations) so it was not just the English who made up Bomber Command.
The police who were caught hadn’t been looking at sites so much, I believe the pictures discovered were all sent to them by email from their mates. Around 30 are probably going to lose their jobs – just when we are already desperately short of cops.
By: allan125 - 24th April 2005 at 13:52
Hi Dave – Good F1 race isn’t it ? – not sure how many operational Bomber Command bases in Wales or Scotland without a lot of checking (and probably none but, no doubt, some OTU’s for multi-engines). However it was RAF Bomber Command not the EAF (England’s Air Force) Bomber Command. 🙂
Ref. the Police and the Porn – how can they keep check on your web use if they don’t check the sites you use first 🙂 – cheers – Allan
By: Dave Homewood - 24th April 2005 at 13:34
I see your point there Allan, usual journo botch probably – But how many operational Bomber Command bases in Scotland or Wales?
By: allan125 - 24th April 2005 at 13:19
Hi Dave – I see that Phil Lamason warrants a piece in the book, but was very surprised by the comment “Thousands of New Zealanders fought and died in what proved to be one of England’s most potent weapons – Bomber Command.” – whilst I might have expected that in an American report I would have thought that a Commonwealth country would have known the difference and put Britain’s !! – cheers – Allan
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April 24, 2005 at 12:50 pm