For author Stephan Wynn, the critical question of his book’s systematic exposition orargument is, “Were antiaircraft defenses such as Flak guns, barrage balloons, searchlight unitsand fighter aircraft effective in beating back the Allies?” He concludes, “Although my book isspecifically about German air defenses, the same question is relevant to each Allied nation.Personally, I believe they did have a useful defensive purpose. The first point is the fear factor.For any Allied air crew sent on an air raid to somewhere in German occupied Europe, knowingthey were going to fly through a barrage of Flak to get to their intended target, it waspsychologically harrowing. Another tactic which had value and purpose was the combination ofbarrage balloons set thousands of feet up forcing the bombers to climb higher, above cloudlevel. The accuracy in dropping was thus problematical”.“Were anti-aircraft batteries ever going to prevent air raids from taking place?”, Stephanasks. “No, they were not, nor were they going to prevent the damage and death that was theresult of such raids. But despite already knowing this, the German authorities had to be seen tobe doing something to try to protect their people from the death and destruction that theAllied air raids brought with them. After all, the Nazis had promised so much to their people,and if they couldn’t protect them in their own homes, keeping them ‘on board’ for the rest ofthe war, however long that might be, was always going to be difficult.”In Britain, Stephen Wynn, a retired police officer having served with the Essex Police as aconstable for more than 30 years, is already ranked among the best of the Isles war writers.Among his early better books are, “Two Sons in a Warzone – Afghanistan” published in 2010,along with its sequel, “The True Story of a Father’s Conflict” when both were wounded on theirfirst tours; then in 2012, “German POW Camp 266: Langdon Hills”; in 2017, “The Surrender ofSingapore – Three Years of Hell 1942-45; in 2018, “Against All Odds: Walter Tull, the BlackLieutenant; in 2019, “A History of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, 1682-2017; followed by a host ofother too numerous to mention in this limited space. Three titles this reviewer deeplyappreciated in the most recent years are “City of London at War, 1938-45”, “Holocaust: TheNazis’ Wartime Jewish Atrocities”, and “Churchill’s Flawed Decisions: Errors in Office of the
Greatest Briton.” Britain can be proud!
