Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Battleground 44 with me Saul David and Patrick Bishop.

Our aim is to take you through the great events of this

hinge year in the Second World War, illuminating the battles, the controversies and the

personalities. And our subject this week is rich in all three components. We're discussing the Battle

of Berlin, the epic struggle by the RAF's bomber command and its ruthless and dynamic leader, Air Marshal

Arthur Harris, to bring Germany to its knees by bombing Berlin Flat, a battle that was at

its height when 1944 opened. It was the moment when Harris and the RAF establishment were

given the chance to prove their contention that bombing alone could win the war.

What followed was a terrible ordeal for the RAF air crews and the population of Berlin alike.

Patrick, you wrote about all of this in your book, Bomber Boys, which came out back in 2008, to much acclaim.

Can you tell us about the background to all of this?

Thanks, Saul. Well, Bomber Boys

is probably still my favorite book because I wrote it when the survivors of Bomber Command

were still feeling rather sore at the way history had treated them. They had pretty much been

written out of the picture and what attention was paid to them was rather negative.

So the aim was to do something to redress the balance.

And I think I managed to do that a bit.

Anyway, as you say in January 44, the Battle of Berlin was at its midway point.

It had been launched in November by bomber Harris, who promised Churchill that if the Americans

came in with the RAF, they could, quote, wreck Berlin from end to end. And though the battle would

cost the Allies 400 to 500 aircraft, it would, quote, cost Germany the war. Now, this is a big

claim, and Harris felt able to make it because of the

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