Review: "A Separate Little War"

[Dick Powers]

A Separate Little War, Andrew D. Bird

Grub Street, 2003



Subtitled “The Banff Coastal Command Strike Wing versus the Kreigsmarine and Luftwaffe September 1944 to May 1945.”

192 pages, 32 pages of photographs



Contents:

Acknowledgements

RAF Banff Aerodrome

September 1944

October 1944

November 1944

December 1944

Mosquitoes Hit Leirvik on Boxing Day

January 1945

Austri

March 1945

The War Draws to a Close

What Happened to ‘F’ for Freddie and its Crew?

U-Boats Run the Gauntlet

Mosquitoes Destroy German Aircraft from II and III KG26

May 1945 – The Final Days

Post War – Banff

Poems

Appendices:

19 Group Coastal Command Deployment as at 1 September 1944

18 Group Coastal Command Deployment as at 1 January 1945

18 Group Coastal Command Deployment as at 1 April 1945

Loss List

Inventory of Aircraft

Glossary & Abbreviations

Bibliography and Sources





This slim book, tells, as the title and subtitle say, the 9-month war between Coastal Command’s 18 Group and the German forces in Norway. Although primarily the story of Mosquitoes and Beaufighters, Wellingtons and Mustangs also play a role.



Lest anyone think the war was over by September 1944, read this book and you’ll be surprised. 18 Group was tasked with shutting down all ship traffic between Norway and Germany. The ships were small, moving mostly at night carrying raw materials to Germany. Both German and Norwegian ships were involved. During the day, the at-risk ships attempted to tie up in a fjord protected by the steep sides and flak batteries, both on land and on ships.



While most narratives of this sort ( and in particular some Grub Street books) tend to be nothing more than descriptions of mission after mission after mission, eventually numbing the mind, this book describes the missions from several different points of view; the RAF aircrew, the Norwegian or German sailors, Norwegian citizens and official reports. This varying point of view helps keep the reader interested. The non-operational wing life at Banff aerodrome is also well described. (One RAF squadron, when notified that they were transferred to Banff, asked “Why are we being sent to bloody Canada?”)



There is considerable description of evolving mosquito strike tactics; assigning a few armed with guns only to flak suppression before the anti-ship aircraft went in; the use of 57-mm cannon; their eventual replacement by RP carrying mosquitoes.



One interesting note is that one of the wing technical officers evaluated rocket attack methods and determined the proper angle, speed and altitude for effective RP use. The Group was proficient enough in RP use that the individual rails could be set for wet hits (below the waterline) dry hits (above the waterline) or a combination.



The Loss List appendix, itself, is telling; March, April and May 1945 all showing multiple losses on single missions. On May 4, 1945 six aircraft and crew were lost. Even at the very end, this was a tough war. The Loss List doesn’t always agree with the narrative, and several significant losses are not included.



A list of ships sunk or damages would have been nice to balance the aircraft loss list.



The photographs are well chosen and most of the significant missions are illustrated with strike photos, which are chronologically arranged. One could wish that they were printed to a larger size, however.



All in all, a very interesting book; just long enough without running on and on, covering a subject that has not received it’s share of the limelight and a good selection of photos.

[Nick Beale]

I've long had Roy Conyers Nesbitt's book "The Strike Wings", which I found a very good read. It covers not only the Banff and Dallachy Wings but also the earlier operations by Beaufighters from East Anglia against convoys off the Dutch coast

Is anyone in a position to give us a comparison of the two books?

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Dick Powers

A Separate Little War, Andrew D. Bird Grub Street, 2003
Subtitled “The Banff Coastal Command Strike Wing versus the Kreigsmarine and Luftwaffe September 1944 to May 1945.”

192 pages, 32 pages of photographs

Sounds interesting. Does this title cover much new ground since Christina Goulter's A Forgotten Offensive?

[Dick Powers]

Can't say since I am unfamiliar with "Forgotten Offensive"

[FlyingDutchman]

I have this title, just great!!!

[Nick Beale]

If it's still available, Roy Conyers Nesbitt's "The Strike Wings" (William Kimber, 1984) is very good on this subject too. It covered operations by the North Coates, Banff and Dallachy Wings.

ISBN 0-7183-0520-5

[Jim Oxley]

I have both books.

'A Seperate Little War' covers the final 18 months of action in good detail, with several first hand accounts to fill out the production. It provides good lists of notible actions and several fine tables.

'The Strike Wings: Special Anti-shipping Squadrons, 1942-45 ' covers a broader time period, with a much higher percentage of first hand accounts and some excellent photographs, maps and illustrations.

On the whole I prefer The Strike Wings, partly due to it's broader scope. But more so because of it's "feeling".

I find that books written lately ie in the last 10-15 years are excellent for detail and new information. But in many cases (not all) they lack soul. Partly it's due to the lesser number of first hand accounts, which really helps create atmosphere. But more importantly current writers have no experience themselvesof the actions they are writing about, so the books end being a presentation of the actiosn but no soul.

Many authors writing books up to the '80's still had first hand experience of the war - either directly or through just living the period. They capture the feeling of that period far better than current authors do. And this is well illutrated by the above books, where Roy Nesbit serevd in strike aircraft in Coastal Command, whereas Andrew Bird has only studied the period.