A Glint in the Sky, by Martin Easdown & Thomas Genth
Book published by Pen & Sword in 2004, 160 pages. Paperback (N5696PE)
Brand New Book
From the rear side cover: On the warm spring evening of 25 May 1917 the tranquillity of the modest seaside town of Folkestone was shattered by an air raid. German Gotha bombers, flying on their first ever attack on Britain, killed 96 people, and 61 of the dead came from a single bomb that exploded on Tontine Street. This was the greatest single tragedy to have befallen Folkestone in its history, and the death-toll was one of the highest among British civilians in the First World War.
Martin Easdown's compelling account of the raid and its appalling aftermath is the first comprehensive history of the episode to be published. He gives a dramatic description of the event, relying heavily on the eyewitness testimony from the townspeople who were there on that fateful day. He records the experiences of the German airmen who took part in the raid and pioneered a new and terrifying method of warfare. In addition, he recounts in graphic detail similar attacks by bombers, seaplanes and Zepplins on other Kentish towns, including Dover, Ramsgate, Margate and Sheerness.
The author's painstaking research into the Folkestone raid and the other attacks highlights extraordinary events that have often been neglected in histories of Folkestone and the surrounding area. His minute-by-minute recreation of the attack, from the moment the Gotha bombers took off from Belgium, gives a fascinating insight into the primitive bombing methods of the day and the ease with which the raid was carried out on the defenceless town.
Condition | New |