{"title":"Books by Ian Castle","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781399093927","title":"Zeppelin Inferno","description":"At the beginning of 1916, as the world entered the second full year of global conflict, the cities, towns and villages of Britain continued to lay vulnerable to aerial bombardment. Throughout that period German Zeppelin airships and seaplanes had come and gone at will, their most testing opposition provided by the British weather as the country's embryonic defences struggled to come to terms with this first ever assault from the air. Britain's civilians were now standing on the frontline   the Home Front   like the soldiers who had marched off to war. But early in 1916 responsibility for Britain's aerial defence passed from the Admiralty to the War Office and, as German air attacks intensified, new ideas and plans made dramatic improvements to Britain's aerial defence capability.   While this new system could give early warning of approaching raiders, there was a lack of effective weaponry with which to engage them when they arrived. Behind the scenes, however, three individuals, each working independently, were striving for a solution. The results of their work were spectacular; it lifted the mood of the nation and dramatically changed the way this campaign was fought over Britain.   The German air campaign against Britain in the First World War was the first sustained strategic aerial bombing campaign in history. Despite this, it has become forgotten against the enormity of the Blitz of the Second World War, although for those caught up in the tragedy of these raids, the impact was every bit as devastating. In Zeppelin Inferno Ian Castle tells the full story of the 1916 raids in unprecedented detail in what is the second book in a trilogy that will reveal the complete story of Britain's  Forgotten Blitz'.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298548167029,"sku":"9781399093927","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399093927_5f3ead82-21fe-41ca-ac19-cd0db64b3244.jpg?v=1786019948"},{"product_id":"9781399049351","title":"Gotha Terror","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy the autumn of 1916, advances in Britain’s air defence capability had all but ended the Zeppelin menace, which had haunted the nation for almost two years. However, an emerging complacency regarding the aerial threat was immediately shattered by the introduction in 1917 of the Grosskampfflugzeug, better known as the Gotha bomber. Whereas Zeppelin airships had attacked individually and stealthily under the cover of darkness, the German Army now had a squadron of bomber aeroplanes capable of brazenly attacking London and south-east England in broad daylight, thereby unleashing a new wave of terror on the British population. Britain, having downgraded its aerial defences after the apparent defeat of the Zeppelins, was forced to rethink. The improvements instigated compelled the German raiders to change their tactics too, as each side strived to gain the upper hand. And all the time the German Navy Zeppelins, whose campaign had not been abandoned entirely, continued to strike when opportunity allowed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story of these dramatic air raids is told by incorporating numerous, never-before published, eye-witness accounts, revealing a personal view of the experiences shared by those who lived through the conflict, both on the ground and in the air.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe German air campaign against the United Kingdom in the First World War was the first sustained, strategic aerial bombing campaign in history. Yet it has become dwarfed by the enormity of the Blitz of the Second World War, but for those caught up in the tragedy of these raids the impact was every bit as devastating.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Gotha Terror Ian Castle tells the full story of the 1917 - 1918 raids in unprecedented detail in what is the final book in a trilogy, completing the story of Britain’s Forgotten Blitz.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298622517621,"sku":"9781399049351","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399049351_7d9bf4a1-82cc-4802-a2da-a6fc99792774.jpg?v=1786019275"},{"product_id":"9781848324336","title":"Zeppelin Onslaught","description":"At the outbreak of the First World War, the United Kingdom had no aerial defence capability worthy of the name. When the war began Britain had just thirty guns to defend the entire country, with all but five of these considered  of dubious value . So when raiding German aircraft finally appeared over Britain the response was negligible and totally ineffective. Of Britain s fledgling air forces, the Royal Flying Corps had accompanied the British Expeditionary Force into Europe leaving the Royal Naval Air Service to defend the country as best it could. That task was not an easy one. Airships only appeared at night and for British pilots night-flying was in its infancy.  From the first raid in December 1914, aerial attacks gradually increased through 1915, culminating in highly damaging assaults on London in September and October. London, however, was not the only recipient of German bombs, with counties from Northumberland to Kent also experiencing the indiscriminate death and destruction found in this new theatre of war the Home Front.   The British population was initially left exposed and largely undefended when the previously unimagined horror of bombs falling from the sky began, killing children in their beds and destroying homes. The face of war had changed forever. Those raids on London in the autumn of 1915 finally forced the government to pursue a more effective defence against air attack.  The German air campaign against the United Kingdom was the first sustained strategic aerial bombing campaign in history. Yet it has become the forgotten Blitz. Those first bombing raids in 1915 claimed over 700 casualties. Relying heavily on first-hand accounts, Ian Castle tells their story, along with that of the raiders, and those who fought desperately to stop them in the opening year of Britain s forgotten Blitz.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308443808117,"sku":"9781848324336","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781848324336_954e2a72-f754-47f3-b911-e9dcc32558ed.jpg?v=1786029194"},{"product_id":"9780900913754","title":"Zulu War: Then and Now","description":"This work is one of the most widley known military campaigns of the Victorian era. The story is presented through the \"After the Battle\" series \"then and now\" photographic theme and contains graphic eyewitness accounts from both sides which aim to convey what it was like to give battle in the 1870s. Additional chapters cover what remains to be seen today, both on the battlefields and in museums; the lonely and sometimes unmarked and forgotten graves of the participants; the British forts and their ruins; plus accounts of those film productions that have since been made of the 1879 war.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312000905589,"sku":"9780900913754","price":24.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780900913754_66a737be-1a73-4e35-9409-ebccbc2f63a9.jpg?v=1786016031"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-ian-castle.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}