Marcus Gibson, 67, has a 40-year career in journalism, working at BBC R4, at The European newspaper during the busy decade of news in the 1990s, and latterly as a technology features correspondent and columnist for The Financial Times in London.
His exceptionally wide knowledge of WW2 military history, of a new generation of researchers in the UK, US and Germany, together with his experience in covering manufacturing and engineering, have been essential in determining how effective RAF Bomber Command was in destroying the German war economy, its air, land and sea military capabilities and weapons production. The daily raid report found in German archives reveal the scale of damage wrought by RAF bombing – as early as 1940, long before historians think was possible.
Summaries of his work for the FT take up 250 pages on the Factiva publications archive.
His many interviews in the 1990s with the CEOs of Germany’s largest and smallest corporations, many of them WW2 veterans, provided the first evidence of why, and how exceptionally effective, Bomber Command’s campaign had been during WW2 – contrary to the myths and denigrations from British historians, prejudices and flawed analyses.
Harris’ decision to bomb city centres was correct not only because they destroyed Germany’s administration and army HQs, they incinerated thousands of small German factories and workshops – all those that manufactured the crucial components and parts for weapons, which in turn crippled Germany’s production of tanks, U-boats, radar sets and ammunition.