★KBS Radio's "Small Bookstore" Recommends "Jang Kang-myeong's Book of Life" (250704)★
"I had so much fun reading it.
"It would be unfair for a nonfiction writer to write like this."
"I was sucked in and read it." _ Authors Jang Kang-myeong and Kim Ji-yoon

Barack Obama and Bill Gates Name Best Books of 2020
A masterpiece depicting the brilliant and terrifying times of 1940-1941!

May 1940.
It covers the first year since Churchill was appointed Prime Minister.
At the beginning of World War II, Britain was under German air raids and was in a precarious situation where it was impossible to predict what would happen next.
"When the Bomber Moon Rises: The 1940 London Blitz, Hitler's Blitzkrieg and Churchill's Challenge" is a book that vividly and meticulously describes the political situation both inside and outside Britain from May 1940, when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, to 1941.
Images of fierce battles between the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the German Luftwaffe, bombed-out cities, and the constant sound of air raid sirens and gunfire overwhelm the reader.
The 'forgotten' stories of British citizens who feared being targeted by bombs even in the faint moonlight are also compelling.
Another fascinating aspect of this book is examining how the tide of war changed according to the perspectives and strategies of British, German, and American leaders.

People suddenly became interested in the phases of the moon.
Of course, the bombers attacked during the day, but people thought they could find their targets after dark by moonlight.
A convex moon, such as a full moon, a quarter moon, or a waning quarter moon, is called a 'bomber' moon.
---From "Cruel Predictions"

Churchill delivered the same message in his first speech to the House of Commons on Monday, May 13th.
Although he was so confident in his victory, he was also a realist who knew better than anyone the harsh terrain Britain currently faced.
In particular, he clearly revealed such a situation in one word.
“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”
---From "Chapter 4: The Electric Shock Effect"

As his speech drew to a close, he lit a fire in the brazier.
“We will fight to the end.” His words grew fiercer and more confident.
“We will fight in France, we will fight on the seas and oceans.
The more we fight, the more confident we will become, the more powerful we will become in the air, and we will defend our island at all costs.
We will fight on the shore.
We will fight on the landing ground.
We will fight in the fields and in the streets.
We will fight on the hill.
We will never surrender.”

As the House of Commons roared in approval, Churchill muttered to a neighbouring MP:
“And… we will pick up broken bottles and fight.
“Because that’s all I have.”
---From "Chapter 8, The First Bomb"

It was Adlertag, the 'Eagle Day' that Hermann Goering had been waiting for.
He ordered a general attack on the RAF to secure air superiority over Britain before invading Britain as planned by Hitler.
Last week the Luftwaffe had launched small-scale bombardments of radar stations along the British coast, but now it was time for a full-scale battle.
Goering was determined to astonish the world by displaying his air power, blackening the skies with aircraft.
For this purpose, he mobilized a total of 2,300 aircraft, including 949 bombers, 336 dive bombers, and 1,002 fighters.
The opportunity had finally arrived to demonstrate to Hitler and the world the might of his air force.
---From "Chapter 29: The Eagle's Day"

“That night was cloudless and starry, and the moon was high over Westminster.
There could be no more beautiful sight than this.
The glare of searchlights crossing somewhere on the horizon, the star-like flashes of shells exploding in the sky, the brilliance of fires burning in the distance—all these things added to the scene.
It was magnificent yet terrifying.


Overhead, the drone of enemy aircraft continued incessantly, and the crackle of cannons could be heard, sometimes far away, sometimes close by.
Each time the cannon fired, the light flashed like the signal lights of an electric train in peaceful times.
Countless stars twinkled in the sky.
There were real stars and artificial stars.
“Never before has the contrast between the splendor of nature and the wickedness of man been so striking.”
---From "Chapter 49: Fear"

As winter approached, the immediate threat of invasion diminished, but no one doubted that this was only a temporary lull.
And now another, indefinable danger has taken its place.
The issue of morale came to the fore as the Luftwaffe expanded its offensive and attempted to replicate the Coventry raids against other British cities.
London had proven its ability to recover and, being a large city, was somewhat immune to the Luftwaffe's new scorched-earth tactics.
But as more and more cities experience 'coventration,' will they be able to prove their resilience?
---From "Chapter 64: The Toad at the Door"

It was an unofficial Christmas truce.
“It is truly a holy night in silent night,” wrote John Martin.
“I felt relieved and a little moved.” Neither Germany nor Britain had been bombed, and in every home people remembered what life had once been like.
The only difference was that the church bells were not ringing and there were many empty seats at the tables.
---From "Chapter 67 Christmas"

John Colville, seeing Churchill's outburst over confidentiality, became concerned about his own diary.
His diary was filled with operational secrets and insights into Churchill's actions.
If a German agent were to stumble upon that diary, it would be a great trophy.
Colville knew very well that recording so accurately was very likely illegal.
“The PM distributed a statement regarding the issue of maintaining the confidentiality of records.
“Suddenly, my diary was pricked,” Colville wrote in his diary on New Year’s Day.
“But I have no intention of scrapping it.
“We’ll just have to compromise and enforce it a little more thoroughly.”
---From "Chapter 70 Secrets"

No one in the club heard the explosion.
But everyone saw it and felt it in their bodies.
There was a flash of light.
It was a peculiar flash, a blue flash.
Then a suffocating cloud of dust rose, the smell of gunpowder filled the air, and it became pitch black.


The body of a saxophonist named David Williams was split in two.
One of the Dutch officers who came with Betty Baldwin lost a finger.
Six guests at one table died while still seated, without any signs of trauma.
Charles, the head waiter, was thrown from the balcony to the floor.
I was resting against the pillar on the opposite side when I got hit.
And so he died.
One young woman had her stockings torn by the explosion, but otherwise suffered no other injuries.
Vera Lumley-Kelly, trying to call her mother from a payphone, calmly pressed the button marked 'B'.
The coin came out on the road.

It was quiet at first.
Then came faint sounds here and there, and the sound of debris scattering as survivors moved.
Powdered plaster filled the air and people's hair turned white.
His face was blackened with gunpowder.
---From "Chapter 79 Snake Hips"

The cabinet meeting was heavy with emotion.
With the loss of Benghazi and the imminent fall of Tobruk, everyone was in despair.
A gloomy mood hung over England.
The disappointment was even greater because the result was completely contrary to the hopes of a win in the winter.
Intensified German air raids also fueled this atmosphere.
Some of the raids were more deadly and devastating than those of the previous fall.
German bombers attacked Coventry again and the next night they struck Birmingham.
Darkness continued to frustrate the RAF.
---From "Chapter 84 Major News"

It was midnight when I returned to Checkers.
He was already tired and sad, but now he heard more bad news.
News arrived that a valuable Royal Navy destroyer had sunk off Malta, blocking the entrance to Grand Harbour.
A transport ship carrying tanks to the Middle East was grounded due to engine failure, and British troops attacking Iraq were struggling against unexpectedly strong resistance from the Iraqi army.


Most disheartening of all was President Roosevelt's long and disappointing telegram, which seemed to downplay the importance of defending the Middle East.
“Personally, I am not particularly discouraged by Germany’s expansion of her power to expand her territory,” Roosevelt wrote.
“All those areas combined would be difficult to obtain the raw materials necessary to maintain or supplement a large occupying force,” Roosevelt added, ignorantly.
“I wish you continued success.”
---From "Chapter 90: Depression"

It was just before 11 p.m. when the first bombers crossed the skies over Britain.
This first sortie was made by 20 bombers, following the elite KGr 100 squadron, but given the bright moon and clear sky that night, the signal fires they made were almost unnecessary decoration.
They were followed by hundreds of bombers.


Officially, as in previous raids, their targets were military strongholds such as Victoria and West India Docks and Battersea Power Station, but the pilots knew that if these were the targets, then every civilian area in London would be in for a bombing.
Whether planned or not, the type of damage suggests that the Luftwaffe was determined to destroy some of London's most venerable treasures and thus stifle Churchill and his government.
---From "Chapter 98: A Brutal Air Raid"

Of course, the war would continue for another four years, and by then there was no prospect of an easy way out of the darkness.
With Singapore, Britain's bastion in the Far East, falling into enemy hands, even Japan threatened to topple Churchill's government.
German forces drove the British out of Crete and recaptured Tobruk.
“We are truly walking through the valley of humiliation,” Clementine wrote to Harry Hopkins.


Although twists and turns followed, the tide began to turn in favor of the Allies from late 1942 onwards.
British forces defeated Rommel in a series of desert battles known as the Battle of El Alamein.
The US Navy defeated Japan at Midway.
Hitler's campaign in Russia was stuck in mud, ice, and bloodshed.


After the Allied forces advanced into Italy and France in 1944, the outcome seemed certain.
The air war against Britain was briefly revived in 1944 by the introduction of the V-1 drone bombs and Hitler's "revenge" weapon, the V-2 rocket, but this was Germany's last offensive, a desperate attempt to avoid inevitable defeat and with no other purpose than to join in the fight.

---From "101 Checkers Weekend"