Danger UXB: The Heroic Story of WWII Bomb Disposal Teams

Autumn 1940: the Front Line is now Britain itself. With invasion imminent, cities are blitzed nightly as for the first time a nation becomes the target of a campaign of aerial assault. And even after the planes have passed overhead, a deadly menace remains: thousands upon thousands of unexploded bombs. Buried under ground, their clocks ticking remorselessly, UXBs blocked supply routes, closed Spitfire factories and made families into refugees. Dealing with this threat soon became Churchill's priority.

For the first time, Danger UXB reveals the story of this desperate struggle against the ticking clock. It was a battle of wits that pitted German ingenuity against British resourcefulness, told through four key figures in the new science of bomb disposal: Robert Davies GC, who saved St Paul's Cathedral; Stuart Archer GC, protector of the vital Welsh oil refineries; the extraordinary Earl of Suffolk GC; and John Hudson GM, the horticulturalist who mastered the V1. An astonishing and compelling account of courage and self-sacrifice, this is the truth of how the Blitz was beaten. Recensie(s)** 'Owen's talent is to bring alive these personal stories while also explaining the science of what these brave men were trying to do . . . This detailed and dramatic book more than does justice to their memory [Financial Times] ** 'Owen is a reliable guide to this fascinating and under-celebrated aspect of our record of military defiance, ingenuity and sacrifice. He balances explanations of the science and vivid descriptions of the havoc caused by every type of bomb with the ver [DAILY EXPRESS]