Bloody April: The Unforgettable Story of the Air War over Arras, 1917
Peter Hart
Nov 2026 · Weidenfeld & Nicolson · Narrated by Kris Dyer
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Audiobook
16 hr 13 min
Unabridged
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Eligible
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infoThis book will become available on November 5, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this audiobook
In Bloody April, military historian Peter Hart tells the vital story of the air war over Arras with eyewitness accounts from the men who were actually there.
As the Allies embarked upon the Battle of Arras in April 1917, they desperately needed accurate aerial reconnaissance photographs. But by this point in the First World War, pilots from the Royal Flying Club were flying obsolete planes. The new German Albatros fighters outclassed them in every respect: speed, armament, ability to withstand punishment and manoeuvrability. Many of the RFC's pilots were straight out of flying school; as they took to the air, they were sitting targets for the experienced German aces.
Over the course of the air support operation that became known as 'Bloody April', the average life expectancy of a new subaltern on the front line dropped to just eleven days. And yet they carried on flying, day after day, in the knowledge that - in the eyes of their commanders at least - their own lives meant nothing compared to the photographs they brought back, photographs that could save tens of thousands of soldiers on the ground.
As the Allies embarked upon the Battle of Arras in April 1917, they desperately needed accurate aerial reconnaissance photographs. But by this point in the First World War, pilots from the Royal Flying Club were flying obsolete planes. The new German Albatros fighters outclassed them in every respect: speed, armament, ability to withstand punishment and manoeuvrability. Many of the RFC's pilots were straight out of flying school; as they took to the air, they were sitting targets for the experienced German aces.
Over the course of the air support operation that became known as 'Bloody April', the average life expectancy of a new subaltern on the front line dropped to just eleven days. And yet they carried on flying, day after day, in the knowledge that - in the eyes of their commanders at least - their own lives meant nothing compared to the photographs they brought back, photographs that could save tens of thousands of soldiers on the ground.
In Bloody April, military historian Peter Hart tells the vital story of the air war over Arras with eyewitness accounts from the men who were actually there.
As the Allies embarked upon the Battle of Arras in April 1917, they desperately needed accurate aerial reconnaissance photographs. But by ...
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About the author
Peter Hart worked interviewing veterans as the Oral Historian of the Imperial War Museum since 1981. He is the author of several military history books on both world wars. His latest books are Footsloggers: An Infantry Battalion at War, 1939-45, Burning Steel; A Tank Regiment at War, 1939-45, and Chain of Fire: Campaigning in Egypt and the Sudan, 1882-1898. He is a tour guide to Gallipoli for both army and civilian groups and has appeared in numerous television programmes.
Peter Hart worked interviewing veterans as the Oral Historian of the Imperial War Museum since 1981. He is the author of several military history books on both world wars. His latest books are Footsloggers: An Infantry Battalion at War, 1939-45, Burning Steel; A Tank Regiment at War, 1939-45, and...
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