When Men Fell from the Sky: Civilians and Downed Airmen in Second World War Europe

Between 1940 and 1945, over 100,000 airmen were shot down over Europe, with a few thousand surviving and avoiding arrest. Claire Andrieu's book "When Men Fell from the Sky" compares the treatment of these airmen by civilians in France, Germany, and Britain, revealing how encounters reshaped societies at a local level. She suggests that the fall of France in 1940 concealed an insurrection, the People's War in Britain was not a myth, and the racial community of the people in Germany had become a social reality with Allied airmen increasingly subjected to lynching from 1943 onwards.

Format: Hardback
Length: 348 pages
Publication date: 13 April 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Between 1940 and 1945, over 100,000 airmen were shot down over Europe, a few thousand of whom survived and avoided being arrested. When Men Fell from the Sky is a comparative history of the treatment of these airmen by civilians in France, Germany, and Britain. By studying the situation on the ground, Claire Andrieu shows how these encounters reshaped societies at a local level. She reveals how the fall of France in 1940 may have concealed an insurrection nipped in the bud, that the People's War in Britain was not merely a myth, and that in Germany, the racial community of the people had in fact become a social reality with Allied airmen increasingly subjected to lynching from 1943 onwards. By considering why the treatment of these airmen contrasted so strongly in these countries, Andrieu sheds new light on how civilians reacted when confronted with the war at home.

Between 1940 and 1945, over 100,000 airmen were shot down over Europe, a few thousand of whom survived and avoided being arrested. When Men Fell from the Sky is a comparative history of the treatment of these airmen by civilians in France, Germany, and Britain. By studying the situation on the ground, Claire Andrieu shows how these encounters reshaped societies at a local level. She reveals how the fall of France in 1940 may have concealed an insurrection nipped in the bud, that the People's War in Britain was not merely a myth, and that in Germany, the racial community of the people had in fact become a social reality with Allied airmen increasingly subjected to lynching from 1943 onwards. By considering why the treatment of these airmen contrasted so strongly in these countries, Andrieu sheds new light on how civilians reacted when confronted with the war at home.

Weight: 666g
Dimension: 160 x 236 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781009266680