The Invisible Campaign – Bomber Command Gardening Operations 1940-1945 with author, Jane Gulliford-Lowes
Aerial mining by RAF Bomber Command was a vital part of the Allied war effort, claiming far more tonnage of Axis shipping destroyed than direct attack by either Coastal or Bomber Command itself. Minelaying operations commenced in April 1940 and expanded dramatically as the war progressed, yet today this vital campaign and its wide-ranging achievements against Axis merchant vessels, Kriegsmarine ships and U-boats are virtually unknown.
Historian Jane Gulliford Lowes looks at the aims of the campaign and how it was implemented, together with the measure of its success and how it compared against the mining operations implemented by the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. The role of Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris in overseeing minelaying operations is assessed and the experiences of the men who delivered the campaign, particularly the hazards they faced, are explored.
In this lecture, based upon the book of the same title, Jane Gulliford Lowes sheds new light on a little-discussed but important and ultimately highly successful aspect of Bomber Command’s operations.
The evening starts with a delicious hot supper in The Hub Café at 18.30.
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About the author:
Jane Gulliford Lowes is former lawyer, author and military historian from the North East of England. She holds a Masters’ Degree in Second World War Studies. She was awarded the RAF Museum’s prestigious academic prize in 2023 for her Masters’ Thesis on Bomber Command minelaying operations. Jane has written three books, and is currently working on her fourth, on the Lofoten Commando raids of 1941. In her “spare” time, Jane produces and co-hosts the popular Bomber Command podcast, Never Mind the Dambusters.
