About the Book:

21st March 1945. 1530 hours. Bursting through a hazy sky, dozens of Allied fighters and bombers sweep over German-occupied Venice.

Their mission – destroy Germany’s strategic outposts nestled along the port, while leaving the floating city unscathed. As bombs rained down upon Europe, flattening city after city, Venice – La Serenissima; home of Titian and Veronese; immortalised in the serene landscapes of Canaletto – remained sacrosanct. Its artistic and architectural treasure too considerable, too precious to risk destruction.

But, as the push up through Italy reached its final, gruelling months, the Allies were confronted with a terrible dilemma. The ancient city of Venice was now closer and closer to the line of fire. As casualties mounted, the value of art, of history seemed diminished – just a month earlier Allied bombers had reduced the ancient hilltop abbey of Monte Cassino to a stony husk.

In a gripping tale, bestselling author Jonathan Glancey reveals the thrilling history of ‘Operation Bowler’. Joining audacious Wing Commander George Westlake DFC and his elite team, Operation Bowler explores how an unlikely squad of pilots executed one of the most meticulous and complex air raids of the Second World War, sparing not only Venice, but its people.

About the Author:

Jonathan Glancey is a journalist, author and broadcaster. He was Architecture and Design correspondent of the Guardian from 1997 to 2012 and Architecture and Design Editor of the Independent from 1989 to 1997. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he is a member of the Committee of International Architectural Critics (CICA). He writes for the Daily Telegraph among other publications and websites and has spoken at literary festivals from Cowes on the Isle of Wight to Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of Spitfire: The Biography, Concorde: The Rise and Fall of the Supersonic Airliner and The Story of Architecture, among others.