Many will know Jane from her Never Mind the Dam Busters podcast, and in her new book, she continues with the important historical theme she and her co-host James Jefferies continually refer to; that the history of RAF Bomber Command during the war was much more than the work of one particularly famous squadron and one particular type of four engine bomber aircraft. Here, she convincingly makes the case of the strategic importance of Bomber Command’s anti-shipping minelaying role. Some of Bomber Command’s greatest successes were indeed ‘invisible’. Hundreds of enemy vessels were sunk or damaged by mines dropped by aircraft (p.264).   

A vertical aerial photograph taken during a mine-laying operation.
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/51111

A study of the RAF’s minelaying role has long been needed, and The Invisible Campaign examines the frequently neglected topic of aerial minelaying in ports, rivers, bays and estuaries during the war in detail. Often misunderstood and written off by bomber crews and historians as a ‘milk run’, Jane explains how minelaying was a vital and effective part of the Allied war effort. Minelaying lacked the glamour of bombing because there was no visual confirmation of the effect. Mines were designed to lie dormant for weeks or months, some not detonating until they had been passed over by a predetermined number of vessels. However, more tonnage of shipping was sunk by aerial mines than by direct attack by Allied aircraft.

Using the code word ‘gardening,’ aircrew flying Bomber Command’s Hampdens, Wellingtons, Stirlings, Manchesters, Lancasters, and Halifaxes planted their ‘vegetables’ in coastal areas named after plants from Anemones to Zinnias (p.259-260). They flew at night in all weathers often while under attack from coastal batteries or night fighters. Jane shows that gardening was a dangerous occupation and the ‘chop rate’ was high. However, some crews became incredibly proficient at minelaying. For example, flying Wellingtons, the Poles of 300 Squadron became No.1 Group’s minelaying experts, laying 2,000 mines from RAF Ingham during 1943 (p.152).

A sea mine on a trolley with a Polish marked Wellington behind. Three ground crew are at work. https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/19058

Jane considers the evolution of minelaying; the aircraft, the weapons, navigational aids, and the changing tactics used on operations, but importantly, she also focuses on the experiences of the aircrew. As the last surviving veterans leave us and their endeavours pass from living memory, Jane uses her research into 10 Squadron’s operations and in particular her knowledge of the crew known as ‘Penny’s Prangers’, to tell the tale of minelaying operations from their perspective. Throughout, the book considers the historiography of Bomber Command and their minelaying role and how gardening has been remembered or neglected in popular memory. In doing so, Jane also reconsiders the legacy of Arthur Harris.

Jane’s meticulous research into this important but often overlooked aspect of the war began with her award-winning MA dissertation. Her book contains appendices, comprehensive endnotes and bibliography, colour maps on glossy pages with a ribbon for place keeping. I am sure that Jane’s book will very quickly become the go-to book for the history of aerial minelaying in the Second World War.

Jane’s new book, The Invisible Campaign on a table in the foreground. Panel from the recent ‘Writers of War’ from the ‘Women at War’ book festival at the IBCC in Lincoln. From L-R, Chair Suzanne Raine, IBCC Trustee, Sarah-Louise Miller, Jane Gulliford-Lowes, Clare Mulley, and Jeannie Benjamin.