Why have I never heard before about the crucial role of radio and radar in the Second World War? This is a fascinating account, based on scholarly research, yet reads like a thriller. Highly recommended reading!

Excellently written and highly educational - like another reviewer I had always thought that Britain had the ascendency when it came to Radar, but this made it clear that we were largely responding to advances made by the Germans. Basing the story around a specific scientist, a very interesting character, made what could have been dull facts come to life.

I just reviewed The Battle of the Beams by Tom Whipple. #TheBattleoftheBeams #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL] and I really must say this was a massive surprise for me as I thought this book was going to be a bit of a technical manual; a dry old read for techno addicts.

After the first chapter I realised this book was on a parr with anything John le Carré could churn out and in parts the humour is topping Len Deighton and Mick Herron.

Anyone who has the vaguest interest in WW2 and the technology used will devour this book and then they will get a bonus better than any fictional spy story.

I cannot praise this book highly enough, I thoroughly enjoyed it and have already recommended it to several of my friends and I urge you to read it at the first possible opportunity.

This is the story of World War Two and the battle for supremacy over the airwaves.

It is a story I knew precious little about. Reginald V. Jones was a scientist with a brilliant mind who understood radar and, more importantly, its significance as a weapon.

The Germans already had radar but Britain did not and it was Jones who persuaded Winston Churchill and others how radar technology worked.

Initially, Jones worked on his own but eventually more like-minded individuals joined him. The ability not only to develop radar but to intercept and disable the effectiveness of the enemy's systems became of paramount importance.

This involved acts of extraordinary heroism from pilots, agents and resistance fighters to gather information that Jones then used to help develop the systems that would eventually turn the tide in the Allies' favour.

Jones came across as quite a character, one who didn't suffer fools gladly and whose ability to interpret complex information was second to none. Without his knowledge and acuity, it is quite possible that World War Two's outcome may have been very different.

The science is explained clearly without going into overly technical language and gives a fascinating insight into a crucial period of 20th century history.

Some sections, such as diagrams and indexes, were missing but these would have been added prior to publication.

I received a free digital ARC of this book from Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

As a lifetime aviation professional as a military Air Traffic Controller connect with radars and radar development from the 60’s to present, this detailed insight into the parallel development of radar by the UK and Germany from the 1930s onwards, is fascinating. The different employment of the radars and operation application of the systems showed the variance in thinking between the adversaries and their differing approaches to development and the contrasting methods of defeating each other’s systems.
At the outset, as well as establishing the Chain Home system and centralized control of fighter assets in time for the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, the scientific approach by RV Jones to analyse and defeat the beams transmitted from France and the Low Countries to guide the Luftwaffe to their targets, was a turning point in countermeasures. This approach was never-ending as war progressed as initially it was against the bomber offensive but then changed to producing countermeasures to support the RAF’s own bombing campaign by defeating the Luftwaffe ground and airborne radar systems.
Another aspect of the book clearly showed how new ideas and concepts were, and still are, very difficult to put across and be understood in times of dire necessity. However, they were eventually implemented and worked to minimize losses.
Once again, a fascinating book and an essential read for those interested in this aspect of warfare that went on ‘behind the scenes’.

I don't read a lot of war history because that has always felt like a slippery slope to the Hotler channel on cable, and I think I am pretty au fait with man's inhumanity to man thanks. But I am partial to an invention story, and one of science problem solving, and that is exactly what The Battle Of The Beams is. Broadly it is about how the Germans had a system of location finding for their bombers and how Britain (and in particular Reginald Jones) solved the problem and then used it to fight back. The science is pretty simple, and is nicely juxtaposed against the broad arrogance of the British forces who assumed we were better at bombing than the enemy based on hubris and no real evidence (and in the Blitz significant evidence for the contrary). It sits nicely within the Bletchley code breakers realm of spywork, and is full of the kind of pompous asses you'd imagine - though Whipple does take pains to occasionally throw context, and death tolls, on to this game of radio trickery.

At the heart of the book is the portrait of Jones, a clever but insubordinate, arrogant and - well Whipple finally comes outright and says it - extremely annoying man. A scientist looking for some important science to do, the war ended up being a boon for him, and as he fell into being a one-man department of scientific counter-intelligence a lot of freedom to play with ideas. But the right mix of statistical modeling, and the ability to consider that the Germans might be ahead of us in certain areas (they had RADAR which we didn't believe for a long time), meant he got far when realising how well the Germans were pinpointing targets. He wrote his own book about it, which Whipple defers to in places, but also points out that he was prone to glorify himself, make broad sweeping statements about others and broadly be annoying. There is an account of one raid to capture technology which went pretty badly, but still came off which is probably a high point of the book.

This is the kind of popular science and history book that can break down barriers between the two disciplines. Its engagingly told, though Whipple does hold a bit of reserve, I think also to avoid getting whipped up into any kind of jingoistic fervor (as ever so much of the victories on both sides rely more on mistakes and incompetence by their opponent). I maybe would have liked a little bit more on further developments in the field of range finding (all wrapped up in a GPS ball these days), and the story whilst interesting, never reaches an Operation Mincemeat level of bizarre.

If, like me, you were under the impression that one of the main reasons for success in the Battle of Britain was the UK's superiority in Radar technology, then you need to read this book! It turns out that Germany was far more advanced in the development of radio waves used for the detection and guidance of aircraft and at the start of the war Britain was having to play catch up. Whipples's book tells the story of how this technology was used both in attack mode, guiding bombers accurately to their targets and in defense mode, identifying the incoming aircraft and shooting them down. However, the bigger arm wrestle was the continual development, on both sides, of countermeasures to interfere with the technologies being used against them.
Central to this story on the British side is one man, Reginald Jones, a young Engineer who had a theory of how the Luftwaffe were able to successfully find their targets at nightime: following ground based radio beam transmissions. He is able to convince Winston Churchill of the importance of this aspect of aerial combat and is provided the resources to further investigate and to develop counter measures. A role he contiues throughout the war.
I found the whole book fascinating and quite the page turner. It is an important story he tells and not one sided at all. The use of strategic bombing during WW2 is still a controversial subject but the degree of "effectiveness" seems to be down to who had the upper hand with the technology at the time. As Whipple writes, when everything went well for the Luftwaffe and they found their targets you had a result such as the Sheffield blitz in December 1940where over 600 people died and 40,000 were made homeless. Similarly, for the RAF in July 1943 with the incendiary attack on Hamburg where over 30,000 civilians died. Ironically, the technology used in an offensive manner raised the chances of success in finding the target and accurately dropping ordinance. The technology used in a defensive mode could deflect the enemy's attempts to find the target and could reveal their positions to night fighters or anti aircraft guns. Without these countermeasures there would have been many more cities like Sheffield and Hamburg effectively destroyed.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing access to this book.

Reads like an espionage thriller fast paced for such a factual subjects.
Describes the electronic war between Britain and Germany during the second world war through defensive radar to offensive guidance to targets and the counter measures and raids on both sides.
Tracks the continual developments to stay a step ahead of the enemy and the risks taken by pilots, commandoes and the resistance to gather information to prevent Germany first bombing cities as a prelude to invasion, then later through the bomber offensive through to deceptions for D-Day itself.
Great read. Hard to put down.

A fascinating little know story of R V Jons who single handed supported by the PM Winston Churchill started to study German measures to guide their bombers on to their targets and to devise countermeasures to fault their plans. No easy task with scepticism from the RAF and others in authority. A most complex battle of wits and the application of radio technology with only a small increase of staff that was finally won with the successful invasion of France with the Germans totally fooled.

This is a meticulously researched history of measures and countermeasures the unseen secret struggle for radar superiority in World War Two.
There is a great deal of detail about how the information they used in their work was obtained, much of it with a detailed bibliography should the reader want t.o delve deeper into the subject. It becomes clear that those involved work in a tense stressful top secret environment, but still have time for some humour.
The science involved is explained in simple clear terms, without becoming condescending. The author brings The reader along the book's journey in such a way that it could almost be a conversation.
I really enjoyed this informative and true story, so much so that I wish I could give it a sixth star.

I must declare an interest, I have had a passion for radio over 57 years and held an amateur radio licence for 50 of them. So I was excited to read The Battle of the Beams by Tom Whipple. Fortunately Tom makes it an approachable book for the non too technical, so if you have an interest in WW2 and technical innovation then you will definitely find it interesting. Frankly it was a revelation and myth busting too. From the astounding arrogance of the Brits, where a few souls could see the way things were going but the majority happily pilloried them for it. The Germans too had their faults and even though they were usually two steps ahead, their arrogant self belief made their moves fairly predictable. What the book does make evident is that technology not only can save life but also destroy it, keeping one step ahead is the name of the game. Some very brave souls contributed to the gathering of intelligence so that appropriate decisions could be made, often unrewarded and sometimes paying the ultimate sacrifice. My ARC was definitely pre-publication as certain items were waiting to be inserted but the published version should really pique your interest.

Whipple has done a good job on this book - it's a little known area, with only one previous book that covered it (Most Secxret War, R V Jones) that I think is now out of print.

What I like about this book is that it's a good mix of technical as well as the people aspects of this niche of science, that was so important in helping Britain win WW2.

If you're interested in the science - get the book. If you're just interested to find out about what happened, and the people involved - get the book too.

Highly recommended

First, an admission: having enjoyed the 1977 BBC TV Series ‘The Secret War’ and the companion book I suspect that I may not be the target audience for Tom Whipple’s excellent book, since that early encounter with the wartime achievements of RV Jones led me to explore a whole spectrum of books on the subject. I therefore didn’t expect to find much new material from this new book. However, readers familiar with Tom Whipple’s articles in The Times will not be surprised to learn that he brings his polished writing style to the fascinating subject of radar and radio navigation and the countermeasures used by both sides during the Second World War. So, although - unsurprisingly - there is not much that is new, what the author does do is to bring information together from a wide variety of sources to produce a book that is both easy to read and understand, whilst at the same time providing a wealth of information that allows the twenty first century reader a privileged insight into the work of some of the best minds that enabled Britain and her allies to prevail during some of the darkest days of the Second World War. Highly recommended.