The Mare's Nest
OCLC 314552227 | | |
Preceded by | The Destruction of Dresden | |
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Followed by | The Virus House |
The Mare's Nest is a 1964 book by English author
Retrospectively, the book is still praised for its extensive research but criticised for minimising the Nazi slave labour programmes of Mittelwerk and Nordhausen, about which Irving certainly knew.[1]
Publication history
The book was Irving's second, published the year after his best-seller
Irving nonetheless worked the secret material into his book, writing an entire chapter about Enigma in the first draft of The Mare's Nest. When it came to the attention of the authorities, "one night I was visited at my flat by men in belted raincoats who came and physically seized the chapter. I was summoned to the Cabinet Office, twelve men sitting around a polished table, where it was explained to me why [the information] was not being released and we appeal to you as an English gentleman not to release [it]." Irving cooperated and withdrew the chapter, but by this time he had copied enough material from Cherwell's archive to furnish several more books.[3] ULTRA remained secret for another decade.[4]
The book's title comes from a phrase used by Lord Cherwell to describe the V-weapons; he was sceptical of the existence of the V-2 rocket, regarding it (wrongly, as it turned out) as technologically infeasible, and referred to it as a "mare's nest" (meaning a remarkable discovery which later turns out to be illusory).[5]
Reception
The book was well received at the time by reviewers. Writing in The Economist, William Kimber called it "remarkable" for its coverage of both sides, Allied and German. He concluded that the book shows that the British reached the right conclusions, despite errors along the way, while the Germans hindered their own efforts with disputes between the army, air force, SS and civilian ministers.[6] The Times noted that the book highlighted how the hunt for the V-weapons was punctuated by "conflicts of personality between scientists, intelligence officers, and Service leaders", while at the same time conveying "the efficiency of the British Intelligence Services at the lower level" even if the higher-level co-ordination was sometimes lacking.[5] The Guardian's Clare Hollingworth noted that the book "provides some excellent quotations from intelligence documents, both British and German, as well as sketches of Peenemünde and of the [V-2 rocket]" and suggested that "perhaps scientists or soldiers engaged in rocketry" would find it useful.[7]
The book has been widely cited by authors covering the V-weapons programme. Even after Irving's reputation was destroyed after his exposure as a Holocaust denier,[10] Michael J. Neufeld of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has described The Mare's Nest as "the most complete account on both Allied and German sides of the V-weapons campaign in the last two years of the war."[1]
References
- ^ ISBN 9780160867118.
- ISBN 9781862074866.
- ^ a b Guttenplan, p. 44
- ISBN 9781107000995.
- ^ a b "Bombardments That Followed the Luftwaffe's Defeat". The Times. 3 December 1964. p. 15.
- ^ Kimber, William (28 November 1964). "The Enemy". The Economist. No. 6327. p. 980.
- ^ Hollingworth, Clare (4 December 1964). "Doodlebugs". The Guardian.
- ^ "Cassandra". Daily Mirror. 30 November 1964.
- ^ Sandys, Duncan (December 1964). "Secrets of the war within the war". Evening Standard. London.
- ^ Traynor, Ian (21 February 2006). "Irving jailed for denying Holocaust". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
External links
- Irving, David. The Mare's Nest (online ed.). Archived from the original on 27 May 2007.