Perilous Moon – Occupied France , 1944 – The End Game by Stuart Nimmo, HB 224 pages, 200 B&W illustrations, 14 maps, Casemate Publishers £22.50 (available form Pen & Sword) ISBN 978-1-61200-124-1
I was drawn to review this book by the fact that it is the story of Flight Lieutenant Neil Duncan Nimmo DFC, who was the Commanding Officer of Queen’s University Air Squadron in 1945, taking the cadets flying from RAF Long Kesh. As I am currently researching and writing the history of QUAS, I thought that it would helpful to find out more about him. While this has indeed proved useful, the considerable bonus is that Neil’s story is well-written, fascinating and superbly illustrated.
As the title implies, Neil spent several adventurous and hazardous months in Occupied France following the shooting down of his 101 Squadron Avro Lancaster – incredibly one of seven Lancasters dispatched by a single German night-fighter pilot in the space of 46 minutes.
Chapters written in the first person have been taken from notes which Neil left and from his son, Stuart’s memories of a verbal account given by Neil to his children. These form the bulk of the book and are a fine piece of evocative, descriptive writing, a remarkable pen picture of life in wartime France – in the countryside and in Paris. And of its inhabitants, the resistance, the collaborators and the Nazi occupiers.
Lancaster ‘Q Queenie’ was shot down by Hauptman Helmut Bergmann and his two-man crew, flying a Messerschmidt Bf 110. Stuart Nimmo delved deeply into the records and intersperses the main narrative to tell the story of this young pilot, a dedicated supporter of the Nazi regime, who did not survive the war. Ironically, his death may have been due to ‘friendly fire’.
Neil’s operational career resumed, flying the Mosquito with No 142 Squadron of the Pathfinder Force. It was by no means uneventful.
The text is enhanced by a marvellous selection of photographs, amassed by Stuart Nimmo, of hitherto unseen images from private photo collections. There are also a number of very helpful maps.
In the final chapter, ‘Aftermath’, Stuart gives his thoughts on French postwar guilt and selective amnesia concerning the German occupation and the attitude of the French people to it. As a Paris-based documentary filmmaker, his views are deeply considered and very interesting. The book is rounded off by excellent and informative explanatory notes.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and have no hesitation in recommending it highly.
