Slessor: Bomber Champion

Slessor: Bomber Champion PDF Author: Vincent Orange
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1908117591
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 531

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Book Description
The acclaimed author of Dowding of Fighter Command details the life of one of the great strategic minds of the Royal Air Force. Born in India into a family of soldiers and diplomats, John Slessor made the first aerial attack on a Zeppelin. He went on to serve in the Middle East over the Western Front in World War I, and postwar on the North-West Frontier in India. In the inter-war years, under the influence of Sir Hugh Trenchard, he became a devout proponent of strategic bombing and a strong advocate of the importance of air support for ground forces. Through his writing and teaching he gained a reputation as a deep thinker, and as Director of Plans in the Air Ministry from 1937, was closely concerned with rearmament. As World War II began, he became a major cog in the policy machine. Serving variously as Head of 5 Group Bomber Command (1941), with Portal throughout 1942 and at Casablanca in 1943, his high point came as Head of Coastal Command in 1943 with the defeat of the U-Boats, and then in August 1944 with the tragedy of the Warsaw uprising. Post-WWII, he continued to influence thinking as an ardent opponent of the Soviet Union. His Global Strategy Paper in 1952 was arguably the basis of all strategic thinking until the end of the Cold War. Vincent Orange was given full access to Slessor’s diaries, letters, papers, and all relevant official documentation. As he shows us in this biography, although Slessor had numerous shortcomings, he was able to overcome these difficulties and rise to the top of his service.

Slessor: Bomber Champion

Slessor: Bomber Champion PDF Author: Vincent Orange
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1908117591
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 531

Get Book Here

Book Description
The acclaimed author of Dowding of Fighter Command details the life of one of the great strategic minds of the Royal Air Force. Born in India into a family of soldiers and diplomats, John Slessor made the first aerial attack on a Zeppelin. He went on to serve in the Middle East over the Western Front in World War I, and postwar on the North-West Frontier in India. In the inter-war years, under the influence of Sir Hugh Trenchard, he became a devout proponent of strategic bombing and a strong advocate of the importance of air support for ground forces. Through his writing and teaching he gained a reputation as a deep thinker, and as Director of Plans in the Air Ministry from 1937, was closely concerned with rearmament. As World War II began, he became a major cog in the policy machine. Serving variously as Head of 5 Group Bomber Command (1941), with Portal throughout 1942 and at Casablanca in 1943, his high point came as Head of Coastal Command in 1943 with the defeat of the U-Boats, and then in August 1944 with the tragedy of the Warsaw uprising. Post-WWII, he continued to influence thinking as an ardent opponent of the Soviet Union. His Global Strategy Paper in 1952 was arguably the basis of all strategic thinking until the end of the Cold War. Vincent Orange was given full access to Slessor’s diaries, letters, papers, and all relevant official documentation. As he shows us in this biography, although Slessor had numerous shortcomings, he was able to overcome these difficulties and rise to the top of his service.

The Leadership, Direction and Legitimacy of the RAF Bomber Offensive from Inception to 1945

The Leadership, Direction and Legitimacy of the RAF Bomber Offensive from Inception to 1945 PDF Author: Peter Gray
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441162275
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
This book offers a fresh approach to the debate on the RAF's bomber offensive by using modern strategic leadership theory as an analytical tool to examine the campaign. In particular, it looks at the legality and legitimacy of the offensive and explores the key interfaces between the military leaders, the politicians and allies. It also looks at the major controversies in the aims and objectives of the campaign and the personalities involved. Modern literature from the leadership field is used to consider the challenges facing those charged with the formulation and execution of the offensive. Aspects of the senior leadership disputes are also dealt with in the context of the leadership literature and in the wider context of the strategic challenges then facing Churchill, Sinclair and Portal. A multi-disciplinary bent to the book enables the reader to move beyond the narrow confines of military considerations to the thorough investigation of the legality, legitimacy and morality of the offensive.

The Cold War [5 volumes]

The Cold War [5 volumes] PDF Author: Spencer C. Tucker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 4179

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Book Description
This sweeping reference work covers every aspect of the Cold War, from its ignition in the ashes of World War II, through the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War superpower face-off between the Soviet Union and the United States dominated international affairs in the second half of the 20th century and still reverberates around the world today. This comprehensive and insightful multivolume set provides authoritative entries on all aspects of this world-changing event, including wars, new military technologies, diplomatic initiatives, espionage activities, important individuals and organizations, economic developments, societal and cultural events, and more. This expansive coverage provides readers with the necessary context to understand the many facets of this complex conflict. The work begins with a preface and introduction and then offers illuminating introductory essays on the origins and course of the Cold War, which are followed by some 1,500 entries on key individuals, wars, battles, weapons systems, diplomacy, politics, economics, and art and culture. Each entry has cross-references and a list of books for further reading. The text includes more than 100 key primary source documents, a detailed chronology, a glossary, and a selective bibliography. Numerous illustrations and maps are inset throughout to provide additional context to the material.

Air Power Supremo

Air Power Supremo PDF Author: William Pyke
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399095536
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 391

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Book Description
Sir John Slessor was one of the twentieth century’s most distinguished wartime commanders and incisive military thinkers, and William Pyke’s comprehensive new biography reveals how he earned this remarkable reputation. Slessor, a polio victim who always walked with a stick, became a First World War pilot in the Sudan and on the Western Front and a squadron and wing commander in India between the wars. When aerial warfare was still a new concept, he was one of the first to develop practical tactics and strategies in its application. In the Second World War, as the Commander-in-Chief of Coastal Command during the Battle of the Atlantic and the RAF in the Mediterranean during the Italian and Balkan campaigns, he made a remarkable contribution to the success of Allied air power. Then, after the war, as a senior commander he established himself as one of the foremost experts on strategic bombing and nuclear deterrence. That is why this insightful biography of a great British airman and his achievements is so timely and important as we enter a new era of strategic doubts and deterrence at the beginning of the twenty-first century. William Pyke follows each stage of Slessor’s brilliant career as a pilot and commander in vivid detail. In particular he concentrates on Slessor’s writings, from his treatise on the application of air power in support of land armies to his thinking on nuclear deterrence and Western strategy.

Duncan Sandys and British Nuclear Policy-Making

Duncan Sandys and British Nuclear Policy-Making PDF Author: Lewis Betts
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137585471
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
This book offers new perspectives on British nuclear policy-making at the height of the Cold War, arguing that the decisions taken by the British government during the 1950s and 1960s in pursuit of its nuclear ambitions cannot be properly understood without close reference to Duncan Sandys, and in particular the policy preferences that emerged from his experiences of the Second World War and his efforts leading Britain's campaign against the V-1 and V-2. Immersing himself in this campaign against unmanned weaponry, Sandys came to see ballistic missiles as the only guarantor of nuclear credibility in the post-war world, placing them at the centre of his strategic thinking and developing a sincerely-held and logically-consistent belief system which he carried with him through a succession of ministerial roles, allowing him to exert a previously undocumented level of influence on the nature of Britain's nuclear capabilities and its approach to the Cold War. This book shows the profound influence Sandys' personal belief system had on Britain's attempts to acquire a credible nuclear deterrent.

Arsenal of Democracy

Arsenal of Democracy PDF Author: Gavin J Bailey
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748649751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Through a series of case studies, Gavin J. Bailey reveals new details of how Britain used American aircraft and integrates this with broader British statecraft and strategy. He challenges conceptions that Britain was strategically reliant on the US and re

Anatomy of a Campaign

Anatomy of a Campaign PDF Author: John Kiszely
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108170773
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
The British campaign in Norway in 1940 was an ignominious and abject failure. It is perhaps best known as the fiasco which directly led to the fall of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his replacement by Winston Churchill. But what were the reasons for failure? Why did the decision makers, including Churchill, make such poor decisions and exercise such bad judgement? What other factors played a part? John Kiszely draws on his own experience of working at all levels in the military to assess the campaign as a whole, its context and evolution from strategic failures, intelligence blunders and German air superiority to the performance of the troops and the serious errors of judgement by those responsible for the higher direction of the war. The result helps us to understand not only the outcome of the Norwegian campaign but also why more recent military campaigns have found success so elusive.

The Culture of Military Organizations

The Culture of Military Organizations PDF Author: Peter R. Mansoor
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108485731
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 485

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Book Description
Examines how military culture forms and changes, as well as its impact on the effectiveness of military organizations.

A Companion to World War II

A Companion to World War II PDF Author: Thomas W. Zeiler
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118325052
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1541

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Book Description
A Companion to World War II brings together a series of fresh academic perspectives on World War II, exploring the many cultural, social, and political contexts of the war. Essay topics range from American anti-Semitism to the experiences of French-African soldiers, providing nearly 60 new contributions to the genre arranged across two comprehensive volumes. A collection of original historiographic essays that include cutting-edge research Analyzes the roles of neutral nations during the war Examines the war from the bottom up through the experiences of different social classes Covers the causes, key battles, and consequences of the war

Targeting the Third Reich

Targeting the Third Reich PDF Author: Robert S. Ehlers, Jr.
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 070062144X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
When large formations of Allied four-engine bombers finally flew over Europe, it marked the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. Their relentless hammering of Germany-totaling more than 1.4 million missions-took out oil refineries, industries, and transportation infrastructures vital to the Reich's war effort. While other accounts have focused on operational details, this is the first book to reveal the crucial role of air intelligence in these dramatic campaigns. Robert Ehlers reexamines these bombings through the lens of both air intelligence and operations, a dual approach that shows how the former was so vital to the latter's success. Air intelligence was essential to both targeting and damage assessment, and by demonstrating its contributions to the Combined Bomber Offensive of 1943-1945, Ehlers provides a wealth of new insight into the war. Ehlers describes the close ties that developed between the Royal Air Force's "precision intelligence" arm and the U.S. Army Air Force's "precision bombardment" forces, telling how the RAF's photographic reconnaissance and signals intelligence steered both British and American bombers to the right targets at the right intervals with the right munitions. He shows that the greatest strength of this partnership was its ability to orchestrate all aspects of damage assessment within an effective organizational structure, so that by 1944 senior air commanders-like the RAF's Arthur "Bomber" Harris and the AAF's Carl "Tooey" Spaatz-could gauge the accuracy of bombing with a high degree of precision, analyze its effects on the German war effort, and determine its effectiveness in helping the Allies achieve strategic objectives. Ehlers focuses on three key offensives in 1944-against French and Belgian rail supply lines delivering German troops and supplies to Normandy, against German oil refineries, and against railroads and waterways inside the Reich-that had a disastrous effect on the Nazi war effort. In the process, he underscores the degree to which bombers constituted part of a highly effective combined-arms force, giving Allied armies crucial advantages on the battlefield. Drawing on a huge collection of bomb-damage assessment photographs and a wealth of other archival sources, he shows that the success of these and other efforts can be traced directly to the success of air intelligence. Providing a deeper and more accurate understanding of the bomber campaigns' role in the Allied victory, Ehlers's study testifies to the strategic importance of these efforts in that war and provides a tool for understanding the importance of intelligence operations in future conflicts.