Into the Fire

Into the Fire PDF Author: Duane P. Schultz
Publisher: Westholme Publishing
ISBN: 9781594160776
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Schultz recreates the great World War II battle of Ploesti, Romania, combining original research and interviews with survivors in order to capture the tension, drama, and heroics of the warring sides.

Into the Fire

Into the Fire PDF Author: Duane P. Schultz
Publisher: Westholme Publishing
ISBN: 9781594160776
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Schultz recreates the great World War II battle of Ploesti, Romania, combining original research and interviews with survivors in order to capture the tension, drama, and heroics of the warring sides.

Into the Guns of Ploesti

Into the Guns of Ploesti PDF Author: Leroy W. Newby
Publisher: Stillwater, MN : Motorbooks International
ISBN: 9780879384944
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Chronicles the Allied bombing raids into the Rumanian oil-refining center during the Second World War, offering personal recollections and photographs

Fortress Ploesti

Fortress Ploesti PDF Author: Jay A. Stout
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 161200041X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
A comprehensive account of the World War II Allied bombing campaign to destroy pivotal Romanian oil refineries—by the retired Marine Corps fighter pilot. Unlike previous books on Ploesti, Jay Stout goes well beyond the famous big and bloody raid of August 1943 and depicts the entire 1944 strategic campaign of twenty-plus missions that all but knocked Ploesti out of the war and denied the German war machine the fuel and lubricants it so desperately needed. Stout’s account is also a launching point for the author’s inquiries into many aspects of the American strategic bombing effort in World War II. It delivers across the board. Stout, who served as a Marine F/A-18 pilot in the First Gulf War, asks questions about aviation combat history and technique that any modern combat pilot would be dying to ask. He carries the ball far beyond the goal post set by all other Ploesti historians. He has gone out of his way to describe the defenses throughout the campaign, and he brings in the voices of Ploesti’s defenders to complement the tales of Allied airmen who brought Ploesti to ruin. He describes the role of the bombers, as well as that of the fighters, the antiaircraft defenses, even the technique of obscuring the Ploesti complex with smoke. Stout’s lucid presentation of complex issues at the tactical and strategic levels makes his narrative “a must for those with a special interest in the attacks on Ploesti” (World War II History Magazine).

Ploesti 1943

Ploesti 1943 PDF Author: Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472831977
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 97

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Book Description
Operation Tidal Wave was one of the boldest and most controversial air raids by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). At the time, the Romanian Ploesti oil fields produced about a third of all Axis oil, and was Germany's single most important fuel source. In the summer of 1943, the USAAF decided to stage a major raid on Ploesti from air bases in Libya. The resulting Operation Tidal Wave raid on 1 August 1943 was one of the costliest to date, losing 53 aircraft, about a third of the starting force. Of the more than 150 bombers that took part in the raid, only 88 B-24s returned to Libya, 55 of which were damaged. On the other hand, of the 17 Medals of Honor awarded to US soldiers and airmen from Pearl Harbor in 1941 to D-Day in 1944, 5 were awarded to pilots of the Tidal Wave mission in recognition of their extraordinary performance. Although undoubtedly bold and heroic, the mission had questionable results. Initial assessments argued that the mission caused 40% of the refinery capacity at Ploesti to be lost but subsequent studies concluded that the damage was quickly repaired and that output had exceeded August levels within a month. This new study examines the raid in detail, exploring the reasons why its dubious success came at such a high price. Supported by maps, diagrams, and full-colour artwork including battlescenes and bird's-eye views, this is the full story of the audacious Ploesti raid of 1943.

Holocaust: Responses to the persecution and mass murder of the Jews

Holocaust: Responses to the persecution and mass murder of the Jews PDF Author: David Cesarani
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415318716
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description


The North African Air Campaign

The North African Air Campaign PDF Author: Christopher M. Rein
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700618783
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
In the summer of 1942, Axis forces controlled almost the entire southern shore of the Mediterranean. Less than a year later, they had been swept from the African continent-thanks in no small part to efforts of the fledgling U.S. Army Air Force. Indeed, USAAF in North Africa emerged as a senior partner in the Alliance, supplying aircraft and crews at a rate the other partners were unable to match. Going beyond the spare analysis of North African air operations in previous accounts, Christopher Rein shows how American fighter planes and heavy bombers, employed in almost exclusively tactical and operational roles, played a pivotal role in the Alliance's successful ground campaigns. This aerial armada also had a significant negative impact on enemy logistics through its bombing raids on Axis ports, shipping, and airfields. In the process, USAAF helped foster and develop a pattern of inter-service cooperation that remains at the foundation of American close-air-support doctrine today. Rein chronicles the emergence of USAAF in the late interwar and early WWII periods as a more heterogeneous and creative fighting force than earlier works have led us to believe. He then analyzes little-known aspects of the war, including early air operations in the eastern Mediterranean and in the TORCH landings. He explores some of the key issues confronting Eisenhower, such as how to establish USAAF priorities and how to deploy long-range bombers, fighters, and attack forces. In describing the struggle for balance in the employment of air assets between strategic bombing and interdiction in a time fraught with inter-service rivalry, he shows how, despite occasional mistakes such as the heavy losses involved in the Ploesti raids, USAAF struck a suitable balance and even invested more assets in interdiction than traditional accounts of strategic bombardment would suggest. A virtual operational-level history of the USAAF during the formative period of American airpower, Rein's account pulls together material from diverse sources to demonstrate that today's Air Force emphasis on mobility, intelligence, reconnaissance, and close support for ground forces have deep roots. By showing that the Army Air Force in World War II did not neglect support for ground and naval forces in order to concentrate exclusively on strategic bombing, it suggests lessons for military and civilian leaders in the employment of air forces in current and future conflicts.

The Daring World War II Raid on Ploesti

The Daring World War II Raid on Ploesti PDF Author: William R. Bradle
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1455622192
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
An in-depth look at the doomed U.S. Army Air Force attack on Romanian oil fields vital to Hitler’s success. In 1943, the Allied powers were grasping for anything to undercut Hitler’s power and relieve his relentless pressure on the Red Army, which had already suffered a staggering 11 million casualties. The U.S. Army Air Force planned Operation Tidal Wave, which would take off from Benghazi, Libya, fly low and maintain complete radio silence to escape Axis observation, and bomb Hitler’s vital oil fields in Ploesti, Romania. On August 1, 177 B-24 bombers prepared to take off. Fourteen hours later, only 88 B-24s returned. Operation Tidal Wave was a massive strategic defeat. However, it proved the mettle of the USAAF and provided a rallying point for the public. Author William R. Bradle offers the definitive account of this doomed operation—the strengths, weaknesses, heroism, and failings—and takes readers into the thick of the action with thrilling accounts from many of the crews. Praise for The Daring World War II Raid on Ploesti “This account of the Ploesti mission...does an admirable job of laying out the planning, personalities, and attendant conflicts among many participants, the mistakes made and losses inflicted by the Germans and Romanians.... An eminently readable story that further emphasizes and demonstrates the mettle of the Greatest Generation.”—New York Journal of Books

Ploesti

Ploesti PDF Author: James Dugan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ploieşti, Battles of, Ploieşti, Romania, 1943-1944
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description


Yanks Over Europe

Yanks Over Europe PDF Author: Jerome Klinkowitz
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813161576
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
Contrasts between fighter combat and the bombers' war support Klinkowitz's belief that notions of the air war were determined by one's position in it. He extends his thesis by showing the vastly different style of air war described by veterans of the North African and Mediterranean campaigns and concludes by studying the effects of such combat on adversaries and victims. Air combat, Klinkowitz writes, offers a unique perspective on the nature of war. The experience of combat has inspired authors to combine exquisite descriptions with probing thoughtfulness, covering the full range of human expression from exultation to heartbreak. Here is a tightly drawn, highly readable account of the European air war.

The Wild Blue

The Wild Blue PDF Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743217527
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Stephen E. Ambrose, acclaimed author of Band of Brothers and Undaunted Courage, carries us along in the crowded and dangerous B-24s as their crews fought to destroy the German war machine during World War II. The young men who flew the B-24s over Germany in World War II fought against horrific odds, and, in The Wild Blue, Ambrose recounts their extraordinary heroism, skill, daring, and comradeship with vivid detail and affection. Ambrose describes how the Army Air Forces recruited, trained, and selected the elite few who would undertake the most demanding and dangerous jobs in the war. These are the boys—turned pilots, bombardiers, navigators, and gunners of the B-24s—who suffered over fifty percent casualties. With his remarkable gift for bringing alive the action and tension of combat, Ambrose carries us along in the crowded, uncomfortable, and dangerous B-24s as their crews fought to the death through thick black smoke and deadly flak to reach their targets and destroy the German war machine. Twenty-two-year-old George McGovern, who was to become a United States senator and a presidential candidate, flew thirty-five combat missions (all the Army would allow) and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. We meet him and his mates, his co-pilot killed in action, and crews of other planes. Many went down in flames. As Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers portrayed the bravery and ultimate victory of the American soldiers from Normandy on to Germany, The Wild Blue illustrates the enormous contribution that these young men of the Army Air Forces made to the Allied victory.