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Fighting With Popski’s Private Army
by Park YunnieThis is the story of Popskis famous fighting unit, in the words of his second-in-command.Captain Bob Yunnie, MC, aka Park Yunnie, became the first recruit to the special unit founded in Cairo by Major Vladimir Peniakoff (Popski). As the Eighth Army advances towards Tripoli, PPA sets out in jeeps across the desert to mount raids behind the Mareth Line. Yunnie relives the ensuing action at Gafsa and Kasserine, and vividly depicts the sorties which took the men straight across the German Line of Command.As Tunis falls to the Allies on 7 May 1943, PPA train for raids on the Italian mainland. They are dropped by RAF gliders in central Italy, where they set about blowing up strategic targets while waiting for the Allied landings. Yunnie is given his own patrol, and in the narrative that follows, colorful characters flit in and out of the front-line action in the mountains of Southern Italy.Yunnies account is an honest, extremely personal, expos of the thrills and occasional pitfalls of life with Popski and his men.
Fighting Words and Images
by Elena V. Baraban Adam Muller Stephan JaegerFighting Words and Images is the first comprehensive interdisciplinary and theoretical analysis of war representations across time periods from Classical Antiquity to the present day and across languages, cultures, and media including print, painting, sculpture, architecture, and photography.Featuring contributions from across the humanities and social sciences, Fighting Words and Images is organized into four thematically consistent, analytically rigourous sections that discuss ways to overcome the conceptual challenges associated with theorizing war representation. This collection creatively and insightfully explains the nature, origins, dynamics, structure, and impact of a wide variety of war representations.
Fighting Words: Canada's Best War Reporting
by Mark BourrieA collection of the best journalism from Canada’s wars, from the time of the Vikings to the war in Afghanistan. Fighting Words is a collection of the very best war journalism created by or about Canadians at war. The collection spans 1,000 years of history, from the Vikings’ fight with North American Natives, through New France’s struggle for survival against the Iroquois and British, to the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Rebellions of Lower and Upper Canada, the Fenian raids, the North-West Rebellion, the First World War, the Second World War, Korea, peacekeeping missions, and Afghanistan. Each piece has an introduction describing the limits placed on the writers, their apparent biases, and, in many cases, the uses of the article as propaganda. The stories were chosen for their impact on the audience they were written for, their staying power, and, above all, the quality of their writing.
Fighting World War Three from the Middle East: Allied Contingency Plans, 1945-1954
by Michael J. CohenThis description of Allied contingency plans for military operations in the Middle East - in the event of conflict with the Soviet Union - argues that diplomatic events and crises in the Middle East in 1945-55 are understandable only in the context of assets sought by the Allies in that region.
Fighting for Afghanistan
by Sean M. MaloneySean Maloney, the first Canadian military historian to go into battle since the Korean War, brings the intensity of near-fatal experiences in southern Afghanistan to his description of events in 2006 when the Taliban insurgency threatened to overwhelm the U.S.-led coalition. He explains how the shift from small-scale guerilla attacks and urban terrorism to near-conventional warfare caught everyone by surprise and forced a small, under-equipped Canadian battle group into a desperate series of battles that ultimately saved Kandahar City. Maloney tells exactly what happened at all levels, from infantry company to battle group to brigade headquarters. He is the first to provide such details and give historical context, while helping readers understand the difficulties involved in complex coalition operations.
Fighting for America: Black Soldiers-the Unsung Heroes of World War II
by Christopher Paul MooreThe African-American contribution to winning World War II has never been celebrated as profoundly as in Fighting for America. In this inspirational and uniquely personal tribute, the essential part played by black servicemen and -women in that cataclysmic conflict is brought home. Here are letters, photographs, oral histories, and rare documents, collected by historian Christopher Moore, the son of two black WWII veterans. Weaving his family history with that of his people and nation, Moore has created an unforgettable tapestry of sacrifice, fortitude, and courage. From the 1,800 black soldiers who landed at Normandy Beach on D-Day, and the legendary Tuskegee Airmen who won ninety-five Distinguished Flying Crosses, to the 761st Tank Battalion who, under General Patton, helped liberate Nazi death camps, the invaluable effort of black Americans to defend democracy is captured in word and image. Readers will be introduced to many unheralded heroes who helped America win the war, including Dorie Miller, the messman who manned a machine gun and downed four Japanese planes; Robert Brooks, the first American to die in armored batt Lt. Jackie Robinson, the future baseball legend who faced court-martial for refusing to sit in the back of a military bus; an until now forgotten African-American philosopher who helped save many lives at a Japanese POW c& even the author's own parents: his mother, Kay, a WAC when she met his father, Bill, who was part of the celebrated Red Ball Express. Yet Fighting for America is more than a testimonial; it is also a troubling story of profound contradictions, of a country still in the throes of segregation, of a domestic battleground where arrests and riots occurred simultaneously with foreign service-and of how the war helped spotlight this disparity and galvanize the need for civil rights. Featuring a unique perspective on black soldiers, Fighting for America will move any reader: all who, like the author, owe their lives to those who served.
Fighting for Atlanta: Tactics, Terrain, and Trenches in the Civil War (Civil War America)
by Earl J. HessAs William T. Sherman's Union troops began their campaign for Atlanta in the spring of 1864, they encountered Confederate forces employing field fortifications located to take advantage of rugged terrain. While the Confederates consistently acted on the defensive, digging eighteen lines of earthworks from May to September, the Federals used fieldworks both defensively and offensively. With 160,000 troops engaged on both sides and hundreds of miles of trenches dug, fortifications became a defining factor in the Atlanta campaign battles. These engagements took place on topography ranging from Appalachian foothills to the clay fields of Georgia's piedmont.Leading military historian Earl J. Hess examines how commanders adapted their operations to the physical environment, how the environment in turn affected their movements, and how Civil War armies altered the terrain through the science of field fortification. He also illuminates the impact of fighting and living in ditches for four months on the everyday lives of both Union and Confederate soldiers. The Atlanta campaign represents one of the best examples of a prolonged Union invasion deep into southern territory, and, as Hess reveals, it marked another important transition in the conduct of war from open field battles to fighting from improvised field fortifications.
Fighting for Citizenship: Black Northerners and the Debate over Military Service in the Civil War (Civil War America)
by Brian TaylorIn Fighting for Citizenship, Brian Taylor complicates existing interpretations of why black men fought in the Civil War. Civil War–era African Americans recognized the urgency of a core political concern: how best to use the opportunity presented by this conflict over slavery to win abolition and secure enduring black rights, goals that had eluded earlier generations of black veterans. Some, like Frederick Douglass, urged immediate enlistment to support the cause of emancipation, hoping that a Northern victory would bring about the end of slavery. But others counseled patience and negotiation, drawing on a historical memory of unfulfilled promises for black military service in previous American wars and encouraging black men to leverage their position to demand abolition and equal citizenship. In doing this, they also began redefining what it meant to be a black man who fights for the United States.These debates over African Americans' enlistment expose a formative moment in the development of American citizenship: black Northerners' key demand was that military service earn full American citizenship, a term that had no precise definition prior to the Fourteenth Amendment. In articulating this demand, Taylor argues, black Northerners participated in the remaking of American citizenship itself—unquestionably one of the war's most important results.
Fighting for Credibility: US Reputation and International Politics
by Frank P. Harvey John MittonWhen Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people in Syria, he clearly crossed President Barack Obama’s "red line." At the time, many argued that the president had to bomb in order to protect America's reputation for toughness, and therefore its credibility, abroad; others countered that concerns regarding reputation were overblown, and that reputations are irrelevant for coercive diplomacy. Whether international reputations matter is the question at the heart of Fighting for Credibility. For skeptics, past actions and reputations have no bearing on an adversary’s assessment of credibility; power and interests alone determine whether a threat is believed. Using a nuanced and sophisticated theory of rational deterrence, Frank P. Harvey and John Mitton argue the opposite: ignoring reputations sidesteps important factors about how adversaries perceive threats. Focusing on cases of asymmetric US encounters with smaller powers since the end of the Cold War including Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Syria, Harvey and Mitton reveal that reputations matter for credibility in international politics. This dynamic and deeply documented study successfully brings reputation back to the table of foreign diplomacy.
Fighting for General Lee: Confederate General Rufus Barringer and the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade
by Sheridan R. BarringerRufus Barringer fought on horseback through most of the Civil War with General Lees Army of Northern Virginia, and rose to lead the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade in some of the wars most difficult combats. Fighting for General Lee: Confederate General Rufus Barringer and the North Carolina Cavalry Brigade details his entire history for the first time.Barringer raised a company early in the war and fought with the 1st North Carolina Cavalry from the Virginia peninsula through Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He was severely wounded in the face at Brandy Station, during the opening hours of the Gettysburg Campaign. Because of his severe wound, he missed the remainder of the Gettysburg Campaign, returning to his regiment in mid-October, 1863. Within three months he was a lieutenant colonel, and by June 1864 a brigadier general in command of the North Carolina Brigade, which fought the rest of the war with Lee and was nearly destroyed during the retreat from Richmond in 1865. The captured Barringer met President Lincoln at City Point, endured prison, and after the war did everything he could to convince North Carolinians to accept Reconstruction and heal the wounds of war.Fighting for General Lee by Sheridan R. Barringer draws upon a wide array of newspapers, diaries, letters, and previously unpublished family documents and photographs, as well as other firsthand accounts, to paint a broad, deep, and colorful portrait of an overlooked Southern cavalry commander. Despite its subject matter, the book is a balanced account that concludes Barringer was a dependable, hard-hitting warrior increasingly called upon to lead attacks against superior Union forces.This remarkable new biography teaches us many things. It is easy today to paint all who wore Confederate gray with a broad brush because they fought on the side to preserve slavery. Here, however, was a man who wielded the sword and then promptly sheathed it to follow a bolder vision. Barringer proved to be a bold champion of the poor, the black, and the massesa Southern gentleman and man decades ahead of his time that made a difference in the lives of North Carolinians.
Fighting for Honor: Japanese Americans and World War II
by Michael L. CooperAn account of Japanese Americans in World War II, based mainly on diaries, autobiographies, and the military records of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was known as the Purple Heart Battalion because of its bravery. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, all people on the West Coast of Japanese heritage, whether resident aliens or citizens, were forced to move into internment camps. But 1,200 young men from the camps, along with 10,000 other GIs of Japanese heritage, became some of the most decorated soldiers in the war as part of the 442nd. Author Michel L. Cooper tells of the remarkable bravery of these Nisei soldiers, whose heroism in battles in Europe contrasted with the prejudice that Japanese Americans faced at home.
Fighting for Hope: African American Troops of the 93rd Infantry Division in World War II and Postwar America (War, Society, Culture Ser.)
by Robert F. Jefferson“A rigorously researched, richly etched re-creation of the formation of the all-black Ninety-third Infantry Division, which fought in the Pacific theater.” —Journal of American HistoryThis fascinating history shows how African-American military men and women seized their dignity through barracks culture and community politics during and after World War II.Drawing on oral testimony, unpublished correspondence, archival records, memoirs, and diaries, Robert F. Jefferson explores the curious contradiction of war-effort idealism and entrenched discrimination through the experiences of the 93rd Infantry Division. Led by white officers and presumably unable to fight—and with the army taking great pains to regulate contact between black soldiers and local women—the division was largely relegated to support roles during the advance on the Philippines, seeing action only later in the war when U.S. officials found it unavoidable.Jefferson discusses racial policy within the War Department, examines the lives and morale of black GIs and their families, documents the debate over the deployment of black troops, and focuses on how the soldiers’ wartime experiences reshaped their perspectives on race and citizenship in America. He finds in these men and their families incredible resilience in the face of racism at war and at home and shows how their hopes for the future provided a blueprint for America’s postwar civil rights struggles.Integrating social history and civil rights movement studies, Fighting for Hope examines the ways in which political meaning and identity were reflected in the aspirations of these black GIs and their role in transforming the face of America.“A marvelous book.” —Annals of Iowa
Fighting for Hope: African American Troops of the 93rd Infantry Division in World War II and Postwar America (War/Society/Culture)
by Robert F. JeffersonThis fascinating history shows how African-American military men and women seized their dignity through barracks culture and community politics during and after World War II.Drawing on oral testimony, unpublished correspondence, archival records, memoirs, and diaries, Robert F. Jefferson explores the curious contradiction of war-effort idealism and entrenched discrimination through the experiences of the 93rd Infantry Division. Led by white officers and presumably unable to fight—and with the army taking great pains to regulate contact between black soldiers and local women—the division was largely relegated to support roles during the advance on the Philippines, seeing action only later in the war when U.S. officials found it unavoidable. Jefferson discusses racial policy within the War Department, examines the lives and morale of black GIs and their families, documents the debate over the deployment of black troops, and focuses on how the soldiers’ wartime experiences reshaped their perspectives on race and citizenship in America. He finds in these men and their families incredible resilience in the face of racism at war and at home and shows how their hopes for the future provided a blueprint for America’s postwar civil rights struggles.Integrating social history and civil rights movement studies, Fighting for Hope examines the ways in which political meaning and identity were reflected in the aspirations of these black GIs and their role in transforming the face of America.
Fighting for MacArthur
by John GordonAs the only single-volume work to offer a full account of Navy and Marine Corps actions in the Philippines during World War II, this book provides a unique source of information on the early part of the war. Based on a rich collection of American and newly discovered Japanese sources, it is filled with never-before-published details about the fighting, including a revealing discussion of the buildup of tensions between Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the Navy that continued for the remainder of the war.Gordon describes in considerable detail the unusual missions of the Navy and Marine Corps in the largely Army campaign, where sailors fought as infantrymen alongside their Marine comrades at Bataan and Corregidor, crews of Navy ships manned the Army's heavy coastal artillery weapons, and Navy submarines desperately tried to supply the men with food and ammunition. Indeed, this book gives the most detailed account ever published of the Japanese bombing of the Cavite Navy Yard outside Manila on the third day of the war-the worst damage inflicted on a U.S. Navy installation since the British burned the Washington Navy Yard in 1814. It also closely examines the surrender of the 4th Marines at Corregidor, the only time in history that the U.S. Marine Corps lost a regiment in combat. To provide readers with a Japanese perspective of the fighting, Gordon draws on the recently discovered diary of a leader of the Japanese amphibious assault force that fought against the Navy's provisional infantry battalion on southern Bataan, and he also makes full use of the U.S. ship logs and the 4th Marine unit diary that were evacuated from Manila Bay shortly before U.S. forces surrendered.
Fighting for Napoleon's Army in Russia: A POW's Memoir
by C.J. WagevierIn 1812 the French emperor Napoleon decided to invade Russia. For this purpose, he gathered an army of half a million men and women, consisting of soldiers from all nationalities, including French, German and Italian. Serving in this army was Carel Johannes Wagevier, an officer in the 125th Regiment of the Line, which was staffed by mostly Dutch soldiers. Full of confidence, they went to war and began the long journey to the East. What followed was a horrific expedition deep into the Russian interior, a chaotic retreat, and captivity. Just like his fellow soldiers, Wagevier endured the cold, the stresses of combat, and the hunger that besieged the army. After fighting at the battle of Berezina in November 1812, he was taken prisoner and transported all the way to the Russian interior. In 1814 he and his remaining fellow officers were released, and together they started the journey back home. During his travels across Russia, he made notes of events that occurred or meetings that seemed memorable, including ones of unexpected generosity as well as sudden cruelty. These notes were later expanded into his memoir and published in 1820. Now, for the first time ever, they have been translated into English, providing a unique and fascinating insight into the life of a solider in Napoleon’s army.
Fighting for Napoleon: French Soldiers' Letters, 1799–1815
by Bernard Wilkin René WilkinTrue, first-hand accounts of combat and soldiering from the men who fought for Napoleon Bonparte and the First French Empire: &“Fascinating stuff&” (Stuart Asquith, author of Military Modelling). The French side of the Napoleonic Wars is often presented from a strategic point of view, or in terms of military organization and battlefield tactics, or through officers&’ memoirs. Fighting for Napoleon:French Soldiers&’ Letters, 1799–1815, based on more than sixteen hundred letters written by French soldiers of the Napoleonic armies, shares the perspectives and experiences of the lowest, ordinary ranks of the army who fought on the frontlines. Authors Bernard Wilkin and René Wilkin provide an informative read of common soldiers&’ lives for military and cultural historians as well as a fascinating counterpoint to the memoirs of Cpt. Jean-Roch Coignet, Col. Marcellin de Marbot, or Sgt. Adrien Bourgogne. &“A superb guide to the experience and motivation of military service that is based on a wide trawl of relevant letters . . . A first-rate work that is of much wider significance.&” —Professor Jeremy Black, author of The Battle of Waterloo &“Provides the reader with a good insight into the lives of ordinary French of the Napoleonic Wars . . . Direct accounts of campaigns and battle, recruitment and training, barrack life, the experience of captivity and being wounded are all here, based on letters written most by uneducated men to their immediate family . . . This really is fascinating stuff, and surely a &‘must&’ for students of Napoleonic warfare.&” —Stuart Asquith, author of Military Modelling: Guide to Solo Wargaming
Fighting for Uncle Sam: Buffalo Soldiers in the Frontier Army
by John P. LangellierAn exciting general history of the first generation of blacks to serve in the US ArmyRousing narrative and accompanying images bring to life over a century of African American military historyCombines a half century of combing public and private collections across the nation
Fighting for the Confederacy
by Gary W. GallagherOriginally published by UNC Press in 1989, Fighting for the Confederacy is one of the richest personal accounts in all of the vast literature on the Civil War. Alexander was involved in nearly all of the great battles of the East, from First Manassas through Appomattox, and his duties brought him into frequent contact with most of the high command of the Army of Northern Virginia, including Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and James Longstreet. No other Civil War veteran of his stature matched Alexander's ability to discuss operations in penetrating detail-- this is especially true of his description of Gettysburg. His narrative is also remarkable for its utterly candid appraisals of leaders on both sides.
Fighting for the Faith: The Many Fronts of Crusade & Jihad 1000-1500 AD
by David NicolleFighting between Christians and Muslims in the medieval period is often seen in the narrow context of the battle for the Holy Land. Other points of conflict tend to be ignored. But, as David Nicolle's thought-provoking survey shows, the religions clashed across the medieval world - in the Mediterranean and the Iberian peninsula, in the Near East, in Central Asia, India, the Balkans, Anatolia, Russia, the Baltic and Africa. Over 500 years, the struggle in each theatre of conflict had its own character - methods of warfare differed and developed in different ways and were influenced by local traditions and circumstances. And these campaigns were not waged solely against Christian or Islamic enemies, but against pagan, non-Christian or non-Islamic peoples. As he tells the story of Crusade and Jihad, and describes the organization and tactics of the armies involved, David Nicolle opens up a new understanding of the phenomenon of holy war.
Fighting for the French Foreign Legion: Americans who joined the First World War in 1914
by Nils Elmark"Author Nils Elmark tackles the life and times of several notable Americans – primarily aviator Eugene Bullard, poet Alan Seeger and North African adventurer David Wooster King – against their impact on the war and their personal exploits while never losing sight of the overall context in which these events occurred. It is well written, easy to read and woven together as a single fabric." — Indy Squadron Dispatch On 24 August 1914, forty-four Americans joined the Foreign Legion and “with a cowboy swing” marched through Paris, wildly cheered by the crowd. They were Ivy League graduates, artists and dreamers and soldiers of fortune starting on equal terms as recruits in the French Army. They were the first Americans in the Great War, driven by a love for France and a thirst for adventure with no idea of the horrors awaiting them. This book is the amazing story of these American legionnaires told by three of the young volunteers: • David Wooster King – a 21-year-old dropout from Harvard, son of a rich businessman. King survived four years in the trenches ending as an officer in the US Army chasing German spies in Switzerland. He became a modern global adventurer and when the world went to war again David King was the first to volunteer for an even greater adventure in North Africa. • Alan Seeger – a 26-year-old poet and dreamer from a New York family of intellectuals. Seeger was killed during the Battle of the Somme on 4 July 1916. Six weeks earlier, he wrote the famous poem, ‘I Have a Rendezvous with Death’ which was to become his legacy and the favorite poem of President Kennedy. It has inspired a line of American presidents during the 20th century and is an indestructible poetic lifeline linking France and the United States of America. • Eugene James Bullard – the last of the three legionnaires and a 19-year-old entertainer and boxer from Columbus, Georgia. His father was born a slave, his mother was Creek Indian. Although wounded at Verdun and invalided out of the French Army, Bullard became the world’s first black aviator. After the war he settled in Paris and ran a bar in Montmartre before going to war for France again in 1940. The three men represent different pillars of the American soul, and their lives and dreams symbolize the story of how America became modern and remind us of the strong historic ties between France and America. Most of all, this book is a fantastic saga of brave men, great adventures and terrific sacrifices that bring hope and a new direction in a time of human division.
Fighting for the French Foreign Legion: Memoirs of a Scottish Legionnaire
by Alex LochrieA soldier’s true story of danger and adventure as a modern-day legionnaire in Kuwait, Bosnia, and beyond. With no French language ability, Alex Lochrie approached recruiters for the French Foreign Legion in Paris and embarked on the demanding selection process that followed. When he was accepted, he and other prospective legionnaires were sent to Southern France to begin the harsh recruit training course. The mix of nationalities and backgrounds among his fellows was enormous. New members are traditionally allowed to change their identities—and Lochrie chose to alter his age, becoming twenty-eight instead of thirty-eight. Elite paratrooper training followed in Corsica before Lochrie earned his wings. The FFL is never far from the front line, and in this book he tells of challenging active service in former French colonies in Africa as well as during the first Gulf War, evicting Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, and operations in Bosnia and Sarajevo. This gripping account lifts the veil of mystery and myth, pulling you into the action—and revealing much about the realities of service in the Foreign Legion.
Fighting for the News: The Adventures of the First War Correspondents from Bonaparte to the Boers
by Brian BestThe incredible true stories of the first reporters from the battlefield—from Europe&’s Napoleonic era to the Boer Wars of South Africa. Over two centuries ago, newspapers first considered sending a reporter overseas to observe, gather information, and write about war. With no experience to draw upon, both newspapers and correspondents gradually worked out a procedure that has evolved into today&’s incredibly sophisticated systems of reportage. Here are the gripping accounts of those groundbreaking adventurers who sought out the danger of battle in pursuit of a story. Included within are the exploits of such journalistic luminaries as the first real war correspondent, Henry Crabb Robinson, who was sent by The Times of London to act as their &‘man in Germany&’, ostensibly to follow and report the movements of Napoleon&’s Grande Armée; William Howard Russell in the Crimean War, whose reports helped change the British government&’s treatment of their soldiers; and perhaps the most famous correspondent of all, a young Winston Churchill who reported on conflicts in Cuba, the Indian frontier, Sudan, and the Boer War. For any fan of history, journalism, or true-life adventures, Fighting for the News is all you need to get the full story.
Fighting for the Trauma Doc's Heart: Pacific Paradise, Second Chance / Fighting For The Trauma Doc's Heart (Mills And Boon Medical Ser.)
by Rachel DoveFrom professional rivals…To a family of three?Ex-army doc Jacob Peterson is still adjusting to life as a single dad when his job is threatened by returning trauma doc Michelle Forbes. The sparks of animosity with the smart, sassy doc soon turn to attraction. But there’s room in Jacob’s life for only one girl—his daughter—and he can’t risk her heart, or his, again. Resisting his growing bond with Michelle will be the fight of his life!
Fighting for the United States, Executed in Britain: US Soldiers Court-Martialled in WWII
by Simon WebbThis book relates a chapter of American military history which many people would rather forget. When the United States came to the aid of Britain in 1942, the arrival of American troops was greeted with unreserved enthusiasm, but unfortunately, wartime sometimes brings out the worst, as well as the best, in people. A small number of the soldiers abused the hospitality they received by committing murders and rapes against British civilians. Some of these men were hanged or shot at Shepton Mallet Prison in Somerset, which had been handed over for the use of the American armed forces. Due to a treaty between Britain and America, those accused of such offences faced an American court martial, rather than a British civilian court, which gave rise to some curious anomalies. Although rape had not been a capital crime in Britain for over a century, it still carried the death penalty under American military law and so the last executions for rape in Britain were carried out at this time in Shepton Mallet. Fighting For the United States, Executed in Britain tells the story of every American soldier executed in Britain during the Second World War. The majority of the executed soldiers were either black or Hispanic, reflecting the situation in the United States itself, where the ethnicity of the accused person often played a key role in both convictions and the chances of subsequently being executed.
Fighting from the Heavens: Tactics and Training of USAAF Bomber Crews, 1941–45
by Chris McNab"...expands our knowledge of bomber operations, making it a most welcome addition to the aerial combat literature." — The Journal of America's Military Past During World War II, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) projected American military might across distances and with destructive force unimaginable just a decade previously. The B-17s and B-24s of the US Eighth Air Force, for example, turned much of Germany’s infrastructure to twisted steel and burnt rubble between 1943 and 1945. B-29 Superfortresses unleashed conventional raids on Japan of even greater area destruction than that created by the atomic bomb attacks (also delivered by USAAF crews). Beyond heavy strategic bombing, US bombers performed a multitude of other tactical roles, including hunting Axis submarines, bombing enemy shipping, low-level runs against precision targets, and providing heavy air support to advancing infantry and armor. While the US bombers dealt out violence, however, they were also prey to a terrifying spectrum of antiaircraft threats, and by the end of the war 88,119 US airmen had died in service. Bomber crews were a world unto themselves, composed of pilots, co-pilots, engineers, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and bombardiers. And each aircraft type had its own unique characteristics and capabilities, from twin-engine B-25 Mitchells designed for strafing and skip-bombing to the four-engine workhorses of the strategic bombing campaign: the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, and B-29 Superfortress. Fighting from the Heavens: Tactics and Training of USAAF Bomber Crews, 1941–45 presents an invaluable collection of material from US wartime manuals, including doctrinal, training, technical, aircraft-specific, and position-specific publications. Through these manuals, the reader gains an insider’s insight into the demands of US bomber warfare, including long-distance navigation, gun-turret operation, formation flying, bomber start-up procedures, and bomb aiming.