Book Description
With their stout airframes, innovative airbrake designs and near-vertical dive capabilities, U.S. Navy torpedo and dive bombers played a crucial role in the course of the war in the Pacific. This photohistory uses colour photos, along with quotes and anecdotes from pilots and crewmembers, to relate the stories behind Navy dive bombers over the Pacific.
Customer Reviews:
What I expect from MBI.......2006-01-11
This is an excellent book, with numerous beautiful photos. It covers evything from Avengers to Catalinas, including some seldom heard of aircraft. This is a great book for any WW 2 Navy fan or historian. It is on par with the other exceptional books I've bought from MBI.
Hits hard and fast!.......2003-01-06
Barrett Tillman and Bob Lawson have joined forces to produce a true jewel of a book on the US Dive and Torpedo bombers of WWII. Both individuals are recognized experts in the field and their collaboration has yielded a standout treatment of each significant dive and torpedo bomber in service during World War II. The text is an outstanding reference on the origin and development of each type aircraft as well as its introduction and success (or tribulations) in combat. This is nicely balanced by the superb imagery, many in color, and detailed captions. These gents really know their stuff and it shows. If you're interested in this subject and don't have it yet, your collection is not complete.
Book Review, US Navy Dive and Torpedo Bombers of WWII.......2001-11-22
Up till now, my reading has focused on the soldier(s) or battles, sometimes even a good novel (ie War and Rememberance), but I've never attempted to read a book about the fine machines of World War II. Reading this book was a pleasure that I savored.
The book is organized into eight chapters. Each chapter discusses the planes in detail giving manufacturing history, sometimes the designer and usually indicating the specific number of planes produced. The chapter then goes on to describe the action the specific plane saw in WWII. I thought I knew a lot about the Battle of Midway, but it wasn't until reading this book, that I learned that our carrier killer, the Douglas SBD did not have folding wings. It seems ironic or perhaps unusual for a carrier plane to not have folding wings. But I'm not the only one who thought that; an incident is described aboard a CVL where the plane director told an SBD pilot to fold his wings after landing. The pilot told the director "This is an SBD". The director said "Well, fold 'em anyway".
As you read each chapter, much of what is described is illustrated by high quality photos. I think I spent as much time studying the photos as I did looking at the text. The title page has a huge picture of the Enterprise launching her SBD's 12/7/41. One doesn't often see a deck full of SBD's with red dots in the center of the stars, which were painted out mid-1942.
Although the book is loaded with technical language, most is easily understood by the context. The book also discusses other planes used in the south pacific, such as patrol bombers and some of the fighters. It tells of the use of navy planes on the Atlantic side of the WWII theater also.
Whenever possible, the author(s) use personal stories to give one a first hand experience in the cockpit. Mr. Tillman shares his own story helping to restore an SBD-5 in the early seventies. Most of the stories, though, are from 1941-1945. Many are from names I already knew, but I learned of a few more in this book. We had no shortage of heroes in WWII.
Amazon.com
"We must make war as we must, not as we would like," observed the great British general Lord Kitchener after witnessing the carnage of World War I. Former Royal Marines commando Robin Neillands concurs in this often grim account of a bombing campaign that devastated much of continental Europe in the cause of destroying Nazism.
In this history of the Allied air war over Europe, Neillands maintains that the use of bombers as strategic weapons aimed at the enemy's ability to wage war--as opposed to purely tactical weapons aimed at enemy troops--necessarily involved the loss of civilian life and the destruction of nonmilitary targets, however unintentional. One such target was Dresden, a once-beautiful city that, some historians have protested, had no strategic importance and merely served as an example of what would happen to the rest of Germany should the fighting continue. Those historians are off the mark, Neillands counters: Dresden produced essential war materiel, such as military aircraft engines, shell fuses, and cigarettes ("a vital product for maintaining wartime morale"), and thus it was a legitimate target. So, he continues, were cities such as Berlin, Ludwigshafen, and Hamburg, the last the site of a firestorm that killed some 46,000 civilians. Their deaths were unfortunate, Neillands suggests, but necessary in ending Hitler's regime and in inaugurating an era in which total war is unthinkable.
Neillands rightly observes that most histories of the Allied air war in Europe present either the English or the American side, and he does a good job of weaving both accounts, drawing on official histories and the memories of veterans (including some German fliers) alike. More detailed and technically inclined than recent work by Stephen Ambrose and other popular writers on World War II, his book makes a useful addition to the historical literature. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
The Bomber War is the book about the brutal war in the skies during World War II and the dedication and heroism of the airmen who paid the ultimate price for victory. The bomber campaign against Germany is one of the most contentious of World War II. Was anything achieved by the deaths of thousands of German civilians - many of them women and children? Or were all means justified against Nazi Germany?
Acclaimed historian Robin Neillands examines every detail of the Allied campaign led by British Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris: the strengths and fundamental flaws, the technical difficulties and developments and, above all, the day-by-day, night-by-night endurance of the crews flying to the limit in discomfort and danger, facing flak and enemy fire. Personal experiences of British, American, Canadian, Australian & other Allied fliers are a key part in this account, along with those of German airmen & civilians.
Though The Bomber War discusses Guernica and the destruction of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it concentrates on the European theater, on Germany's air war against the Allies - over Warsaw, Rotterdam, London and Coventry - which led to the fierce Allied raids carried out against Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin and the Ruhr and - most notorious of all - the tremendous firestorm unleashed on Dresden in the final months of the war. Robin Neillands also examines the complex moral issues involved in the air war, and of the case made against "Bomber" Harris. This is an important and timely addition to the history of armed conflict; the age of free-fall bombs may have passed, but many veterans - on both sides - are still alive to state their case, and to tell a new generation what their war like.
Customer Reviews:
Allied Strategic Bombing in WWII-with all the Warts on!.......2007-06-13
Prof. Neillands does an excellent job setting the props, introducing the actors and explaining the plot of that incredibly tragic drama which was Allied strategic bombing in World War II. If there are compliments to be rendered or blame to be assessed he doesn't shirk at the task. Rich in data yet compelling in pace, Prof. Neillands kept my interest at a level I seldom reach with nonfiction.
There are those who will still castigate him for his defense of Air Marshal Harris. Having been in the military myself, I understand the limitations of command. As far as bombing Dresden is concerned, there is very little doublt but that Harris and Spaatz were following orders. Therefore, the blame must rest higher.
All in all, I would place this in the top ten of all WWII nonfiction I have ever read. If you have a choice of books on the Strategic Bombing Offensive, please consider the late Robin Neilland's book first.
Four and 1/2 Stars.......2006-11-22
I just wrote a long review & my computer crashed before I could submit it, so I'll be brief. Yes, the book is pro-Bomber Command, but theirs was a remarkable story & they did, after all, win. The first person narratives are fascinating, and the author gives due credit to the USAAF 8th Air Force. The 9th Air Force is stiffed, which is fair because the author tells you that he is going to stick to strategic bombing, but surely more could have been written about the 15th Air Force?? I also thought the Halifax and its pilots were given a bit short shrift, but the author gets kudos for being fair about the B-24, and giving its pilots their props. Neilland is not a "professional" historian, but is more or less a professional military history writer, and he writes lucidly and compellingly. Definitely recommended for the WWII buff, especially if you have not given enough due to Bomber Command. I think one of the author's theses, that he is seeking to exonerate Air Chief Marshall Harris, is successful, even on the Dresden bombing. I also think the author's criticisms and conclusions about strategic bombing are fair and well-put.
Long, interesting book.......2006-09-28
Took a bit to get through this book. The information provided regarding the tactics and technology used during the various phases of the war was well presented. It was very interesting to read how the human element played in the development of the tactics and testing of them.
The interviews and sections provided by various people was very interesting. The reports from those under the bombers, those who felt and experieneced the effects first-hand, were astonishing. These reports truely tell the tale. The crews accounts also were great, as those who were there are able to recount the sights, sounds, and experiences. We need to do more to document as much as possible of those in the skies before the generation is lost.
The ending of the book where he seeks to defend the Dresden raid wasn't really in line with the rest of the book. I enjoyed the blending of historical facts, numbers, and personal accounts throughout, but the ending didn't quite fit as he devoted an awful amount of time and effort to Harris.
Overall a good addition to anyone's collection of WW2 bomber library.
Good story, poorly edited........2006-09-21
The story was very good and engrossing. It is well written. The author starts out with a thesis and sets out to support it. It is shocking how many men went to their deaths daily in the bomber war over Europe. Given the very close accounting kept of current skirmishes, I think it would have been truely appalling, though informative, if everyone knew exactly how many people were being killed every day during World War II.
However, I do find the book to be very repetitive and I have never seen a professionally published book with more typographical errors than this one. Editing and proofreading were lacking.
Thoroughly Researched - Highly Illuminating.......2006-05-10
Four stars for this thoroughly researched and eminently readable book. It is also pleasing to note on this page that veteran flyers and relatives of such find this book to be accurate and respectful.
Neillands uses a wide variety of documents to examine the way strategic bombing developed as a tool of warfare, describes how technology evolved and likewise traces the way in which the allies constructed their policies on this aspect of the war. It is all fascinating.
One thing that Neillands always does very well is the incorporation of veterans' recollections into his work. This is accomplished without appealling to emotion and depicting images of blood & guts like in Ambrose's books, that goes without saying. Rather he simply relays the stories of men getting on with their jobs and leaves the reader to construct his/her own emotions.
Morality? Civilians died in their tens of thousands, but all war is immoral.
The late Robin Neillands does have a tendency to be a little repetitious in his books, and I do feel that a couple more maps night have been useful here - hence one star docked. Nevertheless, this book is a significant achievement and quite rightly champions the crews who died and endured.
Finally, post-war the politicians involved in developing bombing policies and directives (including Churchill) failed to put their hands up when the accounting was done, allowing the prosecutors, men like Harris and his crews to shoulder the opprobrium.........things don't change. That Churchill refused to sanction a campaign medal for Harris's men of is a black mark against his name. Fighter Command received due adulation in 1940, it is a scandal that Bomber Command have not been sufficiently honoured
Book Description
The Battle of Midway is considered the greatest U.S. naval victory, but behind the luster is the devastation of the American torpedo squadrons. Of the 51 planes sent to attack Japanese carriers only 7 returned, and of the 127 aircrew only 29 survived. Not a single torpedo hit its target.
A story of avoidable mistakes and flawed planning, The Unknown Battle of Midway reveals the enormous failures that led to the destruction of four torpedo squadrons but were omitted from official naval reports: the planes that ran out of gas, the torpedoes that didn’t work, the pilots who had never dropped torpedoes, and the breakdown of the attack plan. Alvin Kernan, who was present at the battle, has written a troubling but persuasive analysis of these and other little-publicized aspects of this great battle. The standard navy tactics for carrier warfare are revealed in tragic contrast to the actual conduct of the battle and the after-action reports of the ships and squadrons involved.
Customer Reviews:
Starts great but falls apart at the end.......2007-09-04
Now a college professor, the author was, in 1942 a member of the aircrew on the USS Enterprise at the Battle of midway and clearly the loss of his friends in the torpedo squadron in their infamously suicidal attack stayed with him until it flowed out of him into the pages of this work.
The early parts of this book show where the scholar of now blends with the young mechanic of 60+ years ago in detailing the working of a carrier's air group and the now know to be fatal flaws in US torpedos and aircraft.
Unfortunatly he should have stuck with that and either run that theme through the book or have written a shorter book. The second part of the book degrades as Kernan launches his own strike against the CAG (Commander Air Group) of the USS Hornet whom he blames for the destruction of that ship's torpedo squadron and failure of the Hornet's bomber and fighter squadrons to engage at all. The rest of this epic battle is reduced to little more than "you know what followed..." I was reminded of "The midnight Ride of Paul Revre" where it cover's a day's battle as "you know what happened in the books you have read, how the redcoats fired and fled..."
He details that there was a lack of communication between Enterprise and Hornet and that there was a failure to agree between squadron leaders but all squadrons of torpedo planes were decimated in the attack and other leaders don't get the venom that Kernan spreads on the Hornet. As Kernan was on board the Enterprise at the time, it's never clear why he has such a particular ax to grind with the Hornet's command. If the CAG and Captain of the Hornet were praised today as the hero's of the battle you could see this as "setting the record straight," but as the heros are Nimitz, Fletcher, Spruance and the commanders of the bomber squadrons from enterprise and Yorktown, this comes accross as just a personal vendetta without explanation. The end result is that the rest of the book, pancakes into sea making it almost as pointless as the torpedo attacks it documents.
on a superficial level it's eye-opening; beyond that, it's dreck.......2007-07-28
one of the first things I noticed upon reading this book was that the author was a 'veteran member of one of the torpedo squadrons" that fought at Midway. I thought it was unlikely that any of the pilots of the few surviving torpedo bombers was still alive, though maybe some of the radio-operator/gunners were.
I was a bit disappointed to read that the extent of Kernan's participation in the torpedo attacks in question was as an ordinanceman for Torpedo 6 aboard the USS Enterprise. I am by no means saying his participation wasn't significant, nor am I saying that I don't think he was just as brave as anyone else. I simply thought (and still believe) that kernan was neither then nor now in a position to second-guess command decisions made by men whose level of responsibility was far greater than his own.
For example, another reviewer correctly pointed out that Waldron, while undoubtedly brave and a fine pilot, committed a grievous military offense in disobeying a direct order from his commanding officer. Disobeying a commanding officer in a combat situation is precisely how to get a lot of people killed, and that is exactly what happened except in this case "a lot" turned out to be "every plane in the squadron." Kernan, however, heaps praise on Waldron's correct guess for the position of the Japanese fleet.
I can't help but believe that Kernan, as an enlisted man, feels or at one time felt a certain jealousy or misguided animosity toward commissioned officers, such as those who flew many of the planes or made some of the command decisions aboard the ships. For example, Kernan points out rather uselessly that among the seven surviving TBD Devastators among all three carrier squadrons, "a high number were enlisted pilots." The clear implication is that the enlisted pilots were more skilled than the Annapolis pilots, who were, in Kernan's view, privileged "ringknockers' and other such members of the good ol' boy fraternity that had excluded him.
Excuse me, but I don't think an Annapolis ring or lack of one counted during the devastators' attack runs, as no amount of flying skill could make a lumbering, 1934 torpedo bomber design escape a Japanese Zero pilot at low level, with a height advantage, and little or no American fighter escort. Ironically, by Kernan's logic, it was only a matter of flying skill that resulted in a torpedo bomber pilot's survival or death during the attack. Waldron, Lindsey, and Massey all died, therefore they must not have been very good pilots. Clearly, kernan didn't intend to say this, so there really wasn't any point to him mentioning that a "high number" of the survivors weren't officers, unless he just wants to get that anti-Annapolis shot in.
Kernan also goes to great pains to point out that American fighter pilots might have been afraid to tangle with the Mitsubishi Zero pilots. This suggestion is so insulting that it alone destroyed Kernan's credibility for me. He doesn't question the courage of the American bomber pilots (as well he should not), and yet the fighter pilots are subject to his accusations of cowardice? Kernan must have had a great view of the battle above the Japanese fleet, from the hangar deck of the Enterprise. He wasn't there and yet he has the gall to write as though he was riding in the cockpit, thinking other people's thoughts. Kernan should know that despite the F4F's deficiencies (and there were many), the Mitsubishi A6M also had many deficiencies which American fighter pilots were gradually learning how to exploit through teamwork and a greater understanding of how to make the most of their own plane's strengths. Kernan conveniently forgets from time to time that in June 1942 America had been in combat with the Japanese for only half a year, against an enemy with a [shrinking] numerical advantage and the initiative. considering these things, the F4F pilots performed very well. Needless to say, the American navy had no lack of volunteers for the fighter units, even if the F4F in use at the time was inferior to the A6M in several respects.
All in all, Kernan writes fluidly enough, and the way he presents his case might convince the casual reader that there was some kind of conspiracy to cover up American incompetence at Midway. A more informed reader will be aware that America was new to the war and still learning how fight it, and still learning how to build the weapons to win it. The A6M Zero was designed in response to the Japanese' experience against Seversky P-35s and Russian I-16s in China. The F6F Hellcat was designed in response to the American experience against the Japanese. Kernan should be applauding the navy rather than bashing it.
He seems to really dislike the elitist Annapolis types, and yet it is clear that his position as a Yale professor paved the way for this dreck to reach the book store.
What's good enough for the goose, Kernan. Whatever.
Another perspective.......2007-05-27
The Unknown Battle of Midway: The Destruction of the American Torpedo Squadrons
This book is a very quick and very informative read and offers a very different perspective as to the Midway encounter. I recommend it.
Filled with substantive and interpretive errors - Kernan gets it all wrong.......2007-04-06
At the beginning of World War II the author was an 18-year old enlisted aviation ordnanceman who subsequently served on several carriers in the Pacific. Readers would hope that he would leverage this experience to provide a unique and original viewpoint of war on a carrier. Unfortunately, Kernan strays far outside his expertise. Many of his comments and some of his facts are dead wrong; some of his comments and many of his interpretations can seem to be creditable on a superficial level, but are also either dead wrong or one of the breed of insidious half-truths that have a life of their own and are hard to squash. This book will be cited in future works, so another cottage industry has been created to correct the horde of myths and inaccuracies that will trickle down into Naval history from this book. To crown this achievement, Kernan creates a new "conspiracy theory" about the Battle of Midway.
Any good conspiracy theorist needs to first establish his personal credibility. This Kernan attempts in a few introductory chapters where he talks about military history, carrier aviation, ship design, and aerial torpedoes. His believability dies quickly. Specifically, I count 20 substantive or interpretive errors or half-truths in the book's first 25 pages.
There are errors where his facts are just dead wrong:
* "The USS Oglala was hit by four torpedoes ..." No, she was not hit by any torpedoes - she sustained underwater damage from a single torpedo hit on a light cruiser that was moored inboard of her. Because she sank without taking any direct hits herself she was later known as The Ship that Was Frightened to Death;
* The Japanese had not "stalemated the Russians in Manchuria," actually the Japanese were soundly beaten at Nomonhan, the 23rd Division being nearly annihilated with 76% casualties. The only reason the Soviets halted was because they had Poland to invade and then the Germans to repulse;
* The US Navy had radar "courtesy of the British." No the first USN radar was on a ship in April of 1937, and the first production radar, the CXAM, began installation in May of 1940. Exchange of radar information with the British did not happen until the Fall of 1940;
* Carriers to launch wanted 30 knots of wind over the deck, not "30 knots [of ship's speed] plus the wind."
... and many other factual errors.
There are errors where his proffered opinions are either only half right or misleading. For example, his comments on the placement of islands on carriers, boiler and engine room subdivision, and stack numbers and placement are superficial and uninformed, and generally half-truths. Tonnage limitations and how the disposal of stack gasses effect turbulence in the landing area is never mentioned. He thinks that early US carrier designs had arresting gear at both ends of the ship because "depending on the wind, the carriers were as likely to launch and land planes while going backward as forward" - no, Alvin, the arresting gear at both ends was for emergency recoveries without having to break the deck spot, or in the event of battle damage.
Even more egregiously, he does not understand the distinction between belt armor and a ships torpedo protection system, mixing them up in his discussion and then laughably coming to the conclusion that carriers succumbed to enemy torpedoes "because they were not armored enough." He uses technical terms improperly: for example, a ship's propeller shafts are referred to as "drive shafts," equating a carrier's propulsion system with that of a 1941 Chevrolet roadster.
After thus establishing his credibility, Kernan then goes on to collect some of the reasons why so many of the US torpedo bombers were lost at Midway. Most are straightforward, collected from other secondary sources dealing with the battle, and are presented in a workmanlike manner. However, when he moves to original material he reveals his true roots, not those of a Navy aviation ordnanceman, but of an English Professor from an Ivy League school. What he really wants is to talk about racism and class barriers in the wartime Navy. Racism he could work in only for a sentence, since it is clearly irrelevant to the story. Classism, however, becomes the centerpiece of the only "original" analysis in the book. Kernan contends that there was a conspiracy among the Navy high command to confuse or suppress the facts surrounding the attack of Torpedo 8 in order to protect the career of the Commander Hornet Air Group (CHAG), Commander Ring.
The bare facts are the following: the enemy carriers were located inexactly. Ring and Waldron have an argument before launch on the flyout course to use to find the enemy, but Ring is unconvinced by Waldron's arguments. Ring, as CHAG, gathers his squadrons and heads out. 30 minutes after launch Waldron again argues over the radio with the CHAG, then, on his own hook, departs from the formation with his squadron of torpedo bombers. Waldron finds the carrier, attacks, and his entire squadron is shot down, inflicting no damage. Ring does not find the target and returns to the Hornet.
Waldron is Alvin Kernan's hero. He dedicates the book to him.
In Kernan's view, Waldron is the self-sacrificing hero and Ring is the goat for not agreeing with him, and subsequently for not finding the targets when presented with the "correct" course by Waldron. This is exactly 180 degrees out, and where Kernan displays a lamentable ignorance of how military organizations work. Waldron was obligated to present his views to his commander; however, he was equally obligated to follow the orders of his commander afterwards. Kernan spends a lot of ink explaining why the Devastator was a poor aircraft and inadequate to the task; how, then, can he make Waldron out as a hero for disobeying orders and leading his squadron on a suicide attack in such an inadequate aircraft? If the TBD was unlikely to penetrate to the target without fighter support and the diversion of a dive bombing attack, points all well made by Kernan, how can Kernan subsequently praise him for doing just that?
Waldron was guilty of disobeying orders, and should have been court-martialed; the real "conspiracy" was that the Navy gave him a Navy Cross for getting himself and his people killed.
Examine what could have been: if Waldron had followed his commander's orders, he would have arrived at the point of no return and turned back, undoubtedly with a great big "I told you so" expression on his face. But then, his torpedo squadron would have been back on the Hornet and available for subsequent strikes, including those against Hiryu and against the Japanese cruisers on the 6th, after the Zeros were gone and the TBD had a reasonable chance of getting hits. Had he acted appropriately, his combat power would have been preserved for later, instead of senselessly thrown away. These points totally evade Kernan as he obsesses with his conspiracy theory.
The evidence that Kernan presents to support his idea that there was a Naval Academy Alumni Association conspiracy to "save" Ring career is that Ring did not submit an after action report (rather, that Kernan could not find an after action report in the archives, quite a different thing), and that Mitscher's after action report was inaccurate as it supposed that Ring passed to the south of the target carriers, when he evidently actually passed to the north. Kernan does not understand that the after action reports, submitted only days after a battle, sometimes reflect the very real confusion of the battle. Considering that Torpedo 8 and Fighting 8 were lost in toto, Mitscher was writing a report based on limited inputs and not a full picture. Often only an exhaustive after-action review is able to get the facts sorted out. From this slim reed - the lack of a report, and an inaccurate report - Kernan claims a conspiracy to protect Ring. That's the jist of Kernan's argument. There is no other evidence, no corroborating testimony, no other facts, just Kernan's perception of class jealousy manifested into a conviction of a conspiracy.
One wonders if Kernan's research in the field of English is held to the same standard of evidence.
One should buy this book if one would like to see a collection of secondary source information regarding the US torpedo bombers at Midway. He has some quotations from works that are not easily located, and collects faithfully most of the arguments against US torpedoes and the Devastator torpedo bomber that are located in disparate sources. One should not buy the book for clear charts or graphics - "minimalist" is the style, so minimalist as to be nearly incomprehensible. One should also purchase this book if one wants to be entertained when the real naval historians go into damage control mode to stamp out all the disinformation spread by this book.
One should not buy this book if you are less than an expert in the field, for you are likely to be misled by what is known in the Navy as "bum gouge."
Dr. Alan D. Zimm, CDR USN (ret) (By the way, NOT a USNA grad).
a sad but illuminating book.......2007-01-02
This is an odd book---part memoir, part history. Kernan was 18 and serving on the Enterprise during the battle. He later becomes a professor at Princeton but never got over the pointless destruction of the torpedo planes at the battle. I hope writing this book lets him puit his burden down. The torpedo planes never had a chance: there was no training for the pilots becuase there were not enough torpedos to practice with; how the torpedos were launced in combat not only did not work but made the planes all to be certain to be blown apart(come in low , drop the torpedo gently into the water, get as close to the enemy ship as possible was tuaght and was all wrong); no fighter cover although argued for by Commander Waldrin and rejected by Commander Ring). And Ring comes in for an allegation by Kernan of cowardice for taking his planes away from the while Waldron follows his gut and headed for it. Was their destruction pointless? Not really---they kept the enemy busy and gave the Enterprise dive bombers a chance to find the Japanese.
Book Description
Fighting the Bombers takes an unrivalled look at the Allied bombing campaign from the point of view of the Luftwaffe establishment and command. Included here is the writing of such notables as Messerschmitt, Galland, and von Rohden.
Customer Reviews:
Primary sources should be important to even casual readers.......2005-07-28
I agree with both reviews previousl published here. David Isby is the editor of this volume, and he's done a magnificent job. The individual pieces by former Luftwaffe officers tell compelling stories, although more could be done to annotate each piece to explain technical details that were familiar to the speakers, but no longer command any common knowledge some sixty years after the end of the war. All too often, current histories of this sort lack essential groundings in the times and circumstances of events that are related, and all too often, they are "dumbed down", supposedly to appeal to the widest range of readers. This book does not do so, and readers should be encouraged to read the material, and then to ask questions. Granted, this is an area for specialists, but for those who want to see what first-hand information looks like, this is a good place to start. If I may make a general statement about history-writing in general, and about military history in particular, I would say that British writers generally write to a higher standard than do Americans; why this is so I cannot say, although I suspect that American writers are encouraged to entertain, rather than to inform their readers. One need only look at publishers such as Osprey to understand that these are indeed serious people who respect their readers. I wish I could say the same about publishers, save a few, like Schiffer, on this side of the "pond". Returning to "Fighting the Bombers", I would say that this is a book intended for serious readers, and it deserves our respect.
A broad range of Luftwaffe authors.......2004-08-18
I thought it might be useful for prospective buyers to see what they are getting in terms of chapter titles, authors, and the sources of the original documents.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter title authors Source
List of Figures and Maps
INTRODUCTION David C. Isby, editor
GLOSSARY
SECTION 1 - The Defense of the Reich
Chapter 1: Reich Air Defense in World War II. A Strategic-Tactical Survey Von Rohden (compiler) USAFHRA file 512-045-4. OB from AUL 940.544943 R737e
Chapter 2: The Overall Defense of the Reich 1940-44 (January) Weise USNARA RG-338 D-111 Foreign Military Studies
Chapter 3: Development of Nightfighting July 1940 - 15 September 1943 Kammhuber USAFHRA file 519.601
SECTION 2- A Battle of Increasing Numbers and Technology
Chapter 4: Technical and Communications Equipment Used in the Reich's Defense von Rohden AUL 940.544943 R737e
Chapter 5: German Nightfighting from 15 June 1943 to May 1945 "Beppo" Schmid USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 6: German Dayfighting in the Defense of the Reich from September 15, 1943 to the End of the War "Beppo" Schmid USAFHRA file 519.601
SECTION 3 - Developing Technology to Defend the Reich
Chapter 7: Fighter Control Galland USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 8: Luftwaffe Radars Martini USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 9: Luftwaffe Radars and Radios OKL Staff USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 10: the Me-262: Development, Experience, Success and Prospects Messerschmitt German Naval Archive, Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C
SECTION 4 - Applying the Technology: Operations and Tactics
Chapter 11: Commanding the Night Fighters Kammhuber USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 12: Night Fighter Control Ruppel USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 13: Night Fighter Direction Sandmann USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 14: Night Fighter Operations Sandmann USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 15: Night Fighter Tactics (NJG 4) Schnaufer USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 16: Night Fighter Tactics (NJG 6) Scholls USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 17: Night Fighter Missions Scholls USAFHRA file 519.601
Chapter 18: Fighting the P-61 Ruppel USAFHRA file 519.601
SECTION 5 - Summing Up
Chapter 19: Looking Back Von Rohden AUL 940.544943 R737e
Biographies editor
A new English-language collection of immediate postwar writings by senior Luftwaffe commanders and fighter pilots is in print. Entitled FIGHTING THE BOMBERS: THE LUFTWAFFE'S STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ALLIED BOMBER OFFENSIVE; it is being published by Greenhill in the UK and Stackpole in the US. It is currently available on both US and UK Amazon.com web sites. I edited the volume.
Those familiar with the previous volume done by Greenhill, THE LUFTWAFFE FIGHTER FORCE: THE VIEW FROM THE COCKPIT will find this similar. However, it is not simply the bits that would not fit into the first volume. Rather, these are a selection of immediate post-war interrogations and writings by a number of key figures in the Luftwaffe. I believe such post-war accounts, while by no means the last word, are valuable and should have a broader availability than being in the archives at Maxwell AFB. This volume is much more an attempt at putting together a narrative from multiple Luftwaffe viewpoints.
The book itself is 256 pp, hardbound, with a glossary. The book is illustrated with lots of b&w photos and drawings throughout. The table of contents shows the source. USAFHRA is the US air Force historical Research Agency. Appendix B-4 holds a listing of file 519.601 material. AUL is the Air University Library (reproduced typescript). USNARA is the US National Archives.
Not For Everyone.......2004-01-17
This is a very interesting book. Interesting in the respect that it is a study of the Allied bomber offensive against Germany in WWII as seen through the eyes of the German commanders tasked with stoping those raids. The text is complied from numerous post-war interviews with and reports written by the German High Command. The original target audience of those reports was not the casual reader or mild history buff. As a result the text has a choppy flow and tends to be dry. It's a good book but a real niche book. If you're a student of WWII you may find it intriguing, if you're looking for a casual read or gripping stories of air warfare pass on this one.
Average customer rating:
- Short History oOf The Manhattan Project!
- A complete account of the aircraft from start to finish
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The Enola Gay: The B-29 That Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
Norman Polmar
Manufacturer: Potomac Books Inc.
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Return Of The Enola Gay
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb
ASIN: 1574888366 |
Book Description
The world entered the atomic age in August 1945, when the B-29 Superfortress nicknamed Enola Gay flew some 1,500 miles from the island of Tinian and dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The “Little Boy†bomb exploded with the force of 12.5 kilotons of TNT, nearly destroying the city. Three days later, another B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The Japanese government, which had been preparing a bloody defense against an invasion, surrendered six days later. The aircraft was the primary artifact in an exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum from 1995 to 1998. The original, controversial exhibit script was changed, and the final exhibition attracted some 4 million visitors, testifying to the enduring interest in the aircraft and its mission. This book tells the story of the Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 program, and the combat operations of the B-29 type. After nearly two decades of restoration, the Enola Gay will be one of the highlights of the museum’s new Udvar-Hazy Center, which is scheduled to open at Dulles International Airport on December 15, 2003.
Customer Reviews:
Short History oOf The Manhattan Project!.......2007-07-29
Military historian and author Norm Polmar, has written a wonderful short and concise photographic history of the manhattan project and its chief principal Gen Paul Tibbets and the crew of the most famous B-29 bomber of them all, the "Enola Gay". With the help of rare photogrpahs, Polmar gives the novice reader an educational overview of the building of the worlds first atomic bombs that were destined for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While liberals of the modern world call Paul Tibbets a war criminal, They also did not live through the war that killed over five hundred thousand Americans. It may have cost another couple of hundred thousand lives to invade mainland Japan. Paul Tibbets and his crews are nothing short of American war heroes, whose bravery and patriotism should never be forgatten. As a former military officer, I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a brief but accurate portayal of the events that lead up to the decision to bomb Japan and bring an end to WW-2. For a more in depth look at this historic event, I recommend "Day One", by Peter Wyden, and "The Return of The Enola Gay" by General Paul Tibbets.
A complete account of the aircraft from start to finish.......2004-05-16
Plenty of titles have mentioned the Enola Gay and its pivotal role in dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Norman Polmar's The Enola Gay: The B-29 That Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima goes a step further, telling the story of the plane, the B-29 program, and its combat operations in general. A complete account of the aircraft from start to finish evolves, The Enola Gay is packed with vintage black and white photos throughout.
Amazon.com
Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire is an impeccably written analysis of the last months of the Pacific War and the unfolding of the American air campaign over Japan. The story opens with a searing description of the fire-bombing of Tokyo in March 1945, which caused more deaths than the atom bomb in Hiroshima. Within five months, Japan's economy was collapsing and the country faced catastrophic starvation. Richard B. Frank coolly analyzes different scenarios for ending the war (Russia waited in the wings). Frank concludes that the emperor and the Japanese military were far from ready to surrender, and that the decision to use the atom bomb probably saved millions of lives, not only Allied but Japanese and other Asian lives, also--perhaps a hundred thousand Chinese were dying each month under Japanese occupation. The effects of the bomb worked on many levels, even lending faces to the Japanese militarists, who could convince themselves that they were defeated not by a lack of spiritual power but by superior science. Densely documented, intelligently argued, Downfall recreates the end of the war from the viewpoints of the principals, giving the book an unusual immediacy. A highly valuable insight into the disintegration of the Japanese Empire, one of the most dramatic episodes of World War II. --John Stevenson
Book Description
"The publication of Richard Frank's long-awaited Downfall is an event of great importance, not only to historians but to the general public. No aspect of World War II is more controversial today than the use of atomic bombs against Japan in 1945. Some have argued that this act was cruel and unnecessary since Japan was on the verge of surrender. But by means of exhaustive research and the employment of previously neglected and recently declassified sources, Frank proves in this definitive book that neither the Emperor nor the Japa-nese armed forces were anywhere close to surrendering in August 1945.
"In a stunning tour de force, Frank re-creates the end of the war, not as it seemed to people writing much later but as it appeared to American and Japanese decision makers at the time. Though the bomb was often seen as the worst possible means of ending the Pacific war, Frank establishes that its use was superior to all existing alternatives, and saved not only Allied lives but Japa-nese lives as well. Masterly in conception, brilliantly reasoned, superbly researched, Downfall is all but impossible to put down.
"Anyone concerned with the moral, military, and political issues surrounding the end of the Pacific war must read this book."
--William L. O'Neill, author of A Democracy at War
Downfall opens with a vivid portrayal of the catastrophic fire raid on Tokyo in March 1945--which was to be followed by the utter destruction of almost every major Japanese city--and ends with the anguished vigil of American and Japanese leaders waiting to learn if Japan's armed forces would obey the Emperor's order to surrender.
America's use of the atom bomb has generated more heated controversy than any other event of the whole war:
Did nuclear weapons save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans poised to invade Japan?
Did U.S. leaders know that Japan was urgently seeking peace and needed only assurance about the Emperor's safety to end the war swiftly?
Was the bomb really used to intimidate the Russians?
Why wasn't the devastating power of the weapon demonstrated first before being unleashed on a city?
Richard B. Frank has brought to life these critical times, working from primary documents, reports, diaries, and newly declassified records. These pages present the untold story of how American leaders learned in the summer of 1945 that their compromise strategy to end the war by blockade and bombardment, followed by invasion, had been shattered; radio intelligence had unmasked a massive Japanese buildup on Kyushu designed to turn the initial invasion into a bloody shambles. Meanwhile, the text and analysis of diplomatic intercepts depicted sterile prospects for negotiation before a final clash of arms. Here also, for the first time, is a full and balanced account of how Japan's leaders risked annihilation by gambling on a military strategy aimed at securing political bargaining leverage to preserve the old order in Japan.
Downfall replaces the myths that now surround the end of the war and the use of the bomb with the stark realities of this great historical controversy.
Customer Reviews:
Exceptionally well researched.......2007-10-02
Frank has done an excellent job of dispassionately presenting the facts about the endgame of the Pacific War. I appreciate that Frank laid out the evidence and left it to the reader to judge where it pointed.
What is clear from the evidence is that neither the Japanese nor American leadership had adequate information to judge the other's intentions during 1945. In fact, there is some evidence that the Japaneese High Command was being mislead by underlings regarding the state of American morale. Thus the War Council believed that they were just one decisive battle away from being able to negotiate with the Americans for softer terms than Unconditional Surrender. On the other hand, American intelligence community were not adept enough to draw out from the vast array of intercepted cable traffic a clear picture. Thus they did not provide Truman information that was 'actionable'.
As for the bomb, the preponderance of evidence amassed by Frank points to the conclusion that once the decision to build the atomic bomb was made, the Manhattan project took on its own momentum and thus made the bombs use inevitable.
All-in-all a terrific book. Since I finished it on September 30th, it makes it onto my Summer Reading Favorites of 2007 :-)
Excellent in-depth defense of why the atomic bomb was needed.......2007-07-03
Richard Frank conclusively shatters a number of myths about the end of the Pacific side of World War II.
First, Japan was NOT ready to accept unconditional surrender, even with the caveat of the preservation of the Japanese throne, until after both bombs were dropped. Frank uses extensive declassified transcripts of Ultra (military) and Magic (diplomatic) U.S. codebreaking to get members of the Japanese war cabinet's own words, or lack thereof, on this issue. Within that is the fact that Japan's attempt to use Russia as an intermediary-ally in negotiations was totally out of tune with reality, so much out of tune that Tokyo actually expected Moscow to honor the full one year's "down time" after abrogating the two countries' neutrality agreement.
Second, the Japanese Army was ramping UP the plans for Keisu-Go, the all-out defense of the Japanese homeland, after the spring firebombings of Tokyo and elsewhere. Top Army brass considered that the U.S. might well try blockade, and thought it had enough kamikazes, midget submarines, etc., to make the U.S pay enough a price for even the blockade that it would settle for a negotiated peace. Again, Frank looks in-depth at Magic and Ultra transcripts to show how much support there was for this.
Third, Frank demonstrates that U.S. casualty fears of an invasion of Kyushu were well-warranted and may even have been understated in some cases.
The determination of the Japanese Empire to resist was well-known by American troops in the Pacific who had seen the Japanese, on average, take 97 percent casualties in many of their defensive actions. A militaristic government was ready to exploit this to the death.
The atomic bomb was therefore used for reasons of the highest seriousness. It was NOT dropped on Hiroshima as a demonstration for Stalin. And, speaking of demonstrations, the fact that it took two atomic bombs on Japan to get it to surrender puts the lie to the idea that a "demonstration" bomb would have been enough to get the Japanese to a non-negotiated surrender with them attempting to hold on to territory.
Yet more praise.......2007-04-10
I was so fascinated by this book that I read all the previous reviews. I only want to add my unlimited praise and to add a few thoughts and stories...
I was as unaware as anybody of the details of the end of the Pacific war until I met a fellow (Bill Lear, son of "the" Bill Lear) who was on a troop ship to Olympic. He said the officers told them that they all were going to die. After that the book was a natural, and I couldn`t have chosen better.
In my present line, I am in Japan a lot. If there is any one thing that makes Frank`s book fascinating, it is the detailed look at the inner workings of that eastern mind in the government and military leaders, and the resulting confusion for their hapless diplomats. In some cases it is not so radical - we Americans still get huffy about Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese were following a pretty basic tenet of war. Frank didn`t really go to a lot of trouble to remind us that the "unfathonable" Asian way of seeing things is normal to them. Perhaps it isn`t necessary. Any Japanese soldier who sees dying for his emperor/country as his highest honor will tend to see anyone who surrenders or is beaten before he can sacrifice himself, as the lowest sort of worm, not worthy of bayonet practice let alone a bowl of rice. Just an example, but with a point. Frank managed to state facts, back them up with numbers and intel documents and let it go at that. The case builds easily in the reader`s mind that this was a terrible war and that the allies/Americans were in a real conundrum about how to end it. Which brings up the sadly fascinating fact that the very thing that the allies demanded, as a way of keeping "these fascist and militarist governments from starting a world war every few years", was unconditional surrender, the very thing the Japanese couldn`t accept.
One thing which makes a really great book is that it opens discussion on the topic rather than, say, on the writer`s vocabulary. By that measure, this is one of the best. Please indulge me...
I have been to the peace museum in Hiroshima. It is very moving and also very evenhanded. It shows the little uniforms of the school kids killed - they were in town that day to help build firebreaks. It also has the army order on the wall which commanded that when the invasion came, all subjects were to show up on the beaches with pitchforks, sticks or any other weapon that came to hand. Hiroshima, by the way (to answer a previous comment) was the headquarters of the 5th Japanese Army, in charge of Japan and Korea (where they'd been since 1920, only getting to Manchuria in 1931, re another comment)It was also a recruit center, and a navy shipyard, in other words not exactly non-military.
My Dad flew in B-29s. He was a tough old farm boy, but once he met an army buddy who had also `been there` That`s the only time I saw him cry. I don`t think it`s wrong to lament the terrible things humans are capable of doing to each other and to make them stop; a basic about war, by the way. The fact that millions of innocents had died and were likely to keep dying in this war would make any way of stopping it look pretty good, ie, "moral". I personally would say, you can`t argue with success. The Japanese had been fighting since at least 1920. Days after the bomb, it was over. I`m in the camp of "the Russians had nothing to do with it." I want to thank Mr. Frank for explaning readably and in detail, how that came about.
Finally a note from my Mom... The war council was correct in believing that Americans were sick of the war (Incorrect in their eastern way in seeing Potsdam as weakness). They were beaten but wouldn`t quit. If you had a family member in the service, you put a red star in your window, and if they were killed, you changed it to a gold star. There were plenty of houses with two gold stars in the window. People in 1945 wanted the war to end and wanted the boys home. Imagine you are Truman, and a wife/mother says to you, "You mean to tell me you had the means to end this war the day before my boy was killed, and you didn`t do it?"
Read this book.
This book should be required reading for all Americans and Japanese.......2007-03-26
It is easy today, with so much information out there about the horrors of atomic warfare, and so little remembrance of the actual history of the final stages of WWII, to be critical of the U.S. decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan.
Sadly, as a result, most Japanese are taught today that they were merely the victims of overwhelming American might, rather than the aggressors and instigators of war, and even more sadly, we are confronted with the shameful specter of anti-nuke, anti-war, anti-history Americans pathetically apologizing to the Japanese, misquoting history, and blindly ignoring the real facts behind the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan.
In this book, Richard Franks sets about methodically re-creating the historical context of the end stages of WWII. He addresses virtually every controversial claim, every possible scenario, in the decision process that led to the atomic bombing. Other reviewers have mentioned several points already, and so I present only a summary of the major controversies dealt with in this book:
1. Why was it necessary to drop two atomic bombs or to use them on civilians? - The U.S. was afraid that Japan would think that its supply of atomic bombs was limited (and in fact, production was limited, but was steadily growing), and wanted to demonstrate to Japan that it had the ability and willpower to completely annihilate Japan with a series of atomic bombs. As it turns out, the U.S. calculations were correct. After Hiroshima was bombed, Franks points out that there was a faction in the Japanese military that had enough knowledge of the difficulty of uranium separation to deny the possibility that the U.S. could have developed such a bomb or claimed that the U.S. would not be able to keep up the atomic bombing, and used these arguments to continue to hold out against surrender. Other Japanese military leaders hoped that world opinion would bar the U.S. from further use of the atomic bombs on civilians. That the Japanese military doubted the willpower of the U.S. to use atomic bombs against civilians is proof that a mere demonstration on some unpopulated target would have been useless. Dropping two atomic bombs thus served to vaporize all of the final delusions of these fanatic military leaders.
2. Wasn't Japan close to surrender already because of the massive firebombing of its cities? The U.S. had destroyed over 60 Japanese cities already, killing over 100,000 in one raid on Tokyo alone. However, while this caused enormous suffering for Japanese civilians, the military elite ruling Japan couldn't care less, and continued to hold out for a final land battle, intending to inflict enormous casualties on any U.S. invasion. Their calculation was that the U.S., a democracy with freedom of the press and freedom of speech that even then was extremely sensitive to casualties, could be forced to offer a negotiated surrender with better terms (see no. 5 below for more on this) instead of unconditional surrender. One thing that Franks does not emphasize enough is that subsequent firebombings after Tokyo killed far fewer people per raid, as the Japanese learned how to deal with the firebombing better. A significant factor in the success of the firebombing was the nature of the highly flammable wooden cities of Japan. However, neither firebombing nor the inaccurate conventional bombing of that era would have had much impact on the dispersed and hidden armed forces of the Ketsu-Go operation (the Japanese plan for a massive suicidal countering of an American invasion on the island of Kyushu). Ketsu-Go versus the atomic bomb would have been a completely different story. The general in charge of Ketsu-Go happened to have his headquarters in Hiroshima, and after surviving the atomic bombing and seeing its effects, he bluntly told Hirohito that he could not be sure anymore that his forces would be able to fend off an invasion. IMHO, it was this realization by the military that Ketsu-Go would fail in the face of the atomic bomb that was the key in forcing the military to accept defeat without an invasion. And it was this realization by Hirohito that the military would accept his "command" to accept unconditional surrender that encouraged this timid personality to finally step in and "command" surrender (Franks gives some more convoluted reasons that I think are less convincing. He does not emphasize enough that Hirohito had no legal authority at the time to force the military to do anything - Hirohito's power was entirely based on tradition, respect, and superstitious symbolism - and in fact the military fanatics had a history of assassinating advisors to Hirohito whenever it seemed that he was favoring a course of action that they did not like).
3. Weren't the estimated potential U.S. casualties in an invasion grossly inflated? Perhaps they were, but first of all, if you are an American and think that ANY number of dead American soldiers in an invasion of Japan would have been worth trading in return for not using the atomic bomb, then you need to have your citizenship revoked. And if you are Japanese, and believe that a U.S. invasion would have been preferable to atomic bombing, then you really don't understand the fanaticism of the military elite that was in control at the end of the war. At Saipan and Okinawa, the local Japanese citizenry had been recruited into the battles and had suffered enormous casualties. Even worse was being planned for an invasion of the Japanese homeland, with the entire civilian population given bamboo sticks and suicide bombs which they were expected to use against U.S. soldiers. Franks calculates that the civilian casualties in an invasion of Japan would have far exceeded what was suffered at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In addition, U.S. intelligence eventually revealed that preparations for Ketsu-Go were so extensive that chances for a successful invasion were becoming increasingly uncertain. American casualties would have almost certainly been enormous. While General MacArthur blithely swept all of that intelligence under the rug, and continued to insist on the original invasion plans, Admiral Nimitz was on the verge of going on the record opposing the invasion when the atomic bombs were dropped. This book makes clear that a U.S. invasion of Kyushu, led by the over-confident MacArthur, could have well been a complete disaster.
4. Wouldn't a blockade and continued bombing of Japan have forced a surrender? - Yes, but it would have taken a much longer period of time, at a minimum of several more months, and resulted in enormously greater loss of life to others besides U.S. soldiers. Franks points out that by attacking Japan's railway systems and vital coastal shipping, the U.S. could have easily shut down all food distribution in the country. However, again, because the Japanese warlords did not care about the suffering of the civilian population, it is likely in such a scenario that they would have held out for so long that Japanese deaths from starvation would have easily exceeded the deaths from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Plus there were also the vastly greater numbers of deaths that would have occurred in the countries that had been invaded by Japan, people who would have continued to die under a brutal occupation. There would also have been much greater numbers of deaths amongst Allied POWs. The numbers calculated by Franks are truly staggering, and make clear that atomic bombing to force a surrender was by far the least of all evils in terms of total numbers of dead people. Franks also recounts the massive atrocities committed by the Japanese in WWII. Yep, after you read these sections (the atrocities mentioned included dissecting and drilling holes into the brains of captured, living American airmen, among other niceties), you might also look more favorably upon atomic bombing Japan. Let's face it, this was a war without mercy, and the Japanese, who were merciless in their treatment of their enemies, had no right to expect any. Nevertheless, after the surrender, Japan did receive mercy, in the form of massive shipments of food from America to their starving civilians.
5. Wouldn't a negotiated surrender, as demanded by the military warlords, have been preferable to atomic bombing? No, first and foremost, up until the atomic bombings, the Japanese militarist faction simply refused to consider surrender under any conditions. They wanted an invasion and a chance at redemption of national honor with their Ketsu-Go operation. The peace faction's best efforts consisted of delusional hopes that Russia could somehow broker a negotiated settlement. Even AFTER both atomic bombs had been dropped, and Russia had declared war on Japan, the militarist faction continued to hold out briefly for a negotiated surrender with three additional terms besides maintenance of the emperor (which the peace faction also wanted): a short occupation by a minimal force, demobilization of Japanese troops by Japanese officers, and trying of war criminals by Japanese courts (Franks does not mention these details in his book - they are contained in another book "The Day Man Lost Hiroshima"). Acceptance of such conditions would have resulted in only a temporary cease-fire, much like the treaty of Versailles had been for WWI. It would not have removed the basic root causes that led Japan to attack East Asia and America - the institutions and ideology of an intensely nationalistic and fanatic military elite that put national honor and pride above everything else, including common sense. This bitter lesson from WWI, that the military elites and institutions of Germany and Japan needed to be completely eradicated in order to ensure lasting peace with those nations, was what caused Roosevelt to demand unconditional surrender. Roosevelt did not want the sacrifice of the lives of so many soldiers to be in vain, as it had been for WWI.
In summary, people critical of the atomic bombing of Japan simply fail to grasp just how difficult it was at that time for the U.S. and the peace faction in Japan to force an increasingly delusional military elite that was fanatically committed to national honor and pride to give up all of their institutions of power without first completely immolating their country. Read this book, read it carefully, and you WILL understand.
The Definitive Account!.......2007-01-21
With regards to the dropping of the atomic bombs, this is the finest book I have ever read. Frank uncovers new evidence to illustrate that initial casualty figures given to Truman were based on a handful of Japanese defenders on the island of Kyushu. In reality, there were twice the amount of defenders willing to die for their emperor. Thus, Frank proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the bombs WERE needed in order to save THOUSANDS of American lives. Additionally, he proves with great clarity that the decision to drop the bombs ultimately saved thousands of Japanese lives as well. With this wonderfully well-researched piece of scholarship, Frank destroys Gar Alperovitz's arguement that Truman dropped the bombs in order to quell the emerging threat of Soviet communism. A must-read for anyone seriously researching the decision to drop the atomic bombs!!
Average customer rating:
- Amazing read!
- Outstanding real world depiction of WWII life!
- Fabulous read
- Highly recommended!
- A First Hand Account
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Slacks and Calluses: Our Summer in a Bomber Factory
Constance Bowman Reid
Manufacturer: Smithsonian
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 156098368X |
Amazon.com
"You build bombers!" they howled. "An art teacher and an English teacher!"
In 1943 America's defense industries were so desperate for workers that school teachers were asked to work in factories during summer vacation. Slacks and Calluses is the story of two women--the image of "dignified schoolteacher-hood"--who went to work for Consolidated Vultee Aircraft, building bombers on the swing shift. Constance and Clara Marie traded their linen suits and "swooping" hats for blue cotton factory slacks and sturdy shoes, filled out dozens of government forms, packed up their few tools in what they hoped would pass for tool boxes--"small lunch boxes, the unpleasant color of unripe green olives"--and presented themselves for work. Over the next two months, they learned to use a wide range of tools, climbing in and out of B-24 Liberator bombers performing final installations--electrical wiring, seatbelt brackets, life rafts, bomb bay doors, the works. They also learned to deal with aching muscles and feet, grimy hands, lost sleep, and "dural termites"--slivers of duraluminum from the aircraft walls that worked their way under the skin. Even more trying was the change in the way they were treated--because they were wearing slacks. Female sales clerks were no longer polite, while men no longer offered their seats on crowded buses yet felt free to grab or whistle at them on the street. "Clothes, we reflected sadly, make the woman--and some clothes make the man think that he can make the woman."
Throughout the summer, the women kept pencils and notepads in their toolboxes, Constance noting stories and profiling her coworkers, Clara Marie making sketches. A few months later, in 1944, their memoir was first published. The resulting text sparkles with immediacy and with the women's ebullient wit. With its first-hand look at women war workers and its behind-the-scenes look at the building of the B-24, Slacks and Calluses provides a refreshingly different angle on World War II. --Sunny Delaney
Book Description
The classic, firsthand account of two women who assembled B-24 bombers during WWII.
In 1943 two spirited young teachers decided to do their part for the war effort by spending their summer vacation working the swing shift on a B-24 production line at a San Diego bomber plant. Entering a male-dominated realm of welding torches and bomb bays, they learned to use tools that they had never seen before, live with aluminum shavings in their hair, and get along with supervisors and coworkers from all walks of life. And they learned that wearing their factory slacks on the street caused men to treat them in a way for which their "dignified schoolteacher-hood" hadn't prepared them. At times charming, hilarious, and incredibly perceptive, Slacks and Calluses brings into focus an overlooked part of the war effort, one that forever changed the way the women were viewed in America. 30 b/w illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing read! .......2007-06-28
I love to read about women war workers of WW2. I have many books about the subject and this is hands down my favorite. Perfectly written. Very descriptive. Detailed. My only complaint....it's not 500 more pages! It left me wanting more...much more. If the author ever reads these comments, I want to thank her for her service during the war. Way to go!
Outstanding real world depiction of WWII life!.......2007-06-03
"Slacks and Calluses" was exactly what I'd hoped it would be and then some. The honest, unvarnished depiction of daily life for young women war workers at a bomber factory. The two women recount the insane process for getting their jobs (after an interview that consisted mainly of being asked, "Are you available? Good, you're hired.") and the many stations and stamps and officials that they were required to endure. Their training in building bombers was scant - they were responsible for not terribly important parts at first, but the parts still had to go on, and the factory had to have bodies to put them there.
Co-workers were - then as now - a collection of the hard working, the working hard at hardly working, the brilliant and the stupid. Bosses were much the same, but more to be listened too. Life outside the plant - the officers who were no gentlemen for refusing to give up bus seats to these women who were building 'their' bombers, the sadistic woman ice-cream vendor who flat out refused to serve the women, the never ending attempts to wash all the dirt, aluminum dust, grease, and oil from skin and hair, and the inability to have any time for a real life outside of work.
The authors were two high school teachers, who subjects - English and Art - made them the perfect duo to write this book.
Too often books are written solely because the author wants to; this book would have been missed by the world if not written.
Fabulous read.......2007-01-10
LOVED this book. The author is the mother of one of my book club members and she came to the club meeting after we read the book. She is even more delightful in person, if you can believe it, even 60 years later. What a gem this book is and what a delight the author continues to be.
Highly recommended!.......2003-10-15
This is a wonderful little book! Written in an easy and unpretentious style, it has merit not just for "women's studies" readers, but for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of period airplane manufacturing and indeed, the whole spirit of Homefront America in World War II. This book is both very entertaining and a real slice of "you are there" in a bygone era. Good history and good writing.
A First Hand Account.......2002-06-13
This book is a find--a first hand account of two Rosie the Riveters. The contemporaneous memoir of two school teachers who spent the summer of `43 building B-24s in San Diego fascinates with details--getting hired, what was security like in wartime factories, how were these two educated women treated differently when they donned slacks and became factory workers? The writing is quick and humorous, like Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I which has remained popular since 1945. Constance Bowman Reid's epilogue, written in 1999, is a touching finale. You'll want to know what she's been up to in the intervening 50 years.
Amazon.com
Long before he entered politics, when he was just in his early 20s, South Dakotan George McGovern flew 35 bomber missions over Nazi-occupied Europe, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery under fire. Stephen Ambrose, the industrious historian, focuses on McGovern and the young crew of his B-24 bomber, volunteers all, in this vivid study of the air war in Europe.
Manufactured by a consortium of companies that included Ford Motor and Douglas Aircraft, the B-24 bomber, dubbed the Liberator, was designed to drop high explosives on enemy positions well behind the front lines--and especially on the German capital, Berlin. Unheated, drafty, and only lightly armored, the planes were dangerous places to be, and indeed, only 50 percent of their crews survived to the war's end. Dangerous or not, they did their job, delivering thousand- pound bombs to targets deep within Germany and Austria.
In his fast-paced narrative, Ambrose follows many other flyers (including the Tuskegee Airmen, the African American pilots who gave the B-24s essential fighter support on some of their most dangerous missions) as they brave the long odds against them, facing moments of glory and terror alike. "It would be an exaggeration to say that the B-24 won the war for the Allies," Ambrose writes. "But don't ask how they could have won the war without it." --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
Stephen Ambrose is the acknowledged dean of the historians of World War II in Europe. In three highly acclaimed, bestselling volumes, he has told the story of the bravery, steadfastness, and ingenuity of the ordinary young men, the citizen soldiers, who fought the enemy to a standstill -- the band of brothers who endured together.
The very young men who flew the B-24s over Germany in World War II against terrible odds were yet another exceptional band of brothers, and, in The Wild Blue, Ambrose recounts their extraordinary brand of heroism, skill, daring, and comradeship with the same vivid detail and affection. 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.
Download Description
Stephen Ambrose is the acknowledged dean of the historians of World War II in Europe. In three highly acclaimed, bestselling volumes, he has told the story of the bravery, steadfastness, and ingenuity of the ordinary young men, the citizen soldiers, who fought the enemy to a standstill -- the band of brothers who endured together. The very young men who flew the B-24s over Germany in World War II against terrible odds were yet another exceptional band of brothers, and, in The Wild Blue, Ambrose recounts their extraordinary brand of heroism, skill, daring, and comradeship with the same vivid detail and affection. Ambrose describes how the Army Air Forces recruited, trained, and then chose those 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 50 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 makes clear the contribution these young men of the Army Air Forces stationed in Italy made to the Allied victory.
Customer Reviews:
Save your money unless you love Mc Govern.......2007-07-20
This book is not about the men and boys who flew the B 24 it is a book about Mc Govern. Reading the book sort of makes you feel like he was the only man in the war. I purchased the book to read about all the men. The author could have even shown some about other men that did basicaly the same that became famous: Kennedy, Jimmy Stewert and others. He focused only on McGovern and I certinaly wonder how much he paid to get Stephen to write this book or is Stephen that much in love with Mc Govern. I can not stand the man now and will not ever knowingly buy another book of his.
Mary Jo PottsThe Wild Blue : The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45
The Wild Blue .......2007-04-21
The Wild Blue is about the young men who flew the B-24 over Germany in World War 2 against all odds. Mr. Ambrose describes the heroism, courage, and skill with a lot of detail. He successfully makes you feel like you are in the great lumbering bomber in the hostile skies over Germany. He also describes how the Army Air Force (only after the war were the army and air force separate) recruited, trained and then chose those few that would undertake the most dangerous job in the war. The pilots, bombardiers, navigators and, the gunners of the B-24s suffered a 50 percent casualty rate.
This book follows the lives of ten men from different towns and different backgrounds and watches them come together and form a team. The trust was important because up in the skies of Germany it was good to know that someone had your back. I believe that Mr. Ambrose captures that perfectly. He takes the reader along in the crowded, uncomfortable planes as the men aboard fought to the death through smoke and terrifying flack to reach their industrial targets in the Rhineland. Their goal was to destroy the German war machine.
The Heroic Tales.......2007-03-30
Stephen Ambrose's The Wild Blue: the Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany tells the heroic tales of the B-24 Liberators and their crews from the 15th Army Air Force in Italy flying over Nazi Germany in World War II. The Wild Blue begins with the stories behind each crewman who will eventually fly aboard the "Dakota Queen" and a few crewmen who will fly aboard other B-24s. The stories behind the crewmen are a very nice addition to the book as it is the crewmen who make the majestic B-24s fly and fight. The reader actually gets to meet George McGovern who eventually flies the "Dakota Queen". McGovern was born on July 19, 1922, and was attending his second year at Dakota Wesleyan when he heard that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. The combat stories are complete to the detail of what it is like to fly over Nazi Germany against flak and the occasional fighter, what it is like to be shot down, and what it is like to watch a fellow B-24 get shot down. Ambrose was able to give this amount of detail because of his interviews with approximately fifty B-24 crewmen and their families. Without those interviews, this book would be bland and very unreal. But it is enjoyable and very real. The Wild Blue is a book that I would re-read and recommend to those who are interested in history, World War II, aircraft, or to those who just want to know the feeling of being taken up into a B-24 and flown over Nazi Germany.
More Bio than Battle .......2007-01-08
Mr. Ambrose wrote a unabashed tribute to George McGovern, too bad he tried to pass it off as a story about something else.
A SOLID READ - IF NOT THE AUTHOR'S BEST.......2006-07-16
While I enjoyed this one, it certainly was not the author's best work. It did draw attention to a group of very brave men, the B-24 crew members in the European Theater, which was good as this group and this plane is often overlooked. It did seem to me though that the author, on one side was trying to write a biography of George McGovern, or if he was trying to cover the air war during the last part of WWII. I did enjoy his trade mark technique of telling the stories of different men who participated, but he would always go back to McGovern. Perhaps if he had stuck to one or the other the book would have had more of an impact. Parts of this work did drag and were rather repetative. On the other hand, the author did not try to over dramatize McGovern's part in the war. The work was well crafted and you certainy would not waste your time in reading it. I suppose it is not quite fare to compare this work with other works by this author. After all, no one bats a thousand all the time. Overall, recommend this one with reservations. It is about very brave young men and we do need to know as much about them as possible.
Book Description
This title completes a trilogy covering the design and development of British fighters and bombers from the end of the biplane era to the present day. This new volume again emphasizes the designs which were never flown. It covers aircraft projects that were prepared from the mid-1930s onwards influenced by the growing threat of another war with Germany, through to some projects which appeared after the war was over. The latter includes early jets such as the Attacker, Sea Hawk and Venom, which all flew post-war but were designed to wartime or immediate post-war requirements. Among the designs featured in this book are fixed-gun fighters, turret fighters, twin-engine cannon fighters, light, medium and heavy bombers, torpedo bombers and flying boats. As in the trilogy's first two volumes, these designs are covered with detailed descriptions and data and numerous photographs of models or artists' impressions showing how these designs would have looked. Unlike the post-war years, details of many earlier unbuilt projects have been lost, but fortunately information on a great number of these has survived, and this will form the most complete record to be published on these fascinating machines.
Customer Reviews:
Tony Buttler is outstanding.......2007-06-29
Another great book by an extremely talented and gifted writer. Bravo Mr. Buttler for giving us insight into an extremely interesting period with some of the most advanced thinking in avaition.
Average customer rating:
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USAAF Heavy Bomber Units: ETO & MTO 1942-1945 (Osprey Airwar)
Jerry Scutts
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Aviation
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
20th Century
| World
| History
| Subjects
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ASIN: 0850451310
Release Date: 1977-07-15 |
Book Description
This book traces the combat history of the US heavy bomber units that operated in the European and Mediterranean theatres of World War 2. Major aircraft types are all covered, and their missions and tactical evolution are all detailed. Aircraft markings and aircrew uniforms are shown in full colour illustrations.
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- When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America
- Whoosh Boom Splat: The Garage Warrior's Guide to Building Projectile Shooters
- Wings to the Kingdom
- With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
- Yellow Eyes (Posleen War Series #8)
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
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