Download or read book 1 August 1943 Today s Target Is Ploesti A Departure From Doctrine written by Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Modrovsky and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The focus of this paper will be on the 1 August 1943 bombing raid on the Ploesti oil field and refineries by an American task force composed of bombardment groups of the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces. The Ploesti raid stood apart from the rest of the war in the air. The idea for it, and the unusual tactics employed, came from the top; it generated from General Arnold’s headquarters and was approved by President Roosevelt. Winston Churchill called Ploesti “the taproot of German might.” It was not a part of any particular campaign, but was considered vital in itself. It was painstakingly planned and executed relatively quickly by the best-prepared and most experienced force available at the time. It was also fought with unparalleled bravery, the sole action of the war for which five Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded. The purpose in examining Ploesti is to first gain a complete understanding of the events leading to the planning for the raid, the raid itself, and finally the impact on the Germans in its aftermath. With this established, the intent is to assess the raid while keeping one fascinating question in mind - after building a doctrine for twenty years based on high altitude, daylight, precision bombing, why, in its first major bombing effort, did the United States “depart from doctrine” and conduct a low level bombing mission on Ploesti, the only low-level bombing mission conducted in the war?
Download or read book Voices of My Comrades written by Carol Adele Kelly and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the course of five years, the Reserve Officers Association of the United States--the nation's oldest such professional military organization--invited its members to write about their experiences in World War II. The response was an impressive outpouring of memories, now compiled here in an extraordinary record of courage, sacrifice, and commitment. Stories from 240 veterans--representing all theaters, ranks, and services--track the years of World War II month by month. From the young ensign's letter to his fianc e, describing his escape from the USS Cassin minutes before it explodes at Pearl Harbor, to the battle-seasoned colonel's account of his flyover at the peace-treaty signing aboard the USS Missouri, the stories give a human face to the moments of war, written by men and women who intimately lived those history-making days, on bombing missions and invasion duty, on front lines and the home front. Readers will meet a survivor of the USS Reuben James, sunk by a German U-boat before December 7, 1941, and eight D-Day invaders of Normandy, including Lieutenant Colonel J. Strom Thurmond, paratrooper. They will also meet a bodyguard to General Douglas MacArthur and the nurses who healed the fallen in huts on Bataan, the hospital ship Shamrock in the Mediterranean, and field hospitals in France. Here, too, are personal accounts by Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) and the battlehardened engineers of the Seabees in the Pacific. Other veterans tell of surviving the sinking of the troopship Leopoldville, when 750 Americans died in the English Channel on Christmas Eve, 1944; the horrific discovery of the Nazi extermination camps; and the tragic bombings near war's end of unmarked Japanese ships transporting U.S. POWs from the Philippines. Featuring photographs, a chronology, and historical introductions, this book--thanks to these stories by ordinary soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and nurses--is destined to become an enduring testimony to the American experience in World War II.
Download or read book Consolidated B 24 Liberator written by Graham M. Simons and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2012-08-19 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was almost certainly the most versatile Second World War Bomber. Apart from its bombing role in all theaters of operation, the B-24 hauled fuel to France during the push towards Germany, carried troops, fought U-boats in the Atlantic and, probably most important of all, made a vital contribution towards winning the war in the Pacific. Its most famous single exploit is possibly the raid on the Ploesti oil fields in August 1943.The B-24 ended World War Two as the most produced Allied heavy bomber in history, and the most produced American military aircraft at over 18,000 units, thanks in large measure to Henry Ford and the harnessing of American industry. It still holds the distinction as the most produced American military aircraft. The B-24 was used by several Allied air forces and navies, and by every branch of the American armed forces during the war, attaining a distinguished war record with its operations in the Western European, Pacific, Mediterranean and China-Burma-India theaters.This book focuses on the design, engineering, development and tactical use of the many variants throughout the bombers service life. The overall result is, as David Lee, the former Deputy Director of the Imperial War Museum at Duxford said upon reading the final manuscript, to be acquainted with ...all you never knew about the B-24!The book is enlivened by the many dramatic photographs which feature, and this coupled with the clarity of Simons' prose makes for an engaging and entertaining history of this iconic Allied bomber, a key component in several of their biggest victories and a marvel of military engineering.
Download or read book The North African Air Campaign written by Christopher M. Rein and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2012-11-30 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the summer of 1942, Axis forces controlled almost the entire southern shore of the Mediterranean. Less than a year later, they had been swept from the African continent-thanks in no small part to efforts of the fledgling U.S. Army Air Force. Indeed, USAAF in North Africa emerged as a senior partner in the Alliance, supplying aircraft and crews at a rate the other partners were unable to match. Going beyond the spare analysis of North African air operations in previous accounts, Christopher Rein shows how American fighter planes and heavy bombers, employed in almost exclusively tactical and operational roles, played a pivotal role in the Alliance's successful ground campaigns. This aerial armada also had a significant negative impact on enemy logistics through its bombing raids on Axis ports, shipping, and airfields. In the process, USAAF helped foster and develop a pattern of inter-service cooperation that remains at the foundation of American close-air-support doctrine today. Rein chronicles the emergence of USAAF in the late interwar and early WWII periods as a more heterogeneous and creative fighting force than earlier works have led us to believe. He then analyzes little-known aspects of the war, including early air operations in the eastern Mediterranean and in the TORCH landings. He explores some of the key issues confronting Eisenhower, such as how to establish USAAF priorities and how to deploy long-range bombers, fighters, and attack forces. In describing the struggle for balance in the employment of air assets between strategic bombing and interdiction in a time fraught with inter-service rivalry, he shows how, despite occasional mistakes such as the heavy losses involved in the Ploesti raids, USAAF struck a suitable balance and even invested more assets in interdiction than traditional accounts of strategic bombardment would suggest. A virtual operational-level history of the USAAF during the formative period of American airpower, Rein's account pulls together material from diverse sources to demonstrate that today's Air Force emphasis on mobility, intelligence, reconnaissance, and close support for ground forces have deep roots. By showing that the Army Air Force in World War II did not neglect support for ground and naval forces in order to concentrate exclusively on strategic bombing, it suggests lessons for military and civilian leaders in the employment of air forces in current and future conflicts.
Download or read book Into the Fire written by Duane P. Schultz and published by Westholme Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers a popular history of the World War II aerial attack on Hitler's oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania.
Download or read book Review of Current Military Literature written by and published by . This book was released on 1949 with total page 1392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Out of the Desert written by John E. Blundell and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 1999 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The daring low level mission to the oil refineries of Ploesti has long been considered as one of the most significant missions of World War Il. The allies were determined to annihilate the very source of the fuel which fed the German war machine. In Out of the Desert, a distinguished veteran of the 98th Bomb Group, John Blundell, provides not only an insider's point of view on the mission, but also compelling photos of the heroes and hardships faced by America's Force for Freedom"" -- the 98th Bomb Group.""
Download or read book Air Force Combat Units of World War II written by United States. USAF Historical Division and published by . This book was released on 1961 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is concerned primarily with the combat (or tactical) groups that were active during the Second World War. Although such groups had numerous designations, nearly all fell within four major categories: bombardment, fighter, reconnaissance, and troop carrier. The book covers both the combat groups that served overseas and those that remained in the United States. It also covers combat organizations above the group level. It does not deal with provisional organizations or with air base, maintenance, supply, medical, transport, and other service or support organizations. Although this book is devoted exclusively to organizations that were active during World War II, its coverage of those organizations is not confined to the World War II period. Instead, each organization is traced back to its origin and forward to 1 January 1956, with later activations being mentioned if they took place prior to the time the draft of the book was prepared in 1957-1958. The organizations are presented under the designations they carried on 2 September 1945. For each organization there is information concerning insigne, lineage, operations, assignments, aircraft (for groups only), components, stations, commanders, campaigns, and decorations.
Download or read book Air Force Combat Units of World War II written by Maurer Maurer and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1961 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Liberator Legend written by Philip A. St. John and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 1990 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book International Encyclopedia of Military History written by James C. Bradford and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-12 with total page 1538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its impressive breadth of coverage – both geographically and chronologically – the International Encyclopedia of Military History is the most up-to-date and inclusive A-Z resource on military history. From uniforms and military insignia worn by combatants to the brilliant military leaders and tacticians who commanded them, the campaigns and wars to the weapons and equipment used in them, this international and multi-cultural two-volume set is an accessible resource combining the latest scholarship in the field with a world perspective on military history.
Download or read book World War Two in Europe written by David T. Zabecki and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1999 with total page 1140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book The Army Air Forces in World War II Europe torch to pointblank August 1942 to December 1943 written by and published by . This book was released on 1948 with total page 964 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ploesti written by James Dugan and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Magnificent Showcase written by Timothy R. Keck and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2014 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This illustrated, large-format book presents the U.S. Air Force Art Program's depiction of the Air Force across the service's history, starting with the birth of U.S. military aviation under the auspices of the Army. It interweaves the story of the Art Program, including features on artists and their thoughts on significant works, with the history of the birth and growth of the Air Force itself. The volume includes a foreword by Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, the current Air Force Chief of Staff, who calls the book a "celebration" that records "how the connection between Airmen and artists began, how this relationship evolved, and how artists have documented Air Force operations over the decades." This publication would make a great coffee table book. The author, Dr. Timothy R. Keck, spent his career in the Air Force History program and championed the Air Force Art Program while serving as command historian of Pacific Air Forces. He retired as the Air Force senior historian in 2012. This historic art reference work may appeaal to current airmen, veterans, and members of the general public with an interest in the history of air power, particularly as it is portrayed in Air Force. Additionally, art students and libraries with art history and military collections may also be interested in this work. A suitable companion work published by the United States Army includes the following: In the Line of Duty: Army Art, 1965-2014 can be found at this link:https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-029-00579-4 Other products published by the United States Air Force can be found at this link: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/888
Download or read book The Mammoth Book of How it Happened World War II written by Jon E. Lewis and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 539 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his account of World War II, historian Jon Lewis has selected 300 first-hand accounts, from Heinz Guderian rolling his panzer tank into Poland to VJ Day in London and New York. More than a eyewitness chronicle, this collection gives the reader an insight into how the repercussions from the war shaped our modern world, and how nothing from geo-politics to rock 'n' roll can really be understood without considering it.
Download or read book Flying Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1962-10 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
