The North African Air Campaign

The North African Air Campaign
Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Total Pages : 302
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780700618781
ISBN-13 : 0700618783
Rating : 4/5 (81 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The North African Air Campaign by : Christopher M. Rein

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.


The North African Air Campaign Related Books

The North African Air Campaign
Language: en
Pages: 302
Authors: Christopher M. Rein
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-11-30 - Publisher: University Press of Kansas

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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 Africa
Air War Europa
Language: en
Pages: 892
Authors: Eric Hammel
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-12-05 - Publisher: Daniel Hammel

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

AIR WAR EUROPA Chronology Eric Hammel THE GREAT AERIAL CRUSADE OF WORLD WAR II: There was never a military campaign like it, and there never will be another. He
A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945. Volume 2
Language: en
Pages: 736
Authors: Christopher Shores
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-07-19 - Publisher: Grub Street Publishing

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This second volume in the seminal series on aerial combat, pilots, and tactics in Libya and Egypt in the middle of World War II. In volume two of this series, h
Air War Over North Africa
Language: en
Pages:
Authors: David Mitchelhill-Green
Categories: World War, 1939-1945
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019 - Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945
Language: en
Pages: 962
Authors: Christopher Shores
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-06-19 - Publisher: Grub Street Publishers

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This first volume in the seminal series on World War II aerial combat, pilots, and tactics that “reads like an encyclopedia on the subject” (Portland Book R