|
Hikoki Publications |
|
Mission 376: Battle Over The Reich: 28 May 1944 by Ivo de Jong |
|
Reviewed By Floyd S. Werner, Jr., #26266 |
|
|
|
ISBN 1-902109-03-1 MSRP: $44.95 USD What happened on a single day on a single mission inside the mighty 8th Air Force? This book covers just such a mission to Dessau in May 1944. If you like to see how a mission unfolds and if you want to know what the crew members, American and German, went through in their own words this book is a definite must. Not your typical post operation debriefing but in their personal recollections and diary entries, the reading is very easy and covers every aspect of the mission, including the diversion raids. The book even covers the first operational use of glider bombs against Cologne. The bomber crews and the fighter pilots from both sides add a nice perspective and balance to the reading. Loaded with photos, many from personal collections, and a color section, this book is nicely illustrated. These photos are not just the same old photos from the archives but from the actual mission day. This gives a proper perspective and validity to the photos. The color section includes drawings of all types of aircraft, even a British rescue boat, photos, maps, and a couple of paintings. This book is not judgmental and just provides what happened when and to whom. If you watched the "Memphis Belle" movie from 1997 and thought, like me, that nobody would go around on a bomb run you would be wrong. Mission 376 shows the potential problems that exist when you put that many aircraft in one piece of airspace. This book illustrates how bombers missed formation form ups, bombed wrong targets, went around on bomb runs multiple times, bombed secondary targets and just plain did the right thing even when the odds were against them. Depicting a typical mission when you have hundreds of aircraft trying to form up and then fly to a target and bomb it into the stone age, this book is written in a chronological order without being written like a text book. From the start of the mission to the issuing of the telegram to surviving family members, this book covers it all. Mission 376 is an eye opening, very informative and a pleasure to read. If you are into the European air war or if you are even remotely interested in how the whole mission process works then this book is a must. I highly recommend this book. It is available through Specialty Press at http://www.specialtypress.com or by calling 1-800-895-4585. A $4.95 shipping and handling charge is added. Thanks to Specialty Press for the review copy. |
|
Information, images, and all
other items placed electronically on this site |
