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During the final year of World War II, the defending Axis forces
were steadily driven from southern skies by burgeoning
Anglo-American power. This was despite the steady withdrawal of
units to more demanding areas. In this fifth volume of the series
the activities of the Allied tactical air forces in support of the
armies on the ground – as their opponents were steadily extracted
from northern Italy and the Balkans for the final defence of the
central European homeland – are described in detail. The book
commences with coverage of the final fierce air-sea battles over
the Aegean which preceded the advance northwards to Rome and the
ill-conceived British attempt to secure the Dodecanese islands
following the armistice with Italy. The authors also deal fully and
comprehensively with the advance northwards following the
occupation of Rome, and the departure of forces to support the
invasion of France from the Riviera coast, coupled with the
formation of a new Balkan Air Force in eastern Italy to pursue the
German armies withdrawing from Yugoslavia and take possession of
newly freed Greece. The effect of the creation within the same area
of the US and RAF strategic forces to join the Allied Combined
Bombing Offensive is discussed. The final volume in the series will
be concerned most especially with this latter campaign.
The first volume of this series dealt with the initial 19 months of
the air war over the Western Desert of North Africa. This volume
picks up the story as the 8th Army, following its hard-fought
success in Operation Crusader, was forced back to the Gazala area,
roughly mid-way between the Cyrenaican/Tripolitanian border of
Libya and the frontier with Egypt.
The third volume in this series returns to November 1942 to explain
the background to the first major Anglo-American venture -
Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. It deals with
the fratricidal combats which followed the initial landings in
Morocco and Algeria for several days. It then considers the efforts
made, unsuccessfully in the event, to reach northern Tunisia before
the Germans and Italians could get there to forestall the
possibility of an attack from the west on the rear of the Afrika
Korps forces, then beginning their retreat from El Alamein. The six
months of hard fighting which followed as the Allies built up the
strength of their joint air forces and gradually wrested control of
the skies from the Axis, are covered in detail. Then from 1 April
1943 the continuing story of the Western Desert Air Force is told
from the point at which Volume 2 ended, as it advanced from the
east to join hands with the units in the west. Now also described
are the arrivals over the front of American pilots and crew, the
P-38 Lightning, the Spitfire IX and the B-17 Flying Fortress and of
the much-feared Focke-Wulf FW 190. The aerial activities over
Tunisia became one of the focal turning points of World War II, yet
this is frequently overlooked by historians. As before, the air-sea
activities, the reconnaissance flights and the growing day and
night bomber offensives form a major part of this volume. The
mastery of the whole African coastline of the southern
Mediterranean by the Allies prepared the way for the invasions of
the European territories on the other side of this critical sea
during 1943, which will be dealt with in Volume 4.
It is now more than 40 years since "Fighters over the Desert" was
published, and nearly as long since this was followed by "Fighters
over Tunisia". Both volumes have long been out of print and
collectors' items, but, despite much prompting, Christopher Shores
has resolutely refused to permit their reprinting until he amassed
so much more information. He has also long nursed a desire to
expand the coverage to encompass the operations of the other types
of aircraft involved in this interesting and important theatre of
war - the bombers, reconnaissance aircraft and maritime units.
Further, it is his intention to extend the period covered to
include the later operations over Sicily, Italy, the Aegean area,
the Balkans and Southern Europe. This then represents the first
volume of a seminal series dealing with all these aspects and
areas, which will also tie in with the earlier 'Grub Street'
volumes which he and his collaborators have produced. Thus a full
coverage of all aspects of aerial operations throughout the whole
of the Mediterranean area will be the ultimate result. Further,
these volumes will link appropriately and directly with his other
works of this nature, dealing both with the Far East and the war in
Europe. Readers will then be able to follow the wartime careers of
units and personnel involved from volume to volume throughout the
war. Operations directly over the main battlefronts will be dealt
with as previously, on a daily basis. However, to allow a clearer
view to be obtained of operations elsewhere in the theatre, or of a
different nature, separate chapters will deal specifically with the
night bombers, the air defence of the base areas, and the naval
co-operation activities. Wide use of maps will be made throughout
this and subsequent volumes together with a considerable number of
photographs integrated into the text. Long awaited by many, if any
work can be said to be comprehensive and definitive, this is it.
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