|
Showing 1 - 12 of
12 matches in All Departments
This vivid narrative history tells the full story of the US Air
Force’s involvement in the wars in the air over Vietnam, Laos and
Cambodia. The involvement of the US Air Force in the Southeast
Asian Wars began in 1962 with crews sent to train Vietnamese
pilots, and with conflict in Laos, and finally ended in 1972 with
the B-52 bombing of Hanoi, though there were Air Force pilots
unofficially flying combat in Laos up to the end in 1975. The
missions flown by USAF aircrews during those years in Southeast
Asia differed widely, from attacking the Ho Chi Minh Trail at night
with modified T-28 trainers, to missions “Downtown,” the name
aircrew gave Hanoi, the central target of the war. This aerial war
was dominated by the major air operations against the north:
Rolling Thunder from 1965 to 1968, and then Linebacker I and II in
1972, with the latter seeing the deployment of America’s fearsome
B-52 bombers against the North Vietnamese capital Hanoi. These
operations were carried out in the face of a formidable
Soviet-inspired air defence system bristling with anti-aircraft
guns and SAM missile sites. Beyond this, the US Air Force was
intimately involved in secret air wars against Laos and Cambodia
– one cannot speak of a war only in Vietnam regarding US Air
Force operations. The war the Air Force fought was a war in
Southeast Asia. Following on from the same author’s The Tonkin
Gulf Yacht Club, which told the story of the US Navy’s
involvement in the Vietnam War, Downtown completes the picture.
Featuring a wide range of personal accounts and previously untold
stories, this fascinating history brings together the full story of
the US Air Force’s struggle in the skies over Southeast Asia.
This is the history of how the mighty Gothic Line was defeated by
American air power, in one of the most pivotal but least-known air
campaigns of World War II. By late 1944, the Italian Campaign was
secondary to the campaigns in France, and Allied forces were not
strong enough to break the Germans' mighty Gothic Line. These
fortifications were supplied by rail through the Alps, with trains
arriving hourly and delivering 600,000 tons of supplies a month,
enough to keep the German Army going forever. But in the bitter
winter of 1944-45, the mighty Gothic Line would be defeated by
American air power in one of the most pivotal but least-known air
campaigns of World War II. It would not be a direct assault;
instead Operation Bingo would ruthlessly cut the Germans' supply
lines and leave them starved. However, it would not be easy. The
rail routes were defended by a formidable array of heavy flak, and
every raid was expected. Conditions were freezing, and even in
electric flying suits, men suffered both hypoxia and frostbite. By
the end of February, the previous eight-hour rail journey took the
Germans 3-4 days on the wrecked railroad, and soon supplies were
barely enough to keep the army alive. On April 12, the Allied
ground attack began, and within ten days the German command in
Northern Italy sued for surrender, the first German force in Europe
to do so. Packed with first-hand accounts and rare photos from the
57th Bomb Wing Archives, this book is a fascinating history of the
most successful US battlefield interdiction campaign in history,
immortalized in the writing of bombardier Joseph Heller, in his
novel Catch 22.
A vivid narrative history, packed with first-hand accounts, of the
US Eighth Air Force's VIII Fighter Command from its foundation in
1942 through to its victory in the skies over Nazi Germany. On
August 7, 1942, two events of major military importance occurred on
separate sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United
States went on the offensive, landing the First Marine Division at
Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of the new Eighth Air
Force’s 97th Bombardment Group bombed the Rouen–Sotteville
railroad marshalling yards in France. While the mission was small,
the aerial struggle that began that day would ultimately cost the
United States more men killed and wounded by the end of the war in
Europe than the Marines would lose in the Pacific War. Clean Sweep
is the story of the creation, development and operation of the
Eighth Air Force Fighter Command and the battle to establish
daylight air superiority over the Luftwaffe so that the invasion of
Europe could be successful. Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has had a
lifelong interest in the history of the fighter force that defeated
the Luftwaffe over Germany. He has collected many first-hand
accounts from participants over the past 50 years, getting to know
pilots such as the legendary “Hub” Zemke, Don Blakeslee and
Chuck Yeager, as well as meeting and interviewing leading Luftwaffe
pilots Adolf Galland, Gunther Rall and Walter “Count Punski”
Krupinski. This story is told through accounts gathered from both
sides.
This book tells the full story of the US Naval air campaign during
the Vietnam War between 1965 to 1975, where the US Seventh Fleet,
stationed off the Vietnamese coast, was given the tongue-in-cheek
nickname 'The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club'. On August 2, 1964, USS
Maddox became embroiled in the infamous 'Gulf of Tonkin incident'
that lead directly to America's increased involvement in the
Vietnam War. Supporting the Maddox that day were four F-8E
Crusaders from the USS Ticonderoga, signalling the start of the US
Navy's commitment to the air war over Vietnam. The Tonkin Gulf
Yacht Club was the nickname for the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, Task
Force 77, stationed off the coast of Vietnam which, at various
points throughout the war, comprised as many as six carriers with
70-100 aircraft on board. The Seventh Fleet played an essential
role in supporting operations over Vietnam, providing vital air
support to combat troops on the ground and taking part in major
operations such as Rolling Thunder and Linebacker I and II. Serving
with the US Seventh Fleet during this period and involved in the
dramatic history of The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club was author Tom
Cleaver, who was a 20-year-old member of Commander Patrol Forces
Seventh Fleet which had operational control over Maddox and Turner
Joy. His use of dramatic first-hand experiences from interviews
with both American and Vietnamese pilots plus official Vietnamese
accounts of the war provides a balanced and personal picture of the
conflict from both sides. Detailing the very earliest incident in
the Gulf of Tonkin through to the final evacuation of US nationals
in 1975, he brings the story of US air intervention into Vietnam
vividly to life.
Following the end of the Korean War, the prevailing myth in the
West was that of the absolute supremacy of US Air Force pilots and
aircraft over their Soviet-supplied opponents. The claims of the
10:1 victory-loss ratio achieved by the US Air Force fighter pilots
flying the North American F-86 Sabre against their communist
adversaries, among other such fabrications, went unchallenged until
the end of the Cold War, when Soviet records of the conflict were
finally opened. Packed with first-hand accounts and covering the
full range of US Air Force activities over Korea, MiG Alley brings
the war vividly to life and the record is finally set straight on a
number of popular fabrications. Thomas McKelvey Cleaver expertly
threads together US and Russian sources to reveal the complete
story of this bitter struggle in the Eastern skies.
From August 7, 1942 until February 24, 1944, the US Navy fought the
most difficult campaign in its history. Between the landing of the
1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal and the final withdrawal of the
Imperial Japanese Navy from its main South Pacific base at Rabaul,
the US Navy suffered such high personnel losses that for years it
refused to publicly release total casualty figures. The Solomons
campaign saw the US Navy at its lowest point, forced to make use of
those ships that had survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
and other units of the pre-war navy that had been hastily
transferred to the Pacific. 140 days after the American victory at
Midway, USS Enterprise was the only pre-war carrier left in the
South Pacific and the US Navy would have been overwhelmed in the
face of Japanese naval power had there been a third major fleet
action. At the same time, another under-resourced campaign had
broken out on the island of New Guinea. The Japanese attempt to
reinforce their position there had led to the Battle of the Coral
Sea in May and through to the end of the year, American and
Australian armed forces were only just able to prevent a Japanese
conquest of New Guinea. The end of 1942 saw the Japanese stopped in
both the Solomons and New Guinea, but it would take another 18
hard-fought months before Japan was forced to retreat from the
South Pacific. Under the Southern Cross draws on extensive
first-hand accounts and new analysis to examine the Solomons and
New Guinea campaigns which laid the groundwork for Allied victory
in the Pacific War.
In many popular histories of the Pacific War, the period from the
Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor to the US victory at Midway is
often passed over because it is seen as a period of darkness.
Indeed, it is easy to see the period as one of unmitigated disaster
for the Allies, with the fall of the Philippines, Malaya, Burma and
the Dutch East Indies, and the wholesale retreat and humiliation at
the hands of Japan throughout Southeast Asia. However, there are
also stories of courage and determination in the face of
overwhelming odds: the stand of the Marines at Wake Island; the
fighting retreat in the Philippines that forced the Japanese to
take 140 days to accomplish what they had expected would take 50;
the fight against the odds at Singapore and over Java; the stirring
tale of the American Volunteer Group in China; and the beginnings
of resistance to further Japanese expansion. In these events, there
are many individual stories that have either not been told or not
been told widely which are every bit as gripping as the stories
associated with the turning tide after Midway. I Will Run Wild
draws on extensive first-hand accounts and fascinating new analysis
to tell the story of Americans, British, Dutch, Australians and New
Zealanders taken by surprise from Pearl Harbor to Singapore that
first Sunday of December 1941, who went on to fight with what they
had at hand against a stronger and better-prepared foe, and in so
doing built the basis for a reversal of fortune and an eventual
victory.
Using diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts, this vivid
narrative brings to life the struggle in the air over the island of
Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942. The battle of
Guadalcanal was the first offensive operation undertaken by the US
and its allies in the Pacific War. The three months of air battles
between August 20, 1942, when the first Marine air unit arrived on
the island, and November 15, when the last enemy attempt to retake
the island was defeated, were perhaps the most important of the
Pacific War. “Cactus,” the code name for the island, became a
sinkhole for Japanese air and naval power, as they experienced
losses that could never be made good. For 40 years, the late Eric
Hammel interviewed more than 150 American participants in the air
campaign at Guadalcanal, none of whom are still alive. These
interviews are the most comprehensive first-person accounts of the
battle assembled by any historian. More importantly, they involved
the junior officers and enlisted men whose stories and memories
were not part of the official history, and thus provide a unique
insight. In The Cactus Air Force, Pacific War expert Thomas
McKelvey Cleaver worked closely with Eric to build on his
collection of diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts to
create a vivid narrative of the struggle in the air over the island
of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.
In November 1950 The US 1st Marine Division was trapped in the
Chosin Reservoir following the intervention of Red China in the
Korean War. Fought during the worst blizzard in a century, the
ensuing battle is considered by the United States Marine Corps to
be 'the Corps' Finest Hour.' The soldiers who fought there would
later become known as the `Frozen Chosen'. Published now in
paperback, this incredible story is based on first hand interviews
from surviving veterans, telling of heroism and bravery in the face
of overwhelming odds, as a handful of Marines fought desperately
against wave after wave of Chinese forces. Sometimes forced into
desperate hand to hand combat, the fighting retreat from Chosin
marked one of the darkest moments for Western forces in Korea, but
would go on to resonate with generations of Marines as a symbol of
the Marine Corps' dogged determination, fighting skill, and
never-say-die attitude on the battlefield.
Using diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts, this vivid
narrative brings to life the struggle in the air over the island of
Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942. For 40 years
from 1961, the late Eric Hammel interviewed more than 150 American
participants in the air campaign at Guadalcanal, none of whom are
still alive. These interviews are the most comprehensive
first-person accounts of the battle assembled by any historian.
More importantly, they involved the junior officers and enlisted
men whose stories and memories were not part of the official
history, thus providing a unique insight. The battle of Guadalcanal
was the first offensive operation undertaken by the US and its
allies in the Pacific War. "Cactus," the code name for the island,
became a sinkhole for Japanese air and naval power, experienced
forces whose losses could never be made good. The three months of
air battles between August 20, 1942, when the first Marine air unit
arrived on the island, and November 15, when the last enemy attempt
to retake the island was defeated, were perhaps the most important
of the Pacific War. After November 15, 1942, the US never looked
back as its forces moved across the Pacific to the war's inevitable
conclusion. The Cactus Air Force is a joint project between the
late Eric Hammel and Pacific War expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver,
and is unlike any other of the many histories of this event that
have been published over the years.
From August 7, 1942 until February 24, 1944, the US Navy fought the
most difficult campaign in its history. Between the landing of the
1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal and the final withdrawal of the
Imperial Japanese Navy from its main South Pacific base at Rabaul,
the US Navy suffered such high personnel losses that for years it
refused to publicly release total casualty figures. The Solomons
campaign saw the US Navy at its lowest point, forced to make use of
those ships that had survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
and other units of the pre-war navy that had been hastily
transferred to the Pacific. 140 days after the American victory at
Midway, USS Enterprise was the only pre-war carrier left in the
South Pacific and the US Navy would have been overwhelmed in the
face of Japanese naval power had there been a third major fleet
action. At the same time, another under-resourced campaign had
broken out on the island of New Guinea. The Japanese attempt to
reinforce their position there had led to the Battle of the Coral
Sea in May and through to the end of the year, American and
Australian armed forces were only just able to prevent a Japanese
conquest of New Guinea. The end of 1942 saw the Japanese stopped in
both the Solomons and New Guinea, but it would take another 18
hard-fought months before Japan was forced to retreat from the
South Pacific. Under the Southern Cross draws on extensive
first-hand accounts and new analysis to examine the Solomons and
New Guinea campaigns which laid the groundwork for Allied victory
in the Pacific War.
|
|