Turning The Tide

The USAAF in North Africa and Sicily

Turning The Tide cover

Turning The Tide

The USAAF in North Africa and Sicily

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Description

Packed with personal accounts of the action, this is a vivid narrative history of the often-overlooked USAAF campaign in North Africa and Sicily in World War II.

In 1942, the Western Allies needed to take the offensive against the Axis to relieve pressure on the Soviet Union. With planning for a cross-Channel invasion beset by logistical and operational difficulties, in May 1942 President Roosevelt ordered his military leaders to prepare to support the British in the Mediterranean. This led to the first USAAF units arriving in the Middle East in July, firstly as reinforcements for the British and later as part of the Operation Torch landings in French Morocco and Algeria in November.

In little over ten months from the summer of 1942, the USAAF in North Africa grew from nothing to a senior partner, providing aircraft and crews the other Allies were unable to match. The Axis forces that had controlled almost the entire southern shore of the Mediterranean had been swept from the African continent – thanks in no small part to the efforts of the USAAF.

Using first-hand accounts from pilots and other aircrew, Tom Cleaver describes how the USAAF units that landed in Morocco were forced to learn their own lessons in combat with veteran Luftwaffe units, and how the experience gained in the skies over North Africa and Sicily was invaluable in developing the air forces that would dominate the skies over Europe in the latter years of the war.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Maps
Foreword by Richard P. Hallion
Author's Preface
Chapter One: The Mad Dash
Chapter Two: 1942 – The Lowest Year
Chapter Three: First in the Blue
Chapter Four: El Alamein
Chapter Five: Opponents
Chapter Six: Airwar over Casablanca
Chapter Seven: Race to Tunisia
Chapter Eight: Bomber Boys
Chapter Nine: Kasserine Pass
Chapter Ten: Tunisgrad
Chapter Eleven: Pantelleria
Chapter Twelve: Air War over Sicily
Bibliography
Glossary
Index

Product details

Published 15 Aug 2024
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 320
ISBN 9781472860224
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 16-page black and white plate section
Series General Military
Short code GNM
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published write…

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