Customer Reviews

Air Support for Patton's Third Army

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Air Support for Patton's Third Army is a well written account of Patton's service and action of the Third Army drive into Germany during World War II. The Air Force that supported Patton's efforts was the Ninth Air Force which provided tactical support with fighters and light bombers.The plane on the cover on the book is an A20 which my father flew for the ninth Air Force over France during the Normandy landings and beyond. I bought the book hoping that it would cover more of the Ninth Air Force and its contribution to the war effort and support for Patton's Third Army. Hardly any mention is given to light bomber missions or the A20 aircraft. The author provides very limited accounts of the Ninth Air Force missions to the point where this book is more about Patton and the ground battles that took place during this period of WWII. However, this is the only book that I have found that gives one an overall view of the events that took place by describing both the army and the air force contribution to select battles. Given these limitations I feel that this book is still a must have book for those individuals interested in WWII.

As I was reading John Sullivan's book, one question kept popping into my head: Where's the beef? Although the book claims it's "about the units of the Ninth Air Force that gave close support to the Third Army" and that it wasn't a history of the Third Army, that's exactly what it is! AIR SUPPORT FOR PATTON'S THIRD ARMY is a chronicle of the Third Army's sweep across France with 9th Air Force activities receiving short shrift.

You know the author's in trouble when he first introduces his "main character" on page 34. Following a superficial summary of the 9th AF and an equally brief chapter on Close Air Support, Sullivan jumps back into his 'Third Army at War' theme. He relates various battles, conflicts between Allied commanders, supply shortages, etc. CAS missions by 9th AF units are interwoven into the narrative but - again - 9th AF activities are not given special emphasis. For example, Sullivan occasionally refers to specific 9th AF groups but usually summarizes air action as the work of 'IX Troop Carrier Command,' 'XIX TAC fighter-bombers,' etc. After chapters on Third Army's November 1944 offensives and its drive to Bastogne, Sullivan concludes with a six-page 'Evaluations of Air Support for the Third Army' chapter.

The 9th AF flew some of the hairiest missions of the war; low-level strafing attacks, aerial resupply missions, etc. So, if you're looking for descriptions of those missions, skip this book. The space that might be used for all those down-and-dirty details is mostly given over to the ground war. It appears to me that the author forgot what the title/focus of his book was.

On balance, AIR SUPPORT FOR PATTON'S THIRD ARMY is a concise if somewhat dry account of George Patton's push toward Germany. While the book includes the USAAF activities that aided that push, it does not emphasize those efforts to the degree you might expect from the book's title. So, for a number of reasons, two stars is about all I can muster for this 2003 McFarland & Company volume.

*****
Kenn Rust's 9th AIR FORCE IN WORLD WAR II (1967) and NINTH AIR FORCE...IN WORLD WAR II (1983) are still the best 9th AF histories available.