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5.0 out of 5 stars
E. Hammel provides "The" Chronology of the European Air War!, February 14, 1997
By A Customer
Eric Hammel provides an excellent reference source to the European Air War. The main body of the text chronicals events from war's beginning to Germany's surrender on May 9, 1945. The basic concept is straightforward: to provide a basic sketch of daily operations in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa.
Of particular note is Hammel's Introductory chapter, where he examines the evolution of American fighter doctrine (particularly as it relates to the "Self-defending bomber") and his pinpoint analysis of America's strategic bombing initiative. Despite its obviously reference orientation, nothing Hammel writes makes for dry reading. recommended!
For more military aviation reviews see the "WWII Aviation Booklist" at:
http://www.ampsc.com/~prophet/booklist.html
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3.0 out of 5 stars
A Massive, Flawed Work, January 19, 2011
This review is from: Air War Europa (Paperback)
Eric Hammel is to be congratulated for compiling a massive amount of data regarding the combat activities of the USAAF in Europe on a daily basis in the form of a day-to-day diary. This book is used as a source by me to confirm or contradict claims made by the Luftwaffe fighter forces. It is always interesting and informative as to the respective claims of the Luftwaffe versus that of the American air forces involved. Unfortunately, Hammel's work cannot be used in the same manner as that of, for instance, Roger Freeman's "Mighty Eighth War Diary" which will list the number of American aircraft sent out on a mission, the number missing, the number written off, and the number damaged, in addition to personnel losses and Luftwaffe aircraft claimed destroyed, probably destroyed, and damaged. When I purchased the Hammel book, I was hoping for such inclusions for the other air forces involved in the European campaign. I was disappointed.
Hammel's work contains a number of contradictions and claims which are totally false. For example, in the introduction Hammel mentions the raid on Berlin on 6 March 1944 where he states that the German fighters lost 66 of their number. Later in the book for this date he states that VIII Fighter Command fighters down a record 81 GAF fighters. He does not mention the bomber gunners' claims. He should have written that American fighters claimed 81.
Another major error is under 2 September 1943 where Hammel states that the 82nd FG down 23 Axis fighters for no losses. In a book regarding the history of the P-38, the 82nd claimed 23 for the loss of ten of their P-38. In actuality the Germans lost only six of their fighters of which one crashed on take-off. Again Hammel is wrong for using the term "downed" instead of claimed. He has too much faith in the validity of the American fighters' claims.
The best example of such unjustified faith is the mission of the 325th FG over Sardinia on 30 July 1943 when its P-40 encountered a formation of Bf 109Gs and claimed a total of 21 Messerschmitts shot down. Hammel claims that this was an actual underclaim and he states, wrongly, that German records actual admit to 30 fighters lost. This is quite misleading since the claim of 30 Bf 109s come from Sardinian civilians when interviewed by American intelligence officers. Who knows what went on in the dialogue between Americans and Italians but a civilian source for military information should be taken sceptically. The actual German fighter unit was III./JG 77 which lost four Bf 109s in this fight and one pilot killed. No other German unit was active on this date over Sardinia and all Italian aircraft had been evacuated to the mainland by this time.
One of the most famous episodes involves the so-called "Palm Sunday Massacre" which occured on 18 April 1943 when 46 P-40s of the 57th FG and 12 RAF Spitfires intercepted 65 Ju 52 transports escorted by 15 Bf 109s and five Bf 110s and Me 210s. The Allied fighter pilots reported many more than this total. The Allies claimed 61 transports and 15 fighters. Actual German losses were 24 transports with another 35 landing on the beaches of Tunisia. Only one Bf 109 and one twin-engined fighter were lost. Seven Allied fighters are lost. Hammel never mentions the actual German losses, instead taking the Allied claims as factual.
One last example is the 8th AF raid over France on 9 October 1942 where bomber gunners claimed a fantastic 25 destroyed and 38 probably destroyed, a number exceeding the amount of German fighters in the air that day. The German unit, JG 26, claimed four bombers destroyed but actually got six for the loss of one fighter and its pilot. Hammel fails to mention this.
In summary, the book is worth having as a resource for the daily activities of the USAAF in the ETO. It is not a complete record, however, since Hammel fails on many occasions the losses of the Americans. It is also full of errors and any claims by Hammel should be verified by other independent sources, not sources which use Hammel's "Air War Europa: Chronology."
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