Customer Reviews

Cassell Military Classics: The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission: American Raids on 17 August 1943

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
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Note--Middlebrook's book "The Schweinfurt Regensburg Mission" has nothing to do with Accounting. Amazon has the wrong reviews appearing with this title.

Absolutely essential reading for anyone wishing to understand American bombing operations and tactics in Germany during WWII. Middlebrook's research and attention to detail are first rate! He relies on original documents and "first-hand" accounts to paint a fresh portrait of these missions from the perspective of the American bomber crew, the German fighter pilots, and the people on the ground in Schweinfurt and Regensburg. Highest recommendation. For a great perspective on British night bomber tactics, try Middlebrook's "The Berlin Raids--RAF Bomber Command Winter 1943-44." An equally excellent companion volume.

The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission is Mr. Martin Middlebrook's telling of the US dual raid in August 1943. I picked up this book because I've read many of his works on the RAF's night missions and I wanted to see how he did on a US day mission. As with his earlier works, this book can be divided into thirds; Pre-Mission (events leading up to the mission and about both sides), the Mission (launch thru recovery), and Post-Mission (usually his analysis of the mission and its effect).

My Likes:
Mr. Middlebrook always does an excellent job with aerial warfare. In the Pre-Mission section Mr. Middlebrook presents the case of why the Americans felt they were ready for a deep raid (the Pointblank Directive, but there's more to it) and the other deep raids the Americans had executed just prior. The Mission section provides great insight into the crews (from both sides) that operated during the mission and what was happening to them. I particularly liked how Mr. Middlebrook brought up how the Schweinfurt portion of the mission executed later than planned. The Post-Mission portion is where many writers fail and I'm glad to say that Mr. Middlebrook does a great job breaking down the results of the raid and speculating how things might have gone different. Arguably the best part of the book is the Appendices. Here we learn about the fate of the planes on the mission, which groups were damaged the most, and the general performance of the groups. In addition, Appendix 4 has the story of the wheels up B-17 (read it, it provides great clarity about what happened and the myth of the Bloody 100th). There are nice maps in the book (many history books could learn from this) and meaningful pictures.

My Dislikes:
The Pre-Mission section wasn't as good as The Battle of Hamburg: Allied Bomber Forces against a German City in 1943(the gold standard for his books). I really missed seeing a good description of the aircraft used by both sides. While I'm very familiar with both sides aircraft, Mr. Middlebrook had done the same in The Battle of Hamburg and I adds something to the story; besides, you might learn something. I also felt that the Schweinfurt portion of the book was a little rushed. I admit that doing two raids in one is very daunting, but I felt that he paid more attention to the Regensburg portion of the raid.

The Rating:
I'm going to open by saying that Mr. Middlebrook's works are always outstanding, and because of that I hold him to a different standard than most. Overall this is a solid 4.5 star book. It covers the missions better than many writers would have, his input is great, one of the few writers who provides oral history with good analysis. The maps are outstanding for aerial warfare. He shows us the path flown, when different aircraft were shot down and there's also the illustrations of the aircraft lost relative to groups (low, middle, high, and by the bombardment group they flew for). However, all of this said, I can't raise it to the 5 star level because of The Battle of Hamburg. That said, an outstanding 4 star book that is a great read with excellent analysis!

If you want to know the how's and why's and what happened you can't ask for better. My father was shot down in this raid and his crew and he taken POW. Mr. Middlebrook interviewed him and many other participants. Reading it gives you chills.