The War of the Cottontails: Memoirs of a WW II Bomber Pilot [Hardcover]

William R. Cubbins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1989

A masterfully written story of a young American pilot's experiences as a member of the 450th Bombardment Group in the air war against Nazi Germany's Fortress in Europe in 1944. 30 photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cubbins's account of his participation in U.S. bombing missions against well-defended Nazi war plants and oil refineries in central Europe is unusually detailed and suspenseful. Most of his memoir, however, has to do with his incarceration in a POW camp in Bucharest and morale problems in a prison that lacked strong internal leadership. Ironically, life became more difficult after Rumania pulled out of the war and freed the prisoners: the area was flooded with retreating German troops, and the ex-prisoners were terrified that they were to be rounded up by the Nazis. Also, the Germans wrought revenge on their former Rumanian ally by saturation bombing raids on Bucharest. Cubbins's account of survival in this Scylla and Charybdis situation vividly conveys the nightmarishness of the ordeal. In a thrilling climax, the senior American in the group arranged a dangerous flight to a U.S. air base in Italy, in a German plane piloted by a Rumanian, where he organized the first large-scale air rescue in history. Photos. Military Book Club dual main selection.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The author, a veteran of 15 combat missions in B-24s (their white-painted rudders both gave them their nickname and made them favorite targets of the Luftwaffe ), was captured and imprisoned after being hit by flak over Rumania. When Rumania capitulated to a coup in August 1944, Cubbins was among the 1000 downed Allied airmen who found themselves huddling in bombed buildings in Bucharest as the retreating Nazis tried to kill them with air attacks. His ordeal is recounted with vivid detail, intelligence, and even some humor. The first half of the memoir is a gripping story of aerial combat over Europe. A sharply defined view of the 15th Air Force and the men who fought in it; well worth the attention of students of the period. Military Book Club dual main selection.
- Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 16 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books (May 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0912697962
• ISBN-13: 978-0912697963
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Account of a POW in Romania, May 23, 2004

By 

Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The War of the Cottontails: Memoirs of a WW II Bomber Pilot (Hardcover)

First Lieutenant William R. Cubbins was a B-24 pilot in World War II. Serving with the 420th Bombardment Group--called the Cottontails because of the distinctive white tails on the unit's aircraft--under the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy, Cubbins was involved in the bombing raids throughout the Balkans in 1944. This recollection adds significantly to our understanding of the details and especially the horrors of aerial bombardment. The author's descriptions of his missions, particularly the operations aga1nst the fiercely defended Ploesti oil installations, are especially graphic. They capture the peril and apprehension, as well as the excitement and heroism, of bombing missions over central Europe.

While the bombing activities are well chronicled in "The War of the Cottontails," I found the latter half of the book the most interesting. There Cubbins describes with great' emotive power his experiences as an Axis prisoner of war in Bucharest, Romania. On July 3, 1944, Cubbins flew his B-24 nicknamed "Swashbuckler" on a raid to Giurgia, Romania. His aircraft was shot down and a Romanian peasant captured him almost as his parachute touched the ground. Sent to a POW camp in Bucharest, established at a hastily reconfigured school in the city, Cubbins spent a little less than two months in the camp. During that time Cubbins and his fellow POWs endured repeated bombing raids on the city and plotted unsuccessfully for an escape. When Romania capitulated in late August 1944 changing to the Allied side in the face of onrushing Soviet armies, Cubbins and his fellow POWs were released. They were turned loose in Bucharest to enjoy the hospitality of the city, and the result was a predictable bedlam.

Because of this senior Allied officers rounded up the ex-prisoners and arranged for their removal to Italy. They moved their troops to the Popesti Airdrome, a few miles from the city. By the evening of August 29, 1944, Cubbins writes, over 1,000 ex-POWs were at the airfield. The American senior officer, Lieutenant Colonel James A. Gunn III, and Prince Constantin Cantacuzene of the Romanian Air Force flew in his ME-109, which had been repainted with American flags, to Italy. Gunn arranged for B-17s to travel to Popesti to pick up Cubbins and the other ex-prisoners. By the first part of September 1944 these prisoners had been returned to American bases in Italy. Cubbins, and presumably most of the rest of his fellow POWs, were then sent back to the United States.

This book is one of the better memoirs in the chronicle of POW life in World War II. Well-written and insightful "The War of the Cottontails" is an unusually detailed and vivid account of one officer' s experiences in World War II. Cubbins has produced a fine book that will be permanently useful to academics and, more important, interesting to non-specialists.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK, February 4, 2003

By 

galen schatzman "GPS" (centerville, utah United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The War of the Cottontails: Memoirs of a WW II Bomber Pilot (Hardcover)

THIS IS A GREAT READ-MY DAD WAS A COTTONTAIL-I COULDNT PUT THIS DOWN-HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!