The Bloody Yank

ISBN-13: 9781432794415 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 382 str.

William Reed McArthur

Opis

The Battle of Britain was the most significant air battle ever fought What if the British had lost the battle? What if Hitler succeeded in occupying England? How would the Americans have fought in Europe without England's availability as a base? How close was the battle? When did the Germans make the mistakes that lost the battle and the war for them? The Battle of France had ended and France was divided and occupied. The Battle of Britain was beginning and England faced the victorious Nazi forces across the English Channel with her back to the Atlantic Ocean. She was alone: her European allies had been conquered and her Commonwealth countries were far away. Her American friends hid their heads in the sand, not wanting to be involved in Europe's "problems." Benjamin Archer is a superb US Army Air Corps fighter pilot assigned to Northolt Air Base as an observer for the coming battle. He is upset by the lack of training for replacement pilots so he begins flying with newly arrived replacements to train them and teach them a more effective combat formation and improve their chances of surviving the battle. Flying without the knowledge of his commanders, he becomes the first American serviceman to fly in combat in World War II. The Bloody Yank tells the story of his combat flying within an accurate daily history of the battle. Captain Archer has a moral purpose for participating in the battle, but knows that he risks discovery and court martial since he is a neutral and not authorized to fight. He worries about how to get out of the dilemma that he has created. He flies in many of the critical daily air battles including September 15, 1940, now celebrated as "Battle of Britain Day," and experiences the stress and trauma of repeated daily combat flights. He meets and gains the respect of RAF commanders such as Sir Hugh Caswell Tremeneere Dowding, the leader of RAF Fighter Command, and 11th Group Commander Air Vice-Marshall Keith Park. He meets a brilliant and beautiful woman who is a WAAF lieutenant serving in the battle. The summer and fall of 1940 pass as the battle grinds down and she struggles to understand why she is attracted to the American fighter pilot. As the battle ends, the critical strategic and tactical mistakes made by the Germans that prevented them from winning the battle in time to invade England in 1940 are revealed.