USAAF During WWII Volume 3 - Europe Argument to V-E Day Jan 1944-May 1945 AFD-101105-007

IN March 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget ordering each war agency to prepare "an accurate and objective account"of that agency's war experience. Soon after, the Army Air Forces began hiring professional historians so that its history could "be recorded while it is hot and that personnel be selected and an agency set up for a clear historian's job without axe to grind or defense to prepare." An Historical Division was established in Headquarters Army Air Forces under Air Intelligence, in September 1942, and the modern Air Force historical program began. With the end of the war, Headquarters approved a plan for writing and publishing a seven-volume history. In December 1945, Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker, Deputy Commander of Army Air Forces, asked the Chancellor of the University of Chicago to "assume the responsibility for the publication" of the history, stressing that it must "meet the highest academic standards." Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Frank Craven of New York University and Major James Lea Cate of the University of Chicago, both of whom had been assigned to the historical program, were selected to be editors of the volumes. Between 1948 and 1958 seven were published. With publication of the last, the editors wrote that the Air Force had "fulfilled in letter and spirit" the promise of access to documents and complete freedom of historical interpretation. Like all history, The Army Air Forces in World War II reflects the era when it was conceived, researched, and written. However, these books met the highest of contemporary professional standards of quality and comprehensiveness. They contain information and experience that are of great value to the Air Force today and to the public. Together they are the only comprehensive discussion of Army Air Forces activity in the largest air war this nation has ever waged. RICHARD H. KOHN Chief, Office of Air Force History Front......Page 1 Foreword......Page 3 Contents......Page 31 List of Maps & Charts......Page 35 List of Illustrations......Page 37 I. From Pointblank to Overlord......Page 41 1. Winter Bombing......Page 43 2. Big Week......Page 70 3. Plan for Overlord......Page 111 4. Crossbow......Page 128 5. The Ninth Air Force......Page 155 6. Pre-Invasion Operations......Page 186 II. Invasion of Western Europe......Page 231 7. Normandy......Page 233 8. The Battle of France......Page 280 9. The Strategic Bomber Strikes Ahead......Page 334 III. Italy......Page 383 10. Anzio......Page 385 11. Rome......Page 435 12. Invasion of Southern France......Page 472 13. Battle of Northern Italy......Page 507 IV. Supporting Operations......Page 563 14. Air Support for the Underground......Page 565 15. Crossbow-Second Phase......Page 597 16. Logistical Mobility......Page 619 17. Check at the Rhine......Page 671 V. The German Frontier......Page 669 18. Autumn Assault on Germany......Page 712 19. Battle of the Bulge......Page 748 VI. Germany......Page 793 20. The Climax of Strategic Operations......Page 795 21. From the Rhine to the Elbe......Page 840 22. Mission Accomplished......Page 867 Notes......Page 895 Glossary......Page 997 Index......Page 1001 v. 1. Plans and early operations, January 1939 to August 1942. v. 2. Europe: Torch to Pointblank, August 1942 to December 1943. v. 3. Europe: Argument to V-E Day, January 1944 to May 1945. v. 4. The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944. v. 5. The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki, June 1944 to August 1945. v. 6. Men and planes. v. 7. Services around the world.