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Jagdverband 44
Squadron of Experten
Osprey Publishing
Aviation Elite Units
There was no Luftwaffe fighter unit like Jagdverband 44. Formed in
February 1945, the unit grew out of Hitler's bizarre decision that the Me 262 jet fighter should be
used as a bomber, despite its potential in the daylight defensive battles over the Reich. Seen as a
grave mistake by Göring, a small fighter unit was formed in southern Germany to 'prove' the Me 262's
ability as an interceptor. Formed with some of Germany's most experienced fighter pilots, Jagdverband
44 numbered a disproportionately high number of leading aces in its ranks, to the extent that it was
said that the Knights' Cross was the unofficial badge of the unit. With numerous first-hand accounts
from pilots and detailed color profiles, this book is a fascinating account of the dramatic birth of
the jet fighter and the impact it had during the bitter struggles of 1944-45.
Contents:
• Political background from Bodenplatte early 1945.
• Unrest amongst the Jagdwaffe.
• Galland's dismissal and the formation of JV 44: Ops Phase 1 (Brandenburg-Briest).
• Ops Phase 2 (Munich-Riem).
• Fw 190 D-9 protection flight.
• Ops Phase 3 (Salzburg-Maxglan/Ainring/Innsbruck).
ISBN: 9781846032943
Paperback; May 2008
Pages: 128 pages
US Price: $25.95
Purchase this book at: www.ospreypublishing.com
Or ask for it at your favorite book store.
IKE
An American Hero
By Michael Korda
A big, ambitious, and enthralling new biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower,
full of fascinating details and anecdotes, which places particular emphasis on his brilliant generalship
and leadership in World War Two, and provides, with the advantage of hindsight, a far more acute analysis
of his character and personality than any that has previously been available, reaching the conclusion
that he was perhaps America's greatest general and one of America's best presidents, a man who won the
war and thereafter kept the peace.
IKE starts with the story of the D-Day, the most critical moment in America's
history. It was Hitler's last chance to win the war he had the means to destroy the troops on the beaches,
but he failed to react quickly enough. The one man who would have reacted quickly and decisively had he been
on the spot, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, was home on leave and didn't arrive back at his headquarters until
it was too late. It was Ike's plan, Ike's decision, Ike's responsibility. He alone, among all the Allied
generals, could win or lose the war in one day, and knew it.
But of course there is more to this book than military history. It is a full
biography of a remarkable man, ambitious, a late starter, a brilliant leader of men and perhaps the only
American general who could command such a difficult coalition, and win the respect of not only his own soldiers,
but also those of Great Britain and France, and lead them to a triumphant victory.
It is also the story of a remarkable family. Ike grew up in Abilene, Kansas,
and the Eisenhowers were Mennonites, who, like the Amish, were deeply committed pacifists, so it is ironic
that he went to West Point and became a general, to his mother's horror. It is as well the portrait of a
tumultuous and often difficult marriage, for Mamie was every bit as stubborn and forceful as her husband,
and it was by no means the sunny, happy marriage that Republican publicists presented to the public when Ike
made his first moves towards the presidency.
Indeed, behind Ike's big grin and the easygoing, affable personality he
liked to project was a very different man, fiercely ambitious, hot-tempered, shrewd, and tightly wound. He
was a perfectionist for whom duty always came first, and a man of immense ability. In 1941 he was a soldier
who was still an unknown and recently promoted colonel, and just two years later he was a fourstar general
who had commanded the biggest and most successful amphibious operation in history — TORCH, the AngloAmerican
invasion of North Africa. He commanded respect and was dealt as an equal with such world figures as President
Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Charles De Gaulle.
ISBN: 9780060756659
Pages: 800
US Price: $34.95
Purchase this book at: www.harpercollins.com
Or ask for it at your favorite book store.
The Airmen and the Headhunters
A true Story of Lost Soldiers, heroic Tribesmen, and the Unlikeliest rescue of World War II
By Judith M. Heimann
In November 1944, a U.S. B-24 on a routine bombing run off the Borneo coast
was shot down in a jungle region populated by the head-hunting Dayak tribe and patrolled by the Japanese.
Fearing capture or decapitation, the crash survivors began a seven-month adventure befriending a savvy
Dutch administrator, learning native customs, and demonstrating that white men could be more useful as
allies than as decorations. Judith M. Heimann brings a visceral urgency to one of WWII's most unlikely
tales in The Airmen and the Headhunters. Along the way, she makes us — like the airmen — rethink our
definitions of civilized and savage.
ISBN-10: 0151014345
ISBN-13: 9780151014347
Format: Hardcover
Publication Year: 2007
Pages; 304
US Price: $26.00
Purchase this book at: www.harcourtbooks.com
Or ask for it at your favorite book store.
Rangers at Dieppe
The First Combat Action of U.S. Army Rangers in World War II
By Jim Defelice
The day the U.S. Army Rangers first went into combat-and the battle
that won't be forgotten.
Just months after Pearl Harbor, with America still struggling to bring
itself up to fighting strength for World War II, it was decided that a specially-trained force based
upon the British commando squads should be formed. They would become known as the Rangers.
Before their training was even complete, they would be thrust into the
crucible of battle, taking part in a combined Canadian-British assault on the German held French port
of Dieppe. The raid was a disaster, and the fight for Dieppe became a slaughter, with horrific Allied
losses. Several Rangers were killed or wounded-the first American blood spilled on European soil in the
Second World War.
Here, drawn from historical records and personal recollections by those
who were there, and illustrated with photographs and maps, is the story of those fifty Rangers who found
themselves fighting nobly on the front lines in a battle they could not win-and would be lucky to survive.
ISBN: 9781436209038
Pages: 320
US Price: $24.95
Purchase this book at: www.penguin.com
Or ask for it at your favorite book store.
332nd Fighter Group – Tuskegee Airmen
(Aviation Elite Units 24)
By Chris Bucholtz
Illustrations by Jim Laurier
The USAAF's Tuskegee Experiment, designed to prove that African-Americans
were not capable of flying combat aircraft, resulted in the creation of one of the USAAF's elite units.
Commanded by Col. Benjamin O. Davis, the 332nd were able to boast 111 aerial kills, 150 strafing victories
and even the sinking of a German destroyer by the war's end. The group were both feared and respected by
the Germans, who called them the 'Schwartze Voglemenschen' (Black Birdmen), and this book reveals the true
story of the unit who rose above discrimination to achieve elite status.
ISBN: 9781846030444
Pages: 128
US Price: $22.95
Purchase this book at: www.ospreypublishing.com
Or ask for it at your favorite book store.
P-40 Warhawk vs Ki-43 Oscar
China 1944–45
By Carl Molesworth
Illustrations by Jim Laurier
Known for the distinctive 'sharkmouth' decoration on their noses, P-40
fighters first saw combat in China during World War II. Their most common adversary was the Japanese
Nakajima Ki-43, nicknamed 'Oscar.' Carl Molesworth describes and explains the design and development
of these two foes, the products of two vastly different philosophies of fighter design. The P-40 was
heavily armed and sturdy with armor protection and self-sealing fuel tanks, but paid for this with the
loss of speed and a sluggish performance at altitude. The Ki-43 was a rapier to the battleaxe P-40 and
the Ki-43 was immensely nimble, though with less firepower and durability. This book examines these two
different fighters, and the pilots who flew them over China, with an action-packed text, rare
photographs and digital artwork.
ISBN: 9781846032950
Pages: 80
US Price: $17.95
Purchase this book at: www.ospreypublishing.com
Or ask for it at your favorite book store.
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