The Battle of Britain
A Captivating Guide to One of the Most Critical Battles of World War II
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The Battle of Britain
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Narrated by:
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Jason Zenobia
About this listen
Did you know the Battle of Britain was the first major military campaign fought entirely in the air?
In the summer of 1940, Adolf Hitler and his henchman, Luftwaffe Commander-in-Chief Hermann Göring, began their attempt to clear the skies over England to invade Great Britain. Despite very long odds, the Royal Air Force stood its ground, prevented the German invasion, and helped turn the tide of WWII.
The valiant stand of the RAF fighter pilots (known today as “The Few” because of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s famous speech) not only saved England from Hitler, but also motivated and inspired the people and leadership of the United States, which sent increasing amounts of weapons and supplies to the United Kingdom.
In Captivating History’s The Battle of Britain, you will learn about the following:
- The strategy and tactics of air warfare developed between WWI and WWII.
- How the Germans secretly created the foundations of its WWII air force, the Luftwaffe, in the Soviet Union.
- How young German men learned to fly, even though they had no planes
- How the British and Germans developed radar at almost the same time, and how British radar was much more effective and better run.
- The women of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force or WAAFs
- How British and German fighters stacked up against each other.
- How the Germans almost won the battle.
- The cost born by the British people
- Some of the most famous figures from the battle, such as Winston Churchill, Hermann Göring, Hugh Dowding, and many more.
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By: Paul Kennedy
-
The Second World Wars
- How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 23 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,413
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,249
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,247
The Second World Wars examines how combat unfolded in the air, at sea, and on land to show how distinct conflicts among disparate combatants coalesced into one interconnected global war. Drawing on 3,000 years of military history, Victor Davis Hanson argues that despite its novel industrial barbarity, neither the war's origins nor its geography were unusual. Nor was its ultimate outcome surprising. The Axis powers were well prepared to win limited border conflicts, but once they blundered into global war, they had no hope of victory.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The story behind the story of WW 2
- By LARRY DINKIN on 02-07-19
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MiG Alley
- The US Air Force in Korea, 1950-53
- By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 314
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 251
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 250
Of the many myths that emerged following the end of the Korean War, the prevailing one in the West was that of the absolute supremacy of US Air Force pilots and aircraft over their Soviet-supplied opponents. The claims of the 10:1 victory-loss ratio achieved by the US Air Force fighter pilots flying the North American F-86 Sabre against their communist adversaries, amongst other such fabrications, went unchallenged until the end of the Cold War, when Soviet records of the conflict were finally opened. From that point onwards, a very different story began to emerge.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
- By Lorne on 11-27-19
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Victory at Sea
- Naval Power and the Transformation of the Global Order in World War II
- By: Paul Kennedy, Ian Marshall - illustrator
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 20 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
In this engaging narrative, historian Paul Kennedy grapples with the rise and fall of the Great Powers during World War II. Tracking the movements of the six major navies of the Second World War—the allied navies of Britain, France, and the United States and the Axis navies of Germany, Italy, and Japan—Kennedy tells a story of naval battles, maritime campaigns, convoys, amphibious landings, and strikes from the sea.
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5 out of 5 stars
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No the defendant work on all navies fighting in World War II.
- By Kent Steen on 09-24-22
By: Paul Kennedy, and others
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Oswald Boelcke
- Germany’s First Fighter Ace and Father of Air Combat
- By: BGen R. G. Head
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 21
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Story5 out of 5 stars 21
With a total of 40 victories, Oswald Boelcke was Germany's first ace in World War I-and a century later he remains a towering figure in the history of air warfare, renowned for his character, inspirational leadership, organizational genius, development of air-to-air tactics, and impact on aerial doctrine. Paving the way for modern air forces across the world with his pioneering strategies, Boelcke had a dramatic effect on his contemporaries. The famed Red Baron's mentor, instructor, squadron commander, and friend, he exerted a tremendous influence upon the German air force.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Bravest of Pilots
- By J.Brock on 07-09-21
By: BGen R. G. Head
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Britain at Bay
- The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938-1941
- By: Alan Allport
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 21 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story5 out of 5 stars 37
Here is the many-faceted, world-historically significant story of Britain at war. In looking closely the military and political dimensions of the conflict's first crucial years, Alan Allport tackles questions such as: Could the war have been avoided? Could it have been lost? Were the strategic decisions the rights ones? How well did the British organize and fight? How well did the British live up to their own values? What difference did the war make in the end to the fate of the nation?
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5 out of 5 stars
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A History worth your read
- By Norm the Nonfiction Reader on 08-18-21
By: Alan Allport
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The Storm of War
- A New History of the Second World War
- By: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 28 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,308
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,129
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,128
The Second World War lasted for 2,174 days, cost $1.5 trillion, and claimed the lives of more than 50 million people. Why did the Axis lose? And could they, with a different strategy, have won? Andrew Roberts's acclaimed new history has been hailed as the finest single-volume account of this epic conflict. From the western front to North Africa, from the Baltic to the Far East, he tells the story of the war - the grand strategy and the individual experience, the cruelty and the heroism - as never before.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A very interesting book with some shortcomings.
- By Mike From Mesa on 10-24-11
By: Andrew Roberts
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Pearl Harbor
- A Captivating Guide to the Surprise Military Strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service That Caused the United States of America’s Formal Entry into World War II
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 17
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 17
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Story4 out of 5 stars 17
The attack of the US Pearl Harbor Naval Base changed the entire progress of World War II, and as a result, it was a very formative event both for the United States and Japan. Though the two nations seemed unlikely enemies at the onset of the Second Great War, bloodshed between them would be greater than anyone could have imagined. The future of the world at large was changed on December 7, 1941, when the Empire of Japan chose to make a preemptive strike on its most feared Pacific neighbor, the United States of America.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Don’t waste your credit
- By Amazon Customer on 05-17-20
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The Second Sino-Japanese War
- A Captivating Guide to Military Conflict That Began Between China and Japan, Including Events Such as the Japanese Invasion of Manchuria and the Nanjing Massacre
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 15
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 13
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Story5 out of 5 stars 13
Many people in the West look upon the Second Sino-Japanese War, which took place in the 1930s and 1940s, as a sort of sideshow to the larger Second World War, but there is no separating the two. Imagine the Pacific War, the theater of World War II that took place in the Pacific. If the Japanese were not busy fighting on another front, they would have had millions of more troops available to fight the Americans and the British. In all likelihood, World War II would have ended the same way, but it would have taken much longer and cost that many more lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A good summary of Japan leading up to WW2
- By M Maurer on 11-18-21
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Firestorm
- Allied Airpower and the Destruction of Dresden
- By: Marshall De Bruhl
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4 out of 5 stars 37
On February 13 and 14, 1945, three successive waves of British and U.S. aircraft rained down thousands of tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs on the largely undefended German city of Dresden. Night and day, Dresden was engulfed in a vast sea of flame, a firestorm that generated 1,500-degree temperatures and hurricane-force winds. Thousands suffocated in underground shelters where they had fled to escape the inferno above.
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1 out of 5 stars
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slanted view of air attacks during war
- By Ed Yusis on 03-31-14
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Eagle Against the Sun
- The American War With Japan
- By: Ronald H. Spector
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 246
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 211
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 210
Spector reassesses US and Japanese strategy and offers some provocative interpretations. He shows that the dual advance across the Pacific by MacArthur and Nimitz was less a product of strategic calculation and more a pragmatic solution to bureaucratic, doctrinal, and public relations problems facing the Army and Navy. He also argues that Japan made its fatal error not in the Midway campaign but in abandoning its offensive strategy after that defeat and allowing itself to be drawn into a war of attrition.
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3 out of 5 stars
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OK as an overview, but too little detail
- By Mike From Mesa on 03-21-22
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Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931-1941
- War in the Far East Series, Book 1
- By: Peter Harmsen
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Storm Clouds over the Pacific begins the story long before Pearl Harbor, showing how the war can only be understood if ancient hatreds and long-standing geopolitics are taken into account. Harmsen demonstrates how Japan and China's ancient enmity led to increased tensions in the 1930s, which, in turn, exploded into conflict in 1937.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Interesting Story
- By Coach Mark on 03-25-23
By: Peter Harmsen
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American Heritage History of World War II
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose, C. L. Sulzberger
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 106
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Story5 out of 5 stars 106
In planes and foxholes, in deserts and jungles, on ships and beaches, Ambrose shines a light on the people involved - the leaders, the fighters, the victims. With chapters on the atrocities of the Holocaust and revelations about the secret war of espionage, Ambrose's analysis also offers insight into the events that precipitated the Cold War.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent overview of WWII
- By Laura Kernen on 11-15-18
By: Stephen E. Ambrose, and others
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Third Reich Victorious
- Alternate Histories of World War II
- By: Peter G. Tsouras
- Narrated by: David Baker
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 98
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4 out of 5 stars 88
This book is a stimulating and entirely plausible insight into how Hitler and his generals might have defeated the Allies, and a convincing sideways look at the Third Reich's bid at world domination in World War II. What would have happened if, for example, the Germans captured the whole of the BEF at Dunkirk? Or if the RAF had been defeated in the Battle of Britain?
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3 out of 5 stars
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A fresh look at WW2 - false but makes one wonder.
- By Eggert Eggertsson on 09-05-15
By: Peter G. Tsouras
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Tower of Skulls
- A History of the Asia-Pacific War, Vol. 1 (July 1937 - May 1942)
- By: Richard B. Frank
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 26 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 304
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 262
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Story5 out of 5 stars 258
This story casts penetrating light on how struggles in Europe and Asia merged into a tightly entwined global war. It features not just battles, but also the sweeping political, economic, and social effects of the war, and are graced with a rich tapestry of individual characters from top-tier political and military figures down to ordinary servicemen, as well as the accounts of civilians of all races and ages.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding
- By Patrick on 03-16-20
By: Richard B. Frank
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Whirlwind
- The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945
- By: Barrett Tillman
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 133
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4 out of 5 stars 84
Whirlwind is the only book to examine in depth the human drama behind the most important bombing campaign in history. While the air war against Nazi Germany has been covered in-depth by many books, Barrett Tillman, a renowned authority on military aircraft and the air war in the Pacific, is the first to tackle the air war against Japan. For decades, historians and politicians have debated whether or not Japan was on the verge of surrender in August 1945---before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Good, but ultimately disappointing
- By Michael on 10-16-10
By: Barrett Tillman
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Rising Sun Victorious
- Alternate Histories of the Pacific War
- By: Peter G. Tsouras
- Narrated by: David Baker
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4 out of 5 stars 35
In war, victory can be held hostage to seemingly insignificant incidents - chance events, opportunities seized or cast aside - that can derail the most brilliant military strategies and change the course of history. What if the Japanese had conquered India and driven out the British? What if the strategic link between the United States and Australia had been severed? What if Vice Admiral Nagumo had launched a third attack on Pearl Harbor? What if the US Navy's gamble at Midway had backfired?
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3 out of 5 stars
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victorious
- By Amazon Customer on 05-17-16
By: Peter G. Tsouras
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Forgotten Fifteenth
- The Daring Airmen Who Crippled Hitler's War Machine
- By: Barrett Tillman
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 440
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 391
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 386
November 1943 to May 1945. The US Army Air Forces waged an unprecedentedly dogged and violent campaign against Hitler's vital oil production and industrial plants on theThird Reich's southern flank. Flying from southern Italy, far from the limelight enjoyed by the Eighth Air Force in England, the Fifteenth Air Force engaged in high-risk missions spanning most of the European continent. The story of the Fifteenth Air Force deserves a prideful place in the annals of American gallantry.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well written ...; felt like I was a door gunner.
- By David C. Miller on 12-08-21
By: Barrett Tillman