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One of my partners, now in his late 80s, has published a memoir of his early life that includes his participation in World War II (I hope he eventually writes of his later years, when he appeared on President Nixon’s famous “enemies list.”). Thinking of WW2, I have been trying to learn more about the military career of my late father, a first lieutenant who piloted B-24 heavy bombers from Italy in 1944 and 1945, bombing Ploesti, Munich and many other heavily-defended targets in Germany, France and Romania that were under Axis control.  Somehow, he survived 50 missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, which is why I am able today to torment you with these occasional reviews.

There is a great deal of literature on the campaigns of the 8th and 15th Air Forces in World War II, and I have read a lot of it, including The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45, by Stephen Ambrose (which has a heavy - some say too heavy - focus on pilot, later Senator, George McGovern); Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, by Donald Miller (a terrific “big picture” history that gives meaning and context to all the other books noted here); In Hostile Skies: An American B-24 Pilot in World War II, by James Davis (a successful and evocative memoir); and Wings of Morning: The Story of the Last American Bomber Shot Down over Germany in World War II, by Thomas Childers (forgettable).  I have lately finished Into the Fire: Ploesti, The Most Fateful Mission of World War II, by Duane Schultz, which describes what was by far the most disastrous air attack by the Army Air Corps in the War.

On August 1, 1943, in Operation Tidal Wave, 177 heavy bombers set out from Benghazi, Libya, for a coordinated, rehearsed, treetop-level bombing raid of German-controlled refineries in Ploesti, Romania.  (My father was not involved in this raid, thank you very much.)  Problems: (1) B-24s, large ungainly bombers, were not meant to fly at treetop level. (2) American planners failed to understand the incredible extent of German defenses as this location, which was more heavily fortified than Berlin.  When, not long before the attack, intelligence sources revealed the extent of the danger, those sources were disregarded. The attack had been approved by Roosevelt, Churchill and Eisenhower and was not about to be shut down. (3) Planners also failed to appreciate that the Germans could detect their arrival hours before they reached Romania.  (4) And when they arrived, fully three-fifths of the flying force initially failed to find their targets, turning southeast too soon and heading instead (and in error) for Bucharest.  The German defense at first thought this was a brilliant feint; it was actually a disastrous mistake that meant the US attack, which had been rehearsed many times, was highly uncoordinated.

Of the 177 aircraft out, 163 made it over target, including those that had completely lost the element of surprise by heading towards Bucharest.  Of these, 54 were lost in action, crashed, landed in Turkey, or were lost due to miscellaneous causes.  Bombers flew so low that some of them were obliterated by the blast from bombs dropped by planes just ahead of them. Three hundred aircrew were killed, 140 captured, and of the crew returning, over 440 were wounded, most seriously.  Planes flying at this altitude were not flying high enough for crews to bail out; the death rate was accordingly very high.

Five Medals of Honor were awarded for the first Ploesti raid, the most given by the US Army Air Corps/Air Force for any single operation; two more were given for subsequent raids.  That makes seven of the 35 awarded through all of WW2. Though significant damage to the refineries was reported - probably a propaganda-based exaggeration of the real effects - the Germans quickly repaired their installations, and before the war was done, Ploesti was to claim nearly 3000 more Allied airmen, dead or missing.

Into the Fire is best when it describes the enormous difficulty of flying the B-24, an unwieldy airplane, and the minute-by-minute-by-agonizing-minute chaos of this attack, and less successful when it tries to be a history book like Masters of the Air.  But that’s no criticism.  If you have an interest in military air campaigns, or had a family member who was a pilot or airman in the War, this is a terrific read, and I recommend it.