World War Ii From Above

These extraordinary views and analyses of historic battles use modern satellite images alongside specially commissioned maps. World War II from Above pairs modern satellite photographs with expertly illustrated historical battle maps. These captivating images bring the war vividly and dramatically to life by showing the actual landscapes where battles took place alongside annotations depicting troop movements, heroic last stands, and other notable events. Here you will find all the key milestones of World War II: the invasion of France, Germany’s first blitzkrieg offensives, the Battle of El Alamein, the invasion of Sicily, the Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima, the D-Day landings, and the final push to Berlin, along with a host of other strategic and battle maps from every geographical location.

'World War Two From Above' retells the fascinating and hitherto little-known story of the battle waged by Allied and Axis spies in the skies to obtain accurate aerial intelligence during the Second World War.Featuring dozens of eye-catching aerial reconnaissance photographs drawn from the archives compiled by all the major fighting powers, the accompanying text sheds light on the daring pilots who risked death to shoot these photographs, and the photographic interpreters who pioneered a totally new science to reveal the secrets they contained.Inspiring and informative chapters focus on particularly crucial World War Two operations. Examples include the aerial reconnaissance that led to the airborne assault on the Italian fleet at Taranto; the hunt for the supposedly unsinkable German battleship Bismarck; and the Dam Busters' raid on the Ruhr dams. The final section focuses on the end of the war with the D-Day landings, V-Weapons, the firestorm raids on Tokyo and the dropping of the first atomic bombs on Japan.

"The riveting true story of a World War II bomber pilot and the co-pilot who received orders to kill him...After the twists and turns in Goering's many missions, Frater finishes with a stunning revelation...the author delivers an exciting read full of little-known facts about the war. A WWII thrill ride." - Kirkus Reviews An unforgettable and thrilling tale of two WWII American bomber pilots who forged an unexpected friendship in the flak-filled skies over Nazi Germany. The air battle over Nazi Germany in WWII was hell above earth. It lasted three years and cost 125,000 Allied aircrew men, including 26,000 Americans from the US Army's Eighth Air Force in England, their lives. For bomber crews, every day they flew was like D-Day, exacting tremendous amounts of emotional uncertainty and trauma. Some men, like twenty-year-old U.S. Captain Werner Goering, accepted this, even thrived on and welcomed the adrenaline rush. They knew that death could come in a variety of ways: an unlucky flak burst, Luftwaffe fighters that could appear anywhere at any time, or pilot error while flying less than twenty feet apart. Werner Goering was an exceptional pilot. He was also the nephew of Herman Goering, leading member of the Nazi party and Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe. When Werner qualified to become a bomber commander in 1942, J. Edgar Hoover issued a top secret order to ensure that if his plane was downed for any reason over Nazi-occupied Europe, someone would be there in the cockpit to shoot Captain Werner Goering dead. The FBI and the American military would not prevent Werner from serving his American homeland in war, but neither would they risk the propaganda coup that his desertion, or even his live capture, would represent for Nazi Germany. So in early 1943, FBI agents fanned out across the United States to find a man capable of and willing to shoot Werner dead in the cockpit, and one who could then get the plane back home. They found Jack Rencher, a tough, insular, B-17 instructor in Yuma, Arizona, who also happened to be one of the Army's best pistol shots. That Jack and Werner became unlikely friends is just one more twist in Hell Above Earth, one of the most incredible untold tales to come out of WWII.

"[The] story of the battle waged by Allied and Axis spies in the skies to obtain accurate aerial intelligence during the Second World War"--Page 4 of cover.

In 1942 twelve-year-old Anton, his family, and their small community of Ukrainian Jews are hiding from the advancing Nazis troops, and from the Gestapo, in a web of underground caves, and one officer in particular, Major Karl Von Duesen, is determined to catch or kill every Jew he can find--but as the tide of war turns, a final confrontation between Anton and his enemy is looming.

Sensational eyewitness accounts from the most heroic and legendary American aviators of World War II, never before published as a book They are voices lost to time. Beginning in the late 1970s, five veteran airmen sat for private interviews. Decades after the guns fell silent, they recounted in vivid detail the most dangerous missions that made the difference in the war. Ed Haydon dueled with the deadliest of German aces—and forced him to the ground. Robert Johnson racked up twenty-seven kills in his P-47 Thunderbolt, but nearly lost his life when his plane was shot to ribbons and his guns jammed. Cigar-chomping Curtis LeMay was the Air Corps general who devised the bomber tactics that pummeled Germany's war machine. Robin Olds was a West Point football hero who became one of the most dogged, aggressive fighter pilots in the European theater, relentlessly pursuing Germans in his P-38 Lightning. And Jimmy Doolittle became the most celebrated American airman of the war—maybe even of all time—after he led the audacious raid to bomb Tokyo. Today these heroes are long gone, but now, in this incredible volume, they tell their stories in their own words.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Illustrations -- A Note on the Language -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Heroic Liaison Pilots of World War II and the Amazing Piper Cub L-4 -- Prologue -- 1 The Pineapple Soldier -- 2 Ninety-Day Wonders and Fair-Haired Boys -- 3 Kauai to Fortification Point -- 4 Tornado Task Force -- 5 Luzon: Lingayen to the Hills -- 6 Over the Hills to Baguio -- 7 Sashaying Around Up North -- Epilogue -- Appendix: History and Specifications of the J-3 Piper Cub -- Notes -- Further Reading -- Index.

The only place they could hide from the Nazis was right beneath their feet! Nazi gun fire can only mean one thing...The Germans are closing in. And twelve-year-old Anton knows his family can't outrun them. A web of underground caves seems like the perfect place to hide. But danger lurks above the surface. Ruthless Major Karl Von Duesen of the Gestapo has made it his mission to round up every Jew in the Ukrainian countryside. Anton knows if his community is discovered, they will be sent off to work camps...or worse. When a surprise invasion catches them off guard, Anton makes a radical decision. He won't run any longer. And he won't hide. He will stop being the hunted...and start doing some hunting of his own. Michael P. Spradlin's newest thriller is the ultimate game of cat and mouse set during one of the darkest moments in history.