ROYAL AIR FORCE 1939–1945
VOLUME II
THE FIGHT AVAILS
By Dennis Richards and Hilary St. George Saunders
LONDON 1954
HMSO
Of this Volume Chapters V to XII were written by Denis Richards and Chapters I to IV and XIII to XVI by Hilary St. George SaundersCONTENTS
Page
Preface ix Chapter I Japan Strikes 1 Chapter II The Fall of Singapore 18 Chapter III Sumatra and Java
41 Chapter IV Burma Falls 56 Chapter V Coastal Command and the Struggle at Sea: The North Russian Convoys, Photographic Reconnaissance, and Air-Sea Rescue 77 Chapter VI Coastal Command and the Struggle at Sea: The Offensive against German Shipping and U-Boats in 1942 94 Chapter VII Bomber Command and the Assault on Germany 117 Chapter VIII The Pressure Grows 141 Chapter IX 'Middle East': Crusader 159 Chapter X 'Middle East': The Crisis of 1942 190 Chapter XI 'Middle East': The Alamain Line and Decisive Victory 217 Chapter XII 'Torch' and Tunisia 244 Chapter XIII Casablanca and the Ruhr 274 Chapter XIV Now These Things Befell in Sicily 297 Chapter XV The Fight at Salerno 324 Chapter XVI The Path to Rome 346 APPENDICES
MAPS AND DIAGRAMS
PLATES
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder and Air Vice-Marshal A. Coningham
frontispiece
H.M.S. Prince of Wales at Singapore between pages 16–17
Vildebeest IV Torpedo-Bomber A Sunderland Keeps Guard between pages 80–81
Low-Level Attack on U-boat Souvenir of a Low-Level Flight to the Arc de Triomphe between pages 152–153
Reconnaissnace Photograph of Dieppe Three of the Victorious Air Team in the Middle East between pages 168–169
Axis Shipping at Tripoli Wrecked by British Bombing, January 1942 Valetta, May 1942 between pages 224–225 Uncrating an Aircraft at Takoradi A Salvage Convoy nearing Cairo Axis Shipping at Benghazi Wrecked by British Bombing Gibraltar facing page 248 U-boat Pens at Brest between pages 288–289 Before and After—The Möhne Dam Wing Commander Guy Gibson After the Allied Attacks at Cassino facing page 360
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