Title Graphic

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 Dennis Richards and Chapters I to IV and XIII to XVI by Hilary St. George Saunders

CONTENTS

    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 Alamein 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

    page
I. Members of the Air Council, 1942-1943 367
II. Principal Air Commanders, 1942-1943 368
III. Royal Air Force Command Organization, March, 1943 370
IV. First-Line Aircraft, British, German and Italian Air Forces, December, 1941 and March, 1943 372
V. Principal Operational Aircraft of the Royal Air Force, 1942-1943 373
VI. Principal Operational Aircraft of the German Air Force, 1942-1943 376
VII. Principal Operational Aircraft of the Japanese Air Force, 1942-1943 377
VIII. Order of Battle, Coastal Command, 15th February, 1943 378
IX. Order of Battle, Bomber Command, 4th March, 1943 380
X. Order of Battle, Middle East Command, 11th November, 1941 382
XI. Order of Battle, Middle East Command, 27th October, 1942 386
XII. Order of Battle, Mediterranean Air Command, 10th July 1943 391
XIII. Glossary of Code Names and Abbreviations 399
  INDEX 403

MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

  facing page
Malay Peninsula. Location of R.A.F. Units, 8 December 1941
8
The Campaign in Malaya, 7 December-15 February 1942 40
The Campaign in Java and Sumatra, February-March 1942 49
The Japanese Advance through Burma, January-May 1942 65
Japanese Operations off Southern India, April 1942 72
The Battle of the Atlantic (IV), January-July 1942 100
The Battle of the Atlantic (V), August 1942-May 1943 112
Cyrenaica and the Western Desert, 1941 174
Rommel's Plan of Attack, May 1942 198
The Malta Convoys, 14-16 June 1942 (Operations Harpoon and Vigorous) 208
The Position at El Alamein, 23 October 1942 234
Air Action against Enemy Sea Communications in the Mediterranean, 7 September-3 November 1942 241
Operation Torch, November 1942 252
The Tunisian Campaign, 19 March-13 May 1943 266
Principal Targets Attacked by Bomber Command, 1942-1943 296
The Invasion of Sicily, 10 July-17 August 1943 312
The Invasion of Italy, 3-16 September 1943 336
Operations in the Aegean, 9 September-22 October 1943 340
The Italian Front, September 1943-June 1944 352

PLATES

Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder and Air Vice-Marshal A. Coningham frontispiece
H.M.S. Prince of Wales at Singapore
Vildebeest IV Torpedo-Bomber
between pages
16-17
A Sunderland Keeps Guard
Low-Level Attack on U-boat
between pages
80-81
Before and After--The 1000-Bomber Raid on Cologne facing page
136
Souvenir of a Low-Level Flight to the Arc de Triomphe
Reconnaissance Photograph of Dieppe
between pages
152-153
Three of the Victorious Air Team in the Middle East
Axis Shipping at Tripoli Wrecked by British Bombing, January 1942
between pages
168-169
Valetta, May 1942
Uncrating an Aircraft at Takoradi
A Salvage Convoy nearing Cairo
Axis Shipping at Benghazi Wrecked by British Bombing
between pages
224-225
Gibraltar facing page
248
Italian Aircraft at Castel Benito, March 1943
A Famous Visit--Mr. Churchill and general Montgomery
between pages
264-265
U-boat Pens at Brest
Before and After--The Möhne Dam
Wing Commander Guy Gibson
between pages
288-289
After the Allied Attacks at Cassino: The Monastery
After the Allied Attacks at Cassino: The Town
facing page
360

Transcribed and formatted for HTML by David Newton, Larry Jewell, & Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation