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This is Volume One of The Army Air Forces in World War II, titled Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The University of Chicago Press first published it in 1948, and the Office of Air Force History reprinted it in 1983. The front matter explains how the AAF historical program was set up during the war. The index covers Pacific, Atlantic and European operations, and nothing in the text concerns unidentified aerial phenomena.
“The Invaders”15 pages
A I R W A R , 1 9 3 9 - 4 1 became engaged in bitter aerial fighting on several fronts. Hitler had assumed personal control of all German military operations after 1940; in entering the desert fighting of North Africa, in sweeping through the Balkans, and in opening the eastern front the Fuehrer made extensive and effective use of the German Air Force in its ac- customed role. By January 1941 the Luftwaffe had moved approxi- mately 3 3 0 aircraft into Italy and Sicily, and on 1 8 January the Germans inaugurated the first of a long series of heavy air attacks on the island of Malta, a strategically located base for British opera- tions in the Mediterranean. Before the end of the year, the island had experienced its one-thousandth air alert but continued to withstand the aerial pounding from the By using advanced bases in North Africa, the Luftwaffe also began to strike at British forces in the Suez Canal area and to participate more actively in the Western Desert campaign. Early in April 1941 bombers were moved into the Balkans in preparation for the next blitzkrieg. From bases in Hungary, Bul- garia, and southern Germany, the Luftwaffe on 6 April began ex- tensive operations in support of German ground forces against Yugoslavia and Greece. British and Imperial forces, though fully oc- cupied in North Africa, came to the aid of Greece; as in the Flanders campaign of the previous spring, however, the German onslaught over- powered all opposition, and Axis victories followed in rapid-fire suc- cession. By the end of April, most of the British forces had been evacuated from Greece, the Germans had entered Athens, and Luft- waffe units had quickly moved forward to prepare for an airborne attack against Crete. That attack came on 2 0 May with a spectacular and successful demonstration of glider-borne and parachute troop op- erations. After seizing key airdromes, the advance German forces were supplied and reinforced by Junkers 5 2 troop carriers, while Lufnvaff e bombers attacked the British who were attempting to evacuate the island. By the first of June the British had been forced to yield Crete to the invaders. With new bases in Greece and Crete, the German Air Force was able to bring more strength to bear against British forces in the Western Desert; and, upon the opening of a British offensive in mid-June, the Luftwaffe for a brief period in- creased its support of German ground forces in North A f r i ~ a . ~ ' Undoubtedly spurred by their successes in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean, the Germans on 2 2 June I 94 I turned against the Soviet Union and inaugurated an offensive along the 2,000-mile Russian 97
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