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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.
“Pacific Ocean”16 pages
T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1 tations among military staffs, so that the plans and operations of each will fit into a general strategy designed to crush the enemy." 6 9 The vast amount of important business accomplished at ARCADIA gave evidence of the utility of periodic meetings of government chiefs with their principal military and civilian advisers. Hence there followed, after the pattern set at the Atlantic conference and ARCADIA, a series of meetings, from Casablanca to Potsdam, a t which the major issues of the war were settled. In some of the con- ferences, the Soviet Union, China, and other United Nations partici- pated, but usually the function of the meetings was to serve as a clearing house for Anglo-American plans. Ultimate decisions on major military policies were taken by President Roosevelt, as Commander in Chief of the U.S. forces, and by Mr. Churchill as British Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. Each of those leaders was inclined to assume a more active part in framing military strategy than was conventional with civilian officials in their respective states, and it was highly desirable that they be served by a common staff organization. The basic elements for such a body existed already in the U.S. Joint Board and the British Chiefs of Staff Committee, with their staff organizations, but inasmuch as those bodies sat respectively a t Wash- ington and London, some practical form of liaison was required. In ABC-I it had been suggested that this be achieved by the exchange of permanent military missions. The suggestion had been carried out in 1941 with the establishment of the U.S. Special Observer Group in London and the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington." There remained the task of perfecting this initial machinery, including the subsidiary staff agencies, and of regularizing procedures. These goals were achieved during the weeks following the Washington confer- ence, and during the same period significant changes occurred in the organization and command structure of the armed forces of the United States. T o some extent the latter changes were brought about by conditions peculiar to the U.S. services, but they were profoundly influenced by the new Anglo-American staff organization. And in each case the status of the AAF was improved. In consonance with their previously declared interest, the British chiefs of staff on 10 January presented to their American opposite numbers a memorandum on post-ARCADIA c~llaboration.~~The paper, suggesting the establishment of a permanent staff organization, was discussed in detail, revised by the U.S. chiefs of staff, and at the 2 5 2
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