brad kaste
January 25th, 2013, 08:24
Pointblank directive : Three generals and the untold story of the daring plan that saved D-Day
Where was the Luftwaffe on D-Day? Following decades of debate, 2010 saw a formerly classified history restored and in it was a new set of answers. Pointblank is the result of extensive new research that creates a richly textured portrait of perhaps the last untold story of D-Day: three uniquely talented men and why the German Air Force was unable to mount an effective combat against the invasion forces. Following a year of unremarkable bombing against German aircraft industries, General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces, placed his lifelong friend General Carl A. "Tooey" Spaatz in command of the strategic bombing forces in Europe, and his protégé, General James "Jimmy" Doolittle, command of the Eighth Air Force in England. For these fellow aviation strategists, he had one set of orders – sweep the skies clean of the Luftwaffe by June 1944. Spaatz and Doolittle couldn't do that but they could clear the skies sufficiently to gain air superiority over the D-Day beaches. The plan was called Pointblank.
Most of us are aware the German Air Force was pretty much a 'no-show' on D-Day. I never gave it much thought 'why' this would be. Until reading the "Pointblank Directive" by L. Douglas Keeney. Keeney does a masterful job in explaining how three generals, Arnold, Spaatz, and Doolittle transformed the 8th Air Force from a defensive fighting unit to a highly aggressive, offensive one. To clear the skies of enemy aircraft before June 6th, 1944. This all to be done within a short period or 6 or 7 months.
The author does a paragon job in weaving first hand accounts of the generals and the fliers along with the historical facts and missions. I give the book a double thumbs up and four stars. A book hard to put down. 235 pages in length.
Where was the Luftwaffe on D-Day? Following decades of debate, 2010 saw a formerly classified history restored and in it was a new set of answers. Pointblank is the result of extensive new research that creates a richly textured portrait of perhaps the last untold story of D-Day: three uniquely talented men and why the German Air Force was unable to mount an effective combat against the invasion forces. Following a year of unremarkable bombing against German aircraft industries, General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces, placed his lifelong friend General Carl A. "Tooey" Spaatz in command of the strategic bombing forces in Europe, and his protégé, General James "Jimmy" Doolittle, command of the Eighth Air Force in England. For these fellow aviation strategists, he had one set of orders – sweep the skies clean of the Luftwaffe by June 1944. Spaatz and Doolittle couldn't do that but they could clear the skies sufficiently to gain air superiority over the D-Day beaches. The plan was called Pointblank.
Most of us are aware the German Air Force was pretty much a 'no-show' on D-Day. I never gave it much thought 'why' this would be. Until reading the "Pointblank Directive" by L. Douglas Keeney. Keeney does a masterful job in explaining how three generals, Arnold, Spaatz, and Doolittle transformed the 8th Air Force from a defensive fighting unit to a highly aggressive, offensive one. To clear the skies of enemy aircraft before June 6th, 1944. This all to be done within a short period or 6 or 7 months.
The author does a paragon job in weaving first hand accounts of the generals and the fliers along with the historical facts and missions. I give the book a double thumbs up and four stars. A book hard to put down. 235 pages in length.