Edward Jablonski (1922–2004)

Very readable collection of stories from World War I. Stories are about famous people, famous battles that sadly are not so famous any more.

Terms and names - that I have heard before but knew little about - include Verdun, Alvin York, T. E. Laurence, The Lost Battalion, and the Devil Dogs. The last chapter is about Douglas MacArthur, which was fascinating, and went a long way toward explaining the MacArthur I was familiar with - the one that expended so much effort in the Philippines, and show more got in so much trouble in Korea.

This was an excellent book. I really enjoyed it. It was simple, but not simplistic; a great way to learn a bit about the War quickly. In addition, I enjoyed the feel of the glossy hard cover and the rough, yellowed pages of the Whitman book. Good memories from my childhood. show less

My copy of this book is one of the first in my "grown up" library as it was one of the books I got with the then-new Military Book Club "5 books for 25 cents" offers back in the early 1970's. When new, it had a beautiful full color dust jacket photograph of a Fortress taking off at dawn. Nowadays the dust jacket is long gone, the spine is busted up a bit, the pages are dirty and stained, and the cloth cover is frayed and worn. It has been years since I read Jablonski's work, and I thought I show more would dive into it once more, this time with a more experienced eye.

Author Edward Jablonski was an Army veteran of World War II who studied journalism after the war, probably with the help of the GI Bill. Although not a prolific author (he is credited with some 15 titles), Jablonski focused his writing on only two themes--aviation history and American music. "Flying Fortress", among the first of his published works, appeared in 1965, some 20 years after the end of the Second World War and a fertile period for histories of that conflict.

The book runs for a total of 362 pages in my copy. In addition to a preface, note to the reader, and a prelude, Jablonski incorporates six parts and an extensive appendix (called a supplement in this instance). The first part, The Flying Fortresses, contains Chapters 1-4 and describe the origins of the aircraft through its debut in the hands of Great Britain's Royal Air Force. The second part, From the Land of the Rising Sun, covers the B-17's early combat history in the Pacific Theater in Chapters 5-7. The third part, Action of the Tiger, spans Chapters 8-11 and follows the Fortress's entry into combat in both the European and North African Theaters.

The fourth part, Ballad of the Bloody Century, is a brief, two-chapter treatment of the notorious 100th Bombardment Group (H), illustrating 8th Air Force combat operations through the lens of its most lengendary group. The fifth part is Festung Europe, which uses Chapters 14, 15, and 16 to respectively discuss the 15th Air Force's bombardment missions out of Italy, the saga of the Fortress crews forced to bail out over occupied Europe to become PoWs, and the tales of the fighter escorts, the "Little Friends" that sought to protect all of the 8th's bombers. The final part of the book, Sunset, returns the Reader to the Pacific Theater to relate the Fortress's saga in the Aleutians under the command of the 11th Air Force. This part also delves briefly into the tale of the B-17's younger brother, the B-29 Superfortress. Jabonski ends his text with an epilogue, inspired by postwar German writer suggesting the inhumanity of American precision daylight bombardment and British area bombardment at night. Jablonski's reply, as might be expected at such a hypocritical treatment, concludes that the American program of bombardment, though costly in terms of both aircrews and the German population, helped end the war sooner than other means.

The Supplement provided at the end of the book begins with an expose into the lifecycle of a typical 8th Air Force bombardment mission though a sequence of photographs. There is a brief, but very informative, design analysis of the aircraft, as well as pages from a variety of B-17 manuals illustrating aircraft systems and crew procedures for flying and operating the Flying Fortress. The book ends with a bibliography and index.

Written in a crisp journalistic style that keeps his readers moving swiftly through the pages, Jablonski does not dwell on the technology associated with what was an advanced aircraft for its day, albeit an evolutionary design rather than a revolutionary one. Once the reader is through the first part of the book, the author recounts the many war stories associated with the men and this fabled warbird. There is much quoting from official accounts and reports, with some of the accounts clarified by interviews conducted by the author. This is no scholarly work, though. Jablonski follows the early post WWII historian tradition of not using foot/endnotes, so anyone trying to follow up on his writing will have to blaze the trail anew. However, I think most readers will not hold this against the author and will just enjoy the ride. Jablonski's style places his reader inside the fuselages of the Boeing aircraft for some of the most harrowing air missions flown by any combatant during the war. The resulting human drama is most worthy of remembrance. show less

A very high level overview of the war in the air during WWII, this time from the American perspective. This is useful background information, but in general it is far too high level for anything other than light reading or a school report. The illustrations and pictures are great.

An Account of the strategies and significance of the two-pronged attack by American bombers on munitions factories deep inside Germany in August, 1943.
On paper, Mission 84 of the Eighth Air Force was a unique two-pronged attack on the important German manufacturing cities of Regensburg and Schweinfurt, a brilliant, innovative master stroke. Once airborne on August 17, 1943, however, it became one of the costliest and bloodiest air battles of World War II.