Operation Crossbow

Author : Allan Williams
Publisher : Random House
Page : 466 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2013-05-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781409051732

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Operation Crossbow by Allan Williams Pdf

The story of the photographic intelligence work undertaken from a country house at Medmenham, Buckinghamshire, is one of the great lost stories of the Second World War . At its peak in 1944, almost 2,000 British and American men and women worked at the top-secret Danesfield House, interpreting photographs - the majority stereoscopic so they could be viewed in 3D - to unlock secrets of German military activity and weapons development. Millions of aerial photographs were taken by Allied pilots, flying unarmed modified Spitfires and Mosquitos on missions over Nazi Europe. it was said that an aircraft could land, the photographs be developed and initial interpretation completed within two hours - marking the culmination of years of experiments in aerial intelligence techniques. Their finest hour began in 1943, during the planning stages of the Allied invasion of Europe, when Douglas Kendall, who masterminded the interpretation work at Medmenham, led the hunt for Hitler's secret weapons. Operation Crossbow would grow from a handful of photographic interpreters to the creation of a hand-picked team, and came to involve interpreters from across the Medmenham spectrum, including the team of aircraft specialists led by the redoubtable Constance Babington Smith. In November that year, whilst analysing photographs of Peenemunde in northern Germany, they spotted a small stunted aircraft on a ramp. This intelligence breakthrough linked the Nazi research station with a growing network of sites in northern France, where ramps were being constructed aligned not only with London, but targets throughout southern Britain. Through the combined skill and dedication of the Crossbow team and the heroism of the Allied pilots, throughout late 1943 and 1944 V-weapon launch sites were located and through countermeasures destroyed, saving hundreds of thousands of lives, and changing the course of the war. Operation Crossbow is a wonderful story of human endeavour and derring-do, told for the first time.

Author : Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 98 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2018-07-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472826152

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Operation Crossbow 1944 by Steven J. Zaloga Pdf

In mid-1943, Allied intelligence began to pick up the signs of unusual German construction in remote locations near the Channel Coast. Several massive fortifications were beginning to take shape, and they appeared to be oriented towards London. Allied intelligence codenamed these sites as "Crossbow" and began plans to attack them before they could bombard Britain's capital city. These "Heavy Crossbow" sites for the V-1 and V-2 missiles were supposed to be bomb-proof, but they soon attracted the attention of RAF heavy bombers with the new Tallboy concrete-penetrating bombs. Fully illustrated with commissioned artwork and contemporary photographs, Operation Crossbow 1944 examines the dynamics of the world's first missile war. It also describes the parallel American efforts to develop missiles and assault drones to attack the "Heavy Crossbow" sites, including the Air Force's Aphrodite and Navy Anvil projects.

Author : Great Britain. Public Record Office
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 1974
Category : Archives
ISBN : UOM:39015079758275

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Lists and Indexes by Great Britain. Public Record Office Pdf

Author : Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 150 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2018-07-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472826138

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Operation Crossbow 1944 by Steven J. Zaloga Pdf

In mid-1943, Allied intelligence began to pick up the signs of unusual German construction in remote locations near the Channel Coast. Several massive fortifications were beginning to take shape, and they appeared to be oriented towards London. Allied intelligence codenamed these sites as "Crossbow" and began plans to attack them before they could bombard Britain's capital city. These "Heavy Crossbow" sites for the V-1 and V-2 missiles were supposed to be bomb-proof, but they soon attracted the attention of RAF heavy bombers with the new Tallboy concrete-penetrating bombs. Fully illustrated with commissioned artwork and contemporary photographs, Operation Crossbow 1944 examines the dynamics of the world's first missile war. It also describes the parallel American efforts to develop missiles and assault drones to attack the "Heavy Crossbow" sites, including the Air Force's Aphrodite and Navy Anvil projects.

Author : George Mindling,Robert Bolton
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 353 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : History
ISBN : 9780557000296

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U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles by George Mindling,Robert Bolton Pdf

The U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles, 1949-1969, The Pioneers offers the rich, fascinating history of the first surface-to-surface tactical missiles of the U.S. Air Force, the winged, nuclear-capable Matador and Mace missiles, and their units and personnel in West Germany, Taiwan, Korea, Okinawa and the United States. The U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles, 1949-1969, The Pioneers ties that unique era and those of other tactical missiles together in a remarkably broad, deep and valuable perspective that also includes the World War II German V-1 and reaches back all the way to the first flight in the United States in 1916 of an aircraft not controlled by a pilot.

Author : Brian Vlaun
Publisher : Naval Institute Press
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2019-10-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781682474679

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Selling Schweinfurt by Brian Vlaun Pdf

A common theme of airpower histories is that the Combined Bomber Offensive was the proving ground for a post-war independent air force. Whether or not the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) could perform to the hype of its interwar doctrine, Allied commanders based their rival approaches to victory in Europe on their differing views of independent airpower. However, there is an essential, yet overlooked facet to this story: commanders' convictions alone could not hold sway within the War Department, much less at the politically and bureaucratically charged meetings of the Combined Chiefs of Staff. The air commanders pressed their staffs for decision-quality assessments and photographic evidence to sell their arguments and project their progress. They needed informed targeting plans and objective post-raid reports as well as an air-intelligence enterprise to mature all-too-quickly out of interwar neglect. What they received--and Brian Vlaun explains--was a collision of organizational interests and leadership personalities that shaped Ira Eaker's command of the Eighth Air Force in 1943, the tumultuous air campaign over Germany, and the path of the post-war U.S. Air Force. As a result of the author's research through thousands of declassified files, Selling Schweinfurt examines the relationships between air-intelligence organizations and key decision-makers. His analysis spans from pre-war planning and doctrine development, through the Eighth Air Force's independent air campaign, and culminates with the formation of the United States Strategic Air Forces and its 1944 pre-invasion preparations. This book concludes that military organizations, if left unchecked, may adopt symbols and exaggerate claims to justify their own preferences and market their ideas in ways that mask their optimistic assumptions. In the case of the air campaign against Germany, both the four-engine bomber and specialized targets--like Schweinfurt's ball bearings--served as symbols and powerful marketing tools for the AAF and air intelligence, respectively.

Author : The National Archives
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 218 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2020-01-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472829948

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Audacious Missions of World War II by The National Archives Pdf

Winning World War II was about more than military force. It required guile, and tremendous acts of bravery by Special Forces and intelligence operatives who had the odds stacked against them. Using hundreds of documents and images from The National Archives, including some that have never been seen in print before, this book reveals some of World War II's most audacious missions. These include Operation Anthropoid, the plot to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia in 1942, Operation Chariot, the attempt to damage the mighty German warship Tirpitz while she was in dock in St-Nazaire in France; and Operation Mincemeat, a complex plot whereby a corpse, replete with documentation designed to mislead the enemy, was dropped in southern Spain to spread misinformation.

Author : Alan Axelrod
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2015-05-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781466879126

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Lost Destiny by Alan Axelrod Pdf

Alan Axelrod's Lost Destiny is a rare exploration of the origin of today's controversial military drones as well as a searing and unforgettable story of heroism, WWII, and the Kennedy dynasty that might have been. On August 12, 1944, Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., heir to one of America's most glamorous fortunes, son of the disgraced former ambassador to Great Britain, and big brother to freshly minted PT-109 hero JFK, hoisted himself up into a highly modified B-24 Liberator bomber. The munitions he was carrying that day were fifty percent more powerful than TNT. Kennedy's mission was part of Operation Aphrodite/Project Anvil, a desperate American effort to rescue London from a rain of German V-1 and V-2 missiles. The decision to use these bold but crude precursors to modern-day drones against German V-weapon launch sites came from Air Corps high command. Lieutenant General Jimmy Doolittle, daring leader of the spectacular 1942 Tokyo Raid, and others concocted a plan to install radio control equipment in "war-weary" bombers, pack them with a dozen tons of high explosives, and fly them by remote control directly into the concrete German launch sites—targets too hard to be destroyed by conventional bombs. The catch was that live pilots were needed to get these flying bombs off the ground and headed toward their targets. Joe Jr. was the first naval aviator to fly such a mission. And—in the biggest manmade explosion before Hiroshima—it killed him.

Author : David T. Zabecki
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 1140 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : History
ISBN : 0824070291

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World War Two in Europe by David T. Zabecki Pdf

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Author : Allan Williams
Publisher : Preface Digital
Page : 496 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2013-05-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1409051730

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Operation Crossbow by Allan Williams Pdf

The story of the photographic intelligence work undertaken from a country house at Medmenham, Buckinghamshire, is one of the great lost stories of the Second World War . At its peak in 1944, almost 2,000 British and American men and women worked at the top-secret Danesfield House, interpreting photographs - the majority stereoscopic so they could be viewed in 3D - to unlock secrets of German military activity and weapons development. Millions of aerial photographs were taken by Allied pilots, flying unarmed modified Spitfires and Mosquitos on missions over Nazi Europe. it was said that an aircraft could land, the photographs be developed and initial interpretation completed within two hours - marking the culmination of years of experiments in aerial intelligence techniques. Their finest hour began in 1943, during the planning stages of the Allied invasion of Europe, when Douglas Kendall, who masterminded the interpretation work at Medmenham, led the hunt for Hitler's secret weapons. Operation Crossbow would grow from a handful of photographic interpreters to the creation of a hand-picked team, and came to involve interpreters from across the Medmenham spectrum, including the team of aircraft specialists led by the redoubtable Constance Babington Smith. In November that year, whilst analysing photographs of Peenemunde in northern Germany, they spotted a small stunted aircraft on a ramp. This intelligence breakthrough linked the Nazi research station with a growing network of sites in northern France, where ramps were being constructed aligned not only with London, but targets throughout southern Britain. Through the combined skill and dedication of the Crossbow team and the heroism of the Allied pilots, throughout late 1943 and 1944 V-weapon launch sites were located and through countermeasures destroyed, saving hundreds of thousands of lives, and changing the course of the war. Operation Crossbow is a wonderful story of human endeavour and derring-do, told for the first time.

Author : John Stubbington
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
Page : 543 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2010-06-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9781844685509

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Kept in the Dark by John Stubbington Pdf

This fascinating historical revelation goes to the very heart of British and Allied Intelligence during World War II, specifically in the context of planning, control and implementation of the combined bomber offensive against Germany. There are sound arguments based on official archives that the handling of much air intelligence was faulty and reasons to believe that some departments within Whitehall were influenced by parochial and personal attitudes that interfered with the selection of strategic targets and the planning of the bombing offensives. In some departments within Whitehall and even the Air Ministry, there was a culpable failure to understand and appreciate the operational capabilities and limitations of the RAF and USAAF bomber forces. After the evacuation of the BEF the only means of destroying the Axis production of arms and munitions fell to the RAF and this was their prime objective for the rest of the war. The destruction of arms factories, power stations, air and ship production was the underlining objective, although when special targets, such as the break-outs of the German navy's major warships and U-Boats were deemed vital, the RAF were expected to react immediately. Much of Britain's intelligence was gathered from the German ENIGMA signals and became known as ULTRA with a security classification of MOST SECRET. Apart from the brilliant work at Bletchley Park there were other inputs from partisans throughout occupied Europe, Allied agents and various forms of reconnaissance. It was a new type of warfare that developed and improved as the war progressed but all too often the bomber squadrons were put into unnecessary peril through imprecise and unthinking demands from the highest levels of government.

Author : David T. Zabecki
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 457 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2019-12-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9798216089728

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The German War Machine in World War II by David T. Zabecki Pdf

This invaluable resource offers students a comprehensive overview of the German war machine that overran much of Europe during World War II, with close to 300 entries on a variety of topics and a number of key primary source documents. This book provides everything the reader needs to know about the German war machine that developed into the potent armed force under Adolf Hitler. This expansive encyclopedia covers the period of the German Third Reich, from January 1933 to the end of World War II in Europe, in May 1945. Dozens of entries on key battles and military campaigns, military and political leaders, military and intelligence organizations, and social and political topics that shaped German military conduct during World War II are followed by an illuminating epilogue that outlines why Germany lost World War II. A documents section includes more than a dozen fascinating primary sources on such significant events as the Tripartite Pact among Germany, Italy, and Japan; the Battle of Stalingrad; the Normandy Invasion; the Ardennes Offensive; and Germany's surrender. In addition, six appendices provide detailed information on a variety of topics such as German aces, military commanders, and military medals and decorations. The book ends with a chronology and a bibliography of print resources.

Author : Katherine Rife
Publisher : Hal Leonard Corporation
Page : 185 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2012-10-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780879108182

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If You Like Quentin Tarantino... by Katherine Rife Pdf

(If You Like). If You Like Quentin Tarantino... draws on over 60 years of cinema history to crack the Tarantino code and teach readers to be confidently conversant in the language of the grindhouse and the drive-in. What fans love about director Quentin Tarantino is the infectious enthusiasm that's infused into every frame of his films. And Tarantino films lend themselves exceptionally well to reference and recommendation, because each, itself, is a dense collage of references and recommendations. Spaghetti westerns, blaxploitation, revenge sagas, car-chase epics, samurai cinema, film noir, kung fu, slasher flicks, war movies, and today's neo-exploitation explosion: There's an incredible range of vibrant and singularly stylish films to discover. If You Like Quentin Tarantino... is an invitation to connect with a cinematic community dedicated to all things exciting, outrageous, and unapologetically badass.

Author : Simon Dunstan,Gerrard Williams
Publisher : Union Square + ORM
Page : 341 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2011-10-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781402789335

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Grey Wolf by Simon Dunstan,Gerrard Williams Pdf

Did Hitler—code name “Grey Wolf”—really die in 1945? Gripping new evidence shows what could have happened. The basis for the titular documentary. When Truman asked Stalin in 1945 whether Hitler was dead, Stalin replied bluntly, “No.” As late as 1952, Eisenhower declared: “We have been unable to unearth one bit of tangible evidence of Hitler’s death.” What really happened? Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams have compiled extensive evidence—some recently declassified—that Hitler actually fled Berlin and took refuge in a remote Nazi enclave in Argentina. The recent discovery that the famous “Hitler’s skull” in Moscow is female, as well as newly uncovered documents, provide powerful proof for their case. Dunstan and Williams cite people, places, and dates in over 500 detailed notes that identify the plan’s escape route, vehicles, aircraft, U-boats, and hideouts. Among the details: the CIA’s possible involvement and Hitler’s life in Patagonia—including his two daughters. “Describes a ghastly pantomime played out in the names of the Fuhrer and the woman who had been his mistress.” —The Sun “Grey Wolf is more than a conspiracy yarn . . . Its authors show Hitler’s escape was possible . . . a gripping read.” —South China Morning Post “Remarkable detail.” —Sir David Frost, Frost Over the World “Stunning saga of intrigue.” —Pravda “Stunning account of the last days of the Reich.” —Parapolitical.com “I thought the book was hugely thought-provoking and explores some of the untold, murky loose ends of World War Two.” —Dan Snow, broadcaster and historian, The One Show BBC 1 “Laid out in lavish detail.” —Daily Mail

Author : Wayne G. Sayles
Publisher : Wayne Sayles
Page : 239 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : A-20 (Bomber)
ISBN : 9781879080065

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First to Fall by Wayne G. Sayles Pdf