Ebook Black Thursday The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid eBook Martin Caidin

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Product details File Size 1575 KB Print Length 207 pages Page Numbers Source ISBN 198038651X Simultaneous Device Usage Unlimited Publisher Heraclean Publishing (February 19, 2018) Publication Date February 19, 2018 Sold by  Digital Services LLC Language English ASIN B079YB4NGY

Black Thursday The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid eBook Martin Caidin Reviews

• Very interesting/exciting content covering all aspects of the events leading up to, during and after the raid.
  However, the text was distressingly full of a multitude of distracting typographic errors.
  
  I understand that using "bots" to read/translate book contents into electronic media in order to offer books at competitive price is necessary business practice... BUT
  
  BEFORE PUBLISHING THE ELECTRONIC KINDLE CONTENT... THE BOOKS SHOULD BE PROOF-READ AND CORRECTED BY A HUMAN EDITOR!!!
• I am in debt to Mr. Caidin for so eloquently and ruthlessly describing the air combat that was shared by so many airmen including my father, a B-24 pilot of the 392nd BG who somehow completed 35 missions over Germany in 1944, his final mission the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Mr. Caidin's lyrical and nearly starkly poetic descriptions give the reader a full measure of the horror of this raid, and others. Even after these many years of interest I have not read so descriptive and complete a narrative on what it was like to be in the midst of a terrific air battle, and through Mr. Caidin's words, I much better understand the terrors my father endured, and fully brought to realization why he would not talk about them, ever. This is an important if sad story, but one that deserves a respectful reading. I urge you to do so.
• Good heavens, this book was sent to press having being read for errors by a child. Sorry, that's insulting to the child. Even a word processor could have found half of them.
  
  My uncle, now deceased was a door gunner in that raid. He survived, but time, as it does to all of us, claimed him. He never spoke of it, and I never pressed. Now I wish I had.
  
  You have a great start to a wonderful report. Now embellish it and proofread it.
• Martin Caidin was a fine author and this story of the Schweinfurt raid is compelling. However, the photographs and pen-and-ink drawings which appeared in the original 1960 edition of this book and which, in my opinion, are an essential part of communicating a more complete story of this historical air raid, are missing from the 2018 paperback edition. The 2018 paperback also contains a number of typographical errors (the word "light" is misprinted as "fight" in several places, the word "modern" is printed as "modem", the word "will" is printed as "wall", and so on.) I thought I was purchasing a reprint of the 1960 edition which was faithful to the original and included the photos and illustrations; frankly, I was disappointed to find that this wasn't the case. That said, if you want to know more about this important and costly air raid, can do without the photos and illustrations and don't mind the typos, this may be the book for you.
• The second raid on Schweinfurt on October 14, 1943 was as successful as the first raid in August 17,1943-it wasn’t. It took the planners two raids, deep into Germany territory to realize that without fighter escort, the B-17 and B-24 Liberators were nothing more than target practice for the Luftwaffe pilots This book covers the second raid and the heroism shown by American pilots. Can you imagine willingly flying into hell in the daylight to Schweinfurt with no fighter cover to and from the target. I cannot!
  Like the one in August, the losses are staggering. If the ball bearing plants can be taken out, the German war machine would come to a screeching halt, at least that was the theory. We know now, that if the RAF would have followed up with their nighttime bombings, according to Albert Speer, it might have happened. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Okay, that’s a brief historical account. Let’s talk about the writing style.
  I understand any writer wanting to get the readers in the bomber and feel exactly what the men are thinking and feeling, but this one went over the top. On the kindle it took two to three pages to describe how a piece of shrapnel enters the plane, bounces around and finds a home; an armed bomb. Then it’s another two to three pages describing how the shrapnel is going to trigger the bomb and the 30ton Fortress is going to go nova. Was this necessary? I don’t think so. And this is how the entire book is written. Way too many tangents and description and when the bomber finally reach Schweinfurt, nothing. It read along the lines of “our stragglers lined up, zeroed in the Nordons and released. Ball turret and tail gunner radioed back the bombs hit home.” That’s it. Funny, I thought the story was about the raid.
  And then there are chapters dedicated to the crews flying the mission. The author gets so descriptive I had to remind myself what the story was about; he goes on so long with it I found myself thinking, “this could be about any raid the crews flew.”
  The title should have been, “The Mighty Crews of the 8th Airforce.” That would be much more appropriate for that is the author’s strong suite.
  Our men flew into hell and never wavered. They fought the elements on the ground cold, mud, fog and rain. In the air they fought the air, altitude, turbulence, formations and their own planes. To the target, they fought, ack-ack, fighters, rockets, high level bombs, failed electronics, sliced hydraulic lines, run-away engines, shot up engines, wounded and dying men, shredded stabilizers, missing elevators and then the long flight home. How many reading this can imagine the horror these men faced day in and day out, knowing death was only a second away? The image of FW-190 bearing down at your cockpit at over 500mph firing fingers of death at you is not a very consoling image and yet, these pilots never shirked their duty. They accepted the missions assigned and performed them to the best of their ability. They are all heroes in my book.
  With that said, I came across a host of grammatical errors which is unacceptable for a work of non-fiction. I know when it was first published and when it was republished. This seems to be a trend in the publishing world and it is unacceptable. If you’re going to buy the rights than spend the time and have your editors reread and clean it up.
  For that reason alone, this only receives three stars.
  That aside, now that you know what the story gravitates around, you will not be disappointed. It is still a good read.
  A great companion to this story is Mission Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe.
  
  Three Stars.
• The author brought tears to my eyes with the superb writing. The men who flew the Fortresses were 19 years old and up and they were brave and wise beyond their young ages. I am in awe of these men and when I compare them to those who are currently the same age as they were it saddens me to see how the current crop of 19 and 20 something's now need a "safe space" if someone has a thought it idea they do not like. The men in these Forts have everything for their fellow American. Books like this should be required reading in every high school/ college history class. The one thing that does stay the same throughout history though is those in charge send young men to their deaths and then take credit for the job done by these men. I than God for these young men who fought so valiantly for our freedom and freedom of Europe. It is too bad their lives and bravery are now being wasted on a generation that is doing all they can to give up the freedoms these men gave every thing for us to have these freedoms. Thank you to this author for reminding us that freedom comes at a steep price; we owe it to these men to keep fighting for our freedoms and not give it up in the name of fake tolerance or political correctness!