Researched from original-language primary sources, this is a uniquely well-informed and multi-faceted history of the World War I air campaign of Bloody April.
Researched from original German-, French-, and English-language sources, and written by an authority on both air and ground military operations, author, Dr James S Corum examines how Bloody April caused Allied forces to reassess their approach to the use of airpower. Considering well-known problems such as technology and training doctrine, but also how the artillery-aircraft combination ideally had to work in late-WW I ground offensives, Dr Corum analyses what each side got wrong and why. He describes little-known parts of the April campaigns, such as both sides' use of strategic bombing with heavy aircraft, and considers the German use of advanced high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft with oxygen and heated suits while detailing the exploits of the infamous 'Red Baron', Manfred von Richthofen.
Lessons from Bloody April not only served to improve the coordination of Allied artillery and aircraft but subsequently aircraft played a much larger role in supporting ground troops in attack mode.
Bloody April paved the way for the airpower revolution that, by 1918, would make the Allies masters of the sky on the Western Front.
Using original language sources, this is a uniquely well-informed and multi-faceted history of the WW1 air campaign of Bloody April.
Recenzijos
Interesting stuff. * The Armourer Magzine *
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Using original language sources, this is a uniquely well-informed and multi-faceted history of the WW1 air campaign of Bloody April.
INTRODUCTION
CHRONOLOGY
ATTACKERS CAPABILITIES
The Entente air services in 1917
The French Service Aéronautique in the Nivelle Offensive
The Royal Flying Corps
Senior commanders
Army air commanders
British RFC brigade commanders
DEFENDERS CAPABILITIES
The Luftstreitkräfte: German Imperial Air Service
Luftstreitkräfte organization in the 1917 campaign
German aircraft
Senior commanders
German Army aviation commanders
AIRPOWER IN 1917
The eyes of the big guns
Aircraft and the artillery
Fixed balloons and the artillery
The artillery flyers
Lessons from the Verdun and Somme campaigns
Lessons from the Somme: JulyNovember, 1916
Air services and aircraft production
Aircraft attrition the problem of quality control
Training for the air services
Fighter tactics
Squadron tactics
CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES
The Nivelle Offensive
The strategic situation in early 1917
THE CAMPAIGN
Bloody April
March 1917: Germans withdraw to the Siegfriedstellung
Preparing the Nivelle Offensive
Air operations prior to the offensive
The French front
Attacking the balloons
The air campaign prior to the British attack
The Arras sector: the RFCs bombing campaign
The attack at Vimy Ridge and Arras, 914 April
The British offensive continues, 10 April4 May
Arras Front, 11 April4 May
Battle on the Chemin des Dames Front
Chemin des Dames Front, 18 April4 May
The French Army mutinies
Losses and lessons for the air campaigns of April 1917
AFTERMATH AND ANALYSIS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Dr James Corum is a retired US Army Reserve lieutenant colonel. He taught military history at Salford University, UK, from 2014 to 2019, and was Dean of the Baltic Defence College from 2009 to 2014. He served as a professor at the US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Power Studies and was an associate professor at the US Army Command and General Staff College. Dr Corum is the author of several books on military history, including The Luftwaffe: Creating the Operational Air War, 19181940 (1997) and Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen, Master of the German Air War (2008).
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