Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940-1945, Volume Five

One year after the publication of Volume Four we have this update from Bill Stone's website:

"From the publisher [Grub Street Publishing], November 2019:
'Volume Five is scheduled at present for summer 2020.' "

Chris Shores stated in 2018,
"What we are now having to carry forward to Vol 5 are the operations in the Balkans and Aegean area during the period May 1943-June 1944 which, of course, were occurring at the same time as those of the tactical units detailed in Vol 4 and need to be brought up in line with them. However this will allow us to incorporate into Vol 5 a considerable amount of additional information (and some corrections) related to earlier volumes in the series. Vol 5 is also planned to include the main tactical operations over Italy until the end of hostilities at the start of May 1945. This will also include the formation and activities of the Balkan Air Force and operations during the invasion of the South of France."

http://books.stonebooks.com/book/1020214/

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Amazon UK currently lists the release date as 30 September 2020.

A History of the Mediterranean Air War Volume Five
(Grub Street Publishing - 30 September 2020)
by Christopher Shores, Giovanni Massimello, Russell Guest, Frank Olynyk, Winfried Bock and Andrew Thomas.
600 pages - hardback

"During the final year of World War II, the defending Axis forces were steadily driven from southern skies by burgeoning Anglo-American power. This was despite the steady withdrawal of units to more demanding areas. In this fifth volume of the series the activities of the Allied tactical air forces in support of the armies on the ground as their opponents were steadily extracted from northern Italy and the Balkans for the final defence of the central European homeland are described in detail. The book commences with coverage of the final fierce air-sea battles over the Aegean which preceded the advance northwards to Rome and the ill-conceived British attempt to secure the Dodecanese islands following the armistice with Italy. The authors also deal fully and comprehensively with the advance northwards following the occupation of Rome, and the departure of forces to support the invasion of France from the Riviera coast, coupled with the formation of a new Balkan Air Force in eastern Italy to pursue the German armies withdrawing from Yugoslavia and take possession of newly freed Greece. The effect of the creation within the same area of the US and RAF strategic forces to join the Allied Combined Bombing Offensive is discussed. The final volume in the series will be concerned most especially with this latter campaign."

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

aaannnd the cover art (but not the cover?) for volume V is up at the Grub Street website and that big river retailer.

RAF Mustang vs. Me-109. The tile is "Against the Croats"

If someone can id this combat please let us know.

https://grubstreet.co.uk/product/a-h...war-1940-1945/

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

I am wondering if this volume will cover the air activity over Bulgaria and the Eastern area of the occupied Yugoslavia. Does anyone have an insight in this regards?

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Dénes,

If by "the air activity over Bulgaria and the Eastern area of the occupied Yugoslavia" you mean the German/partisan/Russian operations, I think the answer is no. The MAW series is about operations *in* or *from* the Mediterranean area, but not "near" the Med. Perhaps some day an Eastern European "Chris Shores" will be able to helm such a series. But it would probably need a Russian "Jochen Prien" to prepare a Soviet JFV series first. Ah, that the MAW team should live so long as to see such a thing.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Denes

Interesting question we have long considered. The boundaries of what is a Mediterranean Air War and a eastern or western Europe Air war will always be a matter of judgement. We are trying to cover the relevant activity by the Mediterranean based allied air forces did over Yugoslavia and other eastern European areas. However Vol 5 is tactical air force based, that is 15th Air Force and 205 Group will be for Vol 6 and will cover all the raids over Eastern Europe by these forces, as well as the special ops and the recce missions.

We are not covering the daily operations by the Russian and their allied air forces outside of some particularly relevant encounters to the Yugoslavia area, such as between the Bulgarian Air Force and the Luftwaffe e.g. the two Ju 87s lost to SG 10 in late 1944, and others claimed by the Flak defenses of the escape routes out of the Balkans. The unfortunate encounters between the Eastern and Southern Allied air forces are covered. 213 Squadron springs to mind as a prominent unit in that respect!

We are not covering II/JG 52 II/JG 51 I/JG 53 Schlactgeschwader, the Hungarian Fighter Group etc daily operations in late 1944 and 1945, except where they run into the Western allies, which is 95 per cent in Vol 6. Some encounters between the Balkan Air Force and II/JG 51 are included, as is what we know about their detachment on Crete.

The problem is there is no easy separation of the Eastern Front from the Southern Front at the point of convergence over Eastern Europe. From August 1944 onward the German withdrawal from the eastern Mediterranean basin, Greece Albania etc, is dependent on the Germans keeping the escape route open by delaying the Russians reaching the Adriatic coast and cutting off the Balkans. Allied Air forces were in Greece by late 1944 and had bases on the Yugoslav main land as well, and were obviously aware of not conflicting with the advance from the east.

The question then arose, do we cover Russian support for the war in Yugoslavia, the Tri Duby uprising etc, and at the moment we are not intending to at all in Vol 5. But, in Vol 6 we will probably cover the Russian night bomber operations as they were often bombing the same areas as 205 Group and encountering the same night fighters etc.

We had the same issue with covering the invasion of Southern France as it is obviously a Med based campaign, but at what point do we leave off the coverage as it merged into the Western front campaign? We also try to allow for unusual matters such as the occasion when a 151 Sqn intruder crew flew a mission from England over Southern France, landed in Italy and on the return trip ran into the Luftwaffe!

Helpful advice and suggestions always welcome!

The team is working hard on Volume five and we are aiming to have the manuscript finished, and the indexes prepared by the end of March. A creative tension between the authors wanting to do as good a job as possible, and how long that will take (always wanting more time to include more information, or worse are we slowing down because we are getting too old!!) and then between the authors and our publisher is always present. From our publishers point of view he wants the manuscript tomorrow, if not sooner, in accordance with the publishing schedule he has in mind. Luckily Chris and John Davies worry about that and not me! So I had better get back to it. I hope this explains what we are trying to do.

Regards

Russell

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Just discovered that these three photo collections came out in the early 1970's.

Pictorial History of the Mediterranean Air War Volume One:
RAF 1940-43
(Ian Allan, London - 1972)
by Christopher F. Shores
95 pages w/ photos - hardback

Pictorial History of the Mediterranean Air War Volume Two:
RAF 1943-45
(Ian Allan, London - 1973)
by Christopher F. Shores
110 pages w/ photos - hardback

Pictorial History of the Mediterranean Air War Volume Three:
Axis Air Forces 1940-45
(Ian Allan, London - 1974)
by Christopher F. Shores
126 pages w/ photos - hardback

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Delayed six months
According to the website Stone & Stone Second World War Books the new release date for Volume Five is March 2021.

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Hello,

I intend to buy the first 3 volumes as e-book.
Just wondering if one of the members who has this books/e-books, can check if there are loss lists as an appendix or integrated in the text?
Tia,

Dirk

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Loss lists are presented on a daily basis, along with all claims. All names are indexed in the back.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Thx Frank, much appriciated. An index is always a good thing.
Have a nice day.
Dirk

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Bill Stone has posted that volume 5 is now scheduled for release in June 2021.

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Going to be a long wait!

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Grub Street showing 17 May 2021. What will come first.....Lockdown ending or Volume 5? :)

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Hi everyone

Its off at the type setters at the moment, when we get the proofs back, need to put the page numbers to the index and a final check, so it is getting there

Regards

Russell

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

The Grub Street Publishing website still shows 17 May 2021 as publication date for volume Five. (fingers crossed)

Page count is 600. Volume Four was 680 pages.

https://grubstreet.co.uk/product/a-h...war-1940-1945/

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

The layout for the dust jacket of volume 5 is finally ready for viewing by an eager crowd of WWII aviation enthusiasts.

Release date for the UK is 30 June 2021
£50.00

Release date for the U.S. is 31 August 2021
$79.95

A History of The Mediterranean Air War, 1940–1945 Volume Five:
From the Fall of Rome to the End of the War 1944-1945
by Christopher Shores and Giovanni Massimello with Russell Guest, Frank Olynyk, Winfried Bock and Andrew Thomas

https://grubstreet.co.uk/product/a-h...war-1940-1945/

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

At Amazon.co.uk one can pre-order it (I just did) for only £32.55.

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Thank you - preordered aswell!

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Here we are.

Three days until the release date of June 30th. Right?

Looking forward to finally seeing volume 5.

Waitttttt . . . The Grub Street Publishing website shows the publication date as July 20th! ?

Amazon UK - June 30th

Amazon - September 7th

If someone knows something definitive please post

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Hi

Its been delayed because Grub St have a lot of books coming out and there was a need to get a better scheduling. Good news is its finished and ready to go, bad news you have to wait a bit longer. Sorry.

Russell

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

I checked on the US Amazon outlet and they have the release date as being September 2021

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Expected in August here:


https://www.christian-schmidt.com/pr...ducts_id=10916


Usual disclaimer,
Ed

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

From the Stone & Stone site:

20 July 2021

A History of the Mediterranean Air War, 1940-1945, volume five by Christopher Shores and his crew did not quite make the projected June release date. Grub Street subsequently indicated UK publication was scheduled for the end of this month, with availability in the US to follow. The latest word from Grub Street calls for UK publication at the end of September.



Usual disclaimer,
Ed

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Amazon UK is showing 27 September.


Ed

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Amazon has Monday, 4 October 2021

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

As of today, only 8 left in stock.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Med...s%2C570&sr=1-1


Usual disclaimer,
Ed

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

It was 9 until my back order from May was finally fulfilled! looking forward to this :)

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Hope that someone will post their first impressions of the long awaited book once they receive their copy.

Edward

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

My copy is on the way, too :)

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Another pre-order in May

They took my money yesterday and now they tell me I'll have it by 9pm tomorrow!

Yay!

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

I'm not sure I'm qualified enough to give anyone here a valuable first impression, but it is of the same high quality as the previous editions and I am very happy. Usual exhaustive detail and very well illustrated too - thanks to the authors for their excellent work.

Only very minor point it's a little thin compared to the previous ones, probably on a par to Vol 1, but it does exactly what it says on the tin - highly recommended.

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

So was the Luftwaffe in the Mediterranean theatre after June 1944!

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Yes I get your point :)

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

I've just received my copy, brand new from Amazon. By the way, it has no paper dust jacket. Is it supposed to be that way? All the previous volumes have jackets.

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Mine has - the picture on amazon with the Mustang is what i have on mine

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

That ain't right.

What a dilemma.

Return a long awaited book and wait for a replacement or just keep it w/o the cover?

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

Amazon is getting sloppy

I also received a book without a dustjacket....oddly enough today!!

Dealing with Amazon is frustrating since it is basically impossible to get in touch with them, unless you live in the country they operate.

They have a chat function, which has worked only once for me.

Cheers
Stig

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

The book has a dust jacket. Similar to the other volumes, this time an RAF Mustang verus Croat or Serbian 109s.

Amazon are getting slack, I just ordered Vol 3 4 and 5 of a series on WW I and got two vol 5s! and no Vol 3.

Cheers

Russell

Re: Update on Vol. 5 of Chris Shores' et al "A History of the Mediterran Air War"
 

I received my copy (with the jacket !) from Amazon UKr yesterday.