11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

Ivo de Jong mention a book about the air battle of 11 January 1944 in his book Mission 376. Someone know which book he is referring to?

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

Mission 376
https://www.amazon.com/Mission-376-B.../dp/1902109031

https://www.amazon.com/Mission-376-B.../dp/1902109031

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

I think he means a book on the 11 January mission.

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

You're right NickM. No bibliography in the book (Hikoki ed.). No mention at the end of the 1st chapter either.

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

The Killing Sky A Factual Account About "Black Tuesday" a Dramatic US 8th Air Force Bomber Mission to Germany on 11th January 1944
(Rijpsma Printers 2004)
by Jaap van der Kuylen
152 pages w/ photographs, maps and appendices - hardback

"Very well researched account of this mission 11th January 1944 to Central Germany in which 65 US aircraft were lost and which draws on personal accounts."
Detailed loss report.
Large format, coloured hardback covers
OOP - used copies $150 +

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

It's in the Preface.

Thank you so much Edward. Sadly I don't think I will get my hand on it anytime soon.

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

No reference in the preface

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

Seriously why would I lie on this :confused:.

Page iv of the Hikoki edition, the three last sentences of the first column:
"The mission on 28 May 1944 was planned to deal a large blow to the German oil and armament industry. It would, however, never get a place in history among the famous American air operations on dates such as 17 August and 14 October 1943, with missions to Schweinfurt and Regensburg, the 6 March 1944 mission to Berlin or the 11 January 1944 raid on Oschersleben. Missions like these have already been covered in some excellent books."

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

No lie. I mean no specific bibliographic reference (title, author,...) about an excellent book about January 11th...

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

If there was, I wouldn't ask here.

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

For those interested by the book, I got a copy from there (and look like there are still copies available): http://www.flashie.nl/T/BK/BK224774.HTM

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

I like reading books on one mission, with views from all sides."The killing sky" was a great read.

We should do a list of all the detailed one mission books out there.
Anybody have any favourites?

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

Good idea. Other than the three (all from Dutch authors) mentioned previously, I can advise the three from Alfred Price (18 August 1940, 15 September 1940 & 6 March 1944) and The Nuremberg Raid: 30-31 March 1944 (I have yet to read The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission: The American Raids on 17 August 1943 and Peenemunde Raid: The Night of 17-18 August 1943).

I have also read Operation Oyster World War II's Forgotten Raid: The Daring Low Level Attack on the Philips Radio Works but I can't say it made a lasting impression on me.

There are also The Battle of Heligoland Bight 1939: the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe's baptism of fire (18 December 1939), Battle Under the Moon (3-4 May 1994), Mighty by Sacrifice: The Destruction of an American Bomber Squadron, August 29, 1944, The Kassel Raid, 27 September 1944: The Largest Loss by Usaaf Group on Any Mission in WWII and Hitler's Last Christmas: The Day the Entire Mighty 8th Air Force Entered the Battle of the Bulge (24 December 1944) for which I would welcome any review.

There also books about the Ploesti raid on 1st of August 1944, the Augsburg raid (17 April 1942), the Doolittle raid of 18 April 1942,... and I also can name a few in French on Allied missions over France.

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

I'm also quite fond of one-mission books so here's a few more.

Heroic Endeavor by Sean Feast (23 December 1944)

Bodenplatte by John Manhro (1 Jan. 1945)

Night of the Intruders by Ian McLachlan (22 April 1944)

The Münster Raid: Bloody Skies Over Germany by Ian Hawkins (10 Oct. 1943)

The Last Flight of the Luftwaffe by Adrian Weir (7 April 1945)

To Kingdom Come by Robert Mrazek (Stuttgart 6 Sept. 1943)

Alfred, I've got Hitler's Last Christmas; I'll read it next and post my impressions when finished.

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

A. Monzat posted
"For those interested by the book, I got a copy from there (and look like there are still copies available)"

Flash Aviation Shop
In stock : Yes
Price: Euro 25.00

Holy *&#@!

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

Thank you, I didn't know most of them but I've read Andrian Weir's book, it is excellent and Bodenplatte is an obvious one I should have think of.

It looked to good to be true, but with 10€ more for postage here it is:


https://scontent-cdt1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...d8&oe=5FFDC1F9

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

Thanks for the list,I have some of them, but I don't have the ones listed here.
Before I buy them, which ones has good accounts from the German side?

Also, what is the best new book on the Ploesti raid?The only book I have is the older one by Dugan and Stewart.

Heroic Endeavor by Sean Feast

Night of the Intruders by Ian McLachlan

The Münster Raid: Bloody Skies Over Germany by Ian Hawkins

To Kingdom Come by Robert Mrazek

Hitler's Last Christmas: The Day the Entire Mighty 8th Air Force Entered the Battle of the Bulge

Mighty by Sacrifice: The Destruction of an American Bomber Squadron

Battle Under the Moon

The Kassel Raid

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

I ordered The Killing Sky from Flash Aviation: 25 Euros for the book, 25 Euros for shipping to the US, and an optional 7 Euros if you want tracking. Given the postal situation it will be a while before it gets here.

Ploesti: I would start by recommending Roger Freeman's Pictorial History of the Ploesti raid. A lot of pictures (obviously) with less text. But separate chapters on each of the five bomb groups and what happened to them. Plus a complete list of all aircraft participating (by group) with complete (maybe missing a few) lists of all crewmen on each aircraft, with the status of each aircraft after the mission (not a history of each surviving aircraft).

Enjoy!

Frank

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

Let's add this one to the list:

"Target Leipzig: The RAF's disastrous raid of 19/20 February 1944" by Alan W. Cooper

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

“Target Berlin” by Alfred Price and Geoff Ethell (raid of 6 March 1944).

Re an earlier post, If you like Martin Middlebrook’s approach then you should enjoy his other books too.

Max Hastings’ recent “Chastise” (the Dams raid) was a good read too although I’m not sure if it broke much new ground beyond offering the author’s characteristically sceptical reappraisal of his subject matter.

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

Apologies for having forgotten about this thread for so long!

Alfred, I finished reading Hitler's Last Christmas back in January. There's really nothing from the German side; no Luftwaffe primary source documents are listed in the bibliography. Sourcing in general for this book seems quite thin and the bibliography lists numerous secondary sources that seem to have a tenuous, at best, relevance to the subject at hand. It struck me as a student trying to pad the sources they used for a term paper.

Due to this and a number of other reasons I would not recommend this book at all.

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

superbee, apologies to you as well!

Two other books (besides Dugan and Stewart) I've got on Ploesti (Operation Tidal Wave) are Into the Fire by Duane Schultz and Black Sunday: Ploesti by Michael Hill. Neither are new and it's been many years since I read them. I don't remember either having much on "the other side"; my memory is that each emphasized different aspects from the American side and that when added to Dugan and Stewart's work the American side is probably completely covered.

Regarding the others you mentioned:

Someone else here on the ToCH forum said that The Kassel Raid has nothing from the German side. I don't have it.

I spoke of Hitler's Last Christmas on the post above this one. Can't recommend it.

Battle Under the Moon doesn't include the German side IIRC (it is covered very well in Theo Boiten's Nachtjagd Combat Archive 1944 Part 2). The author, Currie, completed a tour as a Lancaster pilot and wrote quite engagingly so I still heartily recommend this one.

Again IIRC, The Münster Raid has little or nothing on the German side.

Heroic Endeavor, Night of the Intruders, To Kingdom Come, Mighty By Sacrifice: All include the German side to a greater or lesser extent and all are quite good IMO.

And as Nick Beale pointed out, Target Berlin and everything Middlebrook wrote include both sides nearly equally and all are worth having IMO.

Though late, I hope this helps.

Re: 11 January 1944 mission (Oschersleben)
 

Thank you, it helps indeed.

I just ordered Mighty by Sacrifice and Heroic Endeavor.