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  #1  
Old 4th November 2019, 13:22
Edward Edward is offline
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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/
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Old 11th February 2020, 16:53
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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."
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Old 28th February 2020, 16:04
Edward Edward is offline
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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/

Last edited by Edward; 28th February 2020 at 16:37.
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Old 28th February 2020, 19:43
Dénes Bernád Dénes Bernád is offline
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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?
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Old 29th February 2020, 01:20
Frank Olynyk Frank Olynyk is offline
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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.
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Old 29th February 2020, 01:39
Russell Russell is offline
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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
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Old 1st March 2020, 19:50
Edward Edward is offline
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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
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Old 6th May 2020, 18:37
Edward Edward is offline
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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.

Last edited by Edward; 6th May 2020 at 19:43.
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Old 21st July 2020, 14:05
DDT DDT is offline
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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
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Old 21st July 2020, 14:47
Frank Olynyk Frank Olynyk is offline
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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.
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