Air War Over France : May - June 1940
Prix régulier 140,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| Book cover finish | Canvas finish, Hardcover ( square back binding ) |
| Special features | First edition, Insert |
| Condition | Old, like new |
| Number of pages | 154 |
| Published date | 1974 |
| Languages | English |
| Size | 16 x 24 x 2 cm |
| Author | Robert Jackson |
| Editor | IAN ALLAN LTD |
Description
PRELUDE
Dawn, 10 May 1940
The inhabitants of the villages dotted over the countryside west of Cologne stirred fitfully in their sleep, disturbed by the rumble in the eastern sky. The noise grew louder, swelling to a crescendo that rattled tiles and window - panes ; hands fumbled with blackout curtains, heavy eyes peered up into the darkness, but the silhouettes of the aircraft were lost against the stars. The armada thundered on, heading due west, and the pre - dawn silence returned to the land bordering the Rhine.
It was 03.45, 10 May 1940. Twenty minutes earlier, the forty - one Junkers 52 transports now droning westwards had taken off at thirty - second intervals from the airfields of Butzweilerhof and Ostheim, on opposite banks of the Rhine near Cologne. The Ju 52's - belonging to I and II / KGr.zbV. 172 - each towed a DFS 230 heavy assault glider, laden with troops and equipment. Navigation for the transport crews was simple ; they followed a line of flashing ground beacons, stretching all the way to Aachen. Beyond Aachen, along the frontiers of Belgium and Holland, the massed divisions of the Wehrmacht were poised, ready to hurl themselves like a steel flood into the Low Countries. ( ... )
Excerpt from page No. 7.
