“Big Week” 1944

A rigorous new analysis of America''s legendary ''Big Week'' air campaign which enabled the Allies to gain air superiority before D-Day.

The USAAF''s mighty World War II bomber forces were designed for unescorted, precision daylight bombing, but no-one foresaw the devastation that German radar-directed interceptors would inflict on them. Following the failures of 1943''s Schweinfurt-Regensburg raids, and with D-Day looming, the Allies urgently needed to crush the Luftwaffe''s ability to oppose the landings.

In February 1944, the Allies conceived and fought history''s first-ever successful offensive counter air (OCA) campaign, Operation Argument or Big Week. Attacking German aircraft factories with hundreds of heavy bombers, escorted by the new long-range P-51 Mustang, it aimed both to slash aircraft production and force the Luftwaffe into combat, allowing the new Mustangs to take their toll on the German interceptors. This expertly written, illustration-packed account explains how the Allies finally began to win air superiority over Europe, and how Operation Argument marked the beginning of the Luftwaffe''s fall.