Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I must admit, I started with a bias predisposed to like this book. Yet I was profoundly disappointed - in some chapters the author simply failed do sufficient research, in others he simply got the facts wrongs (other reviews have pointed out that no, the Seabees didn't build the Mulberry Harbors.) One of the main arguments of the book is that in five crucial areas (convoys, command of the air, Blitzkreieg, etc.) it wasn't just one event or one technology that solved the problem it was many. Yet in chapter 2, "How to Win the Command of the Air" the author says the air war over Europe was won by the P-51 Mustang and the Merlin engine. That is so profoundly wrong as to be embarrassing. There's no doubt the P-51 Mustangs were a critical part of winning the air war. However, the reality is that British and American bombers were destroyed by both flak (anti-aircraft guns,) and fighters. Depending on the phase of the air war, more were lost to flak and at other times fighters. By 1943 the German air defense system had evolved into an integrated electronic air defense network. It's early warning network consisted of 250 long-range radars and had feeds from German signal intelligence. There was a dense network of 1,000 short-range radars all feeding the equivalent of a modern air traffic control system. The air defense system controlled 15,000 radar-guided flak (anti-aircraft guns,) that used 5,000 radars. It also controlled all German fighters by vectoring them into the bomber streams using 1,500 Ground Controlled Intercept radars. And German night fighters who went after the British had onboard air-to-air radar. The U.S. and British thought the best way to degrade the German Air Defense system was to jam and confuse it. The Americans set up an 800 person lab to do this - the Harvard Radio Research Lab. They developed chaff (mechanical means to confuse German radars) and electronic jammers - 24,000 of which were built and installed on American and British bombers. By the time the P-51 had come on the scene British and American planes were carrying advanced electronic warfare equipment to defeat and degrade the German air defense systems. It's understandable that bomber crews seeing P-51's destroy enemy fighters became convinced this is how we won the air war over occupied Europe. In contrast, Jammers and chaff doing their job by making flak and air intercepts ineffective could only be understood via operational analysis (which showed that they did work.) The P-51's _were_ a crucial part of gaining air superiority over Europe. But to write a history of the air war over Germany claiming that they were _the_ reason is simply flawed history. This just isn't a bad book, it does damage to the real history of World War II.