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The Pointblank Directive L. Douglas Keeney

The Pointblank Directive By L. Douglas Keeney

The Pointblank Directive by L. Douglas Keeney


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Summary

Where was the Luftwaffe on D-Day? This book answers this question using extensive new research that creates a portrait of perhaps the last untold story of Operation Overlord. Their ambitious plan was called Pointblank.

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The Pointblank Directive Summary

The Pointblank Directive: The Untold Story of the Daring Plan that Saved D-Day by L. Douglas Keeney

Where was the Luftwaffe on D-Day? The Pointblank Directive answers this question using extensive new research that creates a portrait of perhaps the last untold story of Operation Overlord. Following a year of unremarkable bombing against German targets, General Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold, commander of the US Army Air Forces, placed his lifelong friend General Carl A. 'Tooey' Spaatz in command of the strategic bombing forces in Europe, and his protege, General James 'Jimmy' Doolittle, in command of the Eighth Air Force in England. For these fellow aviation strategists, he had one set of orders - sweep the skies clean of the Luftwaffe by June 1944. Spaatz and Doolittle couldn't quite do that but they could clear the skies sufficiently to gain air superiority over the D-Day beaches allowing the Allies to establish their vital toe-hold on the beachheads. Their ambitious plan was called Pointblank.

The Pointblank Directive Reviews

A thoroughly satisfying read: informative and entertaining. What is always mind-boggling is the sacrifice made in any war. Pointblank Directive shows quite clearly what the airwar leading up to D-Day cost both sides of the conflict. More importantly, it fills a needed gap in knowledge of exactly how critical the proper air campaign can be in determining the ground conflict. Historians and students of World War II history alike will be well-served reading this book. --Bernie Chowdhury, author of The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths (Harper) The Pointblank Directive is a richly textured portrait of air power and leadership, possibly the last untold story of D-Day. Using extensive new research, Keeney carefully reconstructs the events that led up to the success of that battle. --Savannah Jones, www.sirreadalot.org ...comes from a historian who considers the politics and personalities of The Pointblank Directive and how it become one of the most amazing military come-backs in history. By raid's end some forty percent of the Allied planes had been shot down. The story of how forces recovered from these heavy losses and flew to victory against impossible odds makes this a powerful account of strategic air command decision-making processes, battles, and close encounters, offering a fresh analysis of how The Pointblank Directive changed the world. --The Midwest Book Review (March 2013) I enjoyed this book immensely. It was fast-paced, exciting, filled with the untold yet in no way unglamorous adventures and perilous day-to-day existence of the United States Air Force ... This is one of the best historical books I have read. - The San Francisco Book Review (April 16, 2013) Keeney, a veteran author on WWII, relates the story of the successful air offensive that broke the back of the German air force in the spring of 1944 and paved the way for Allied victory in WWII. Keeney's history of Operation Pointblank differs from others in his emphasis on the operation's connection to the overall campaign against Germany in Western Europe. He demonstrates how the air victory enabled the successful landings on D-Day and further allowed the Allied armies to prosecute their land campaign with the comfortable knowledge that there was no threat to them from the air. Keeney explores how an Allied air campaign that was failing badly in November 1943 achieved total victory a mere five months later through new leadership, new technology, and most important, by jettisoning old tactics in favor of aggressive fighter sweeps that took the battle to the Luftwaffe everywhere. Among many personal stories of aerial combat, he makes the important point that victory in the air cannot be fully appreciated without understanding how critical it was to winning the decisive battle on the ground: D-Day. Keeney's well-written history is aimed at a general audience, but experts will find it an enjoyable read. Publishers Weekly

About L. Douglas Keeney

L. Douglas Keeney has been writing military non-fiction for 16 years and his work has been reviewed by Newsweek, salon.com, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. Keeney has appeared on The Discovery Channel, CBS, The Learning Channel and The Military Channel (which he cofounded), and he has been interviewed by scores of radio stations and syndicates. He is presently the on-air host for On Target. Previously, Keeney worked for 15 years in marketing and advertising in Los Angeles and New York and was nominated to the Institute for Advanced Advertising Studies (NYC) and was nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year by both the Graduate School of Business at the University of Southern California. Keeney has a BA in Economics from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.

Table of Contents

List of Images /Foreword by Stephen Frater /Introduction /Preface: 1943 /Chapter 1: Airmen /Chapter 2: Autumn 1943 /Chapter 3: Pointblank /Chapter 4: Life on Base /Chapter 5: Spaatz /Chapter 6: Anywhere /Chapter 7: The Clock Ticks /Chapter 8: Formation /Chapter 9: Exhaustion /Chapter 10: Locusts /Chapter 11: Flak Boys /Chapter 12: Berlin /Chapter 13: April /Chapter 14: Invasion /Chapter 15: Secret Weapons /Chapter 16: War Plan /Chapter 17: Combat /Chapter 18: Dicing with the Devil /Chapter 19: May 1944 /Chapter 20: Deception /Chapter 21: June 1944 /Chapter 22: D-Day /Chapter 23: D+1 /Notes Select Bibliography /Index

Additional information

CIN1472807502VG
9781472807502
1472807502
The Pointblank Directive: The Untold Story of the Daring Plan that Saved D-Day by L. Douglas Keeney
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
20141120
368
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - The Pointblank Directive