"Big Week" 1944: Operation Argument and the breaking of the Jagdwaffe

A new analysis of Operation Argument, the Allies' successful offensive counter-air campaign in February 1944, reveals how the USAAF's mighty World War II bomber forces were designed for unescorted, precision daylight bombing, but German radar-directed interceptors inflicted devastation. The campaign aimed to crush the Luftwaffe's ability to oppose the landings and mark the beginning of the Luftwaffe's fall.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 96 pages
Publication date: 17 February 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

A thorough examination of the renowned Big Week air campaign that allowed the Allies to establish air superiority before D-Day is presented here. The powerful World War II bomber forces of the USAAF were created for unaccompanied, precision daylight bombing, but no one could have predicted the destruction that German radar-directed interceptors would cause them. The Allies urgently needed to cripple the Luftwaffe's ability to oppose the landings after the failures of the Schweinfurt-Regensburg raids in 1943, and with D-Day approaching. The Allies devised and conducted the first-ever successful offensive counter-air (OCA) campaign in history in February 1944, known as Operation Argument or "Big Week." Hundreds of heavy bombers were used in this attack on German aircraft factories, which were escorted by the newly developed long-range P-51 Mustang. Its objectives were to reduce aircraft production and force the Luftwaffe into battle, allowing the new Mustangs to exact a toll on the German interceptors. This expertly written, picture-rich account details how the Allies finally started to gain air superiority over Europe and how Operation Argument signaled the start of the Luftwaffe's decline.

Weight: 312g
Dimension: 185 x 248 x 8 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781472824516