Martin Caidin Black Thursday: The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid

The raid itself is described in hot, flashing sentences to match the thrill and terror of combat. And the tragic outcome, in which 50 planes and 600 crewmen failed to return, is documented in the same careful kind of research which makes the whole book so successful. Excellent!

Caidin weaves together first-hand accounts from still surviving participants with much research. He provides deep insight into the day-to-day fears of those who fought in the air along with context regarding the events that led to putting so many lives in danger both in the air and on the ground. Caidin calls out mistakes when they happened but does his best to make sure we understand what it was like to be in the thick of it when it’s too late to turn back.

My only real complaint about this book is that the Kindle edition contains an outrageous number of typographical errors.