Bloody Shambles: The Defense of Sumatra to the Fall of Burma

Rating:
Summary: invaluable for the historian
Review: Christopher Shores is an international treasure, a man who has made it his task to suss out the truth about aerial combats in far corners of the globe, usually with the assistance of a fellow historian or two from the countries most involved. In this particular case, he is one of the few who have accessed Japanese records, and he compares them with Allied accounts on a day-by-day basis. This is great stuff, especially for those of us who already know something about the campaigns. My particular interest is the Flying Tigers of Burma, and I was delighted to have Shores's version, especially since he gives equal time to the RAF squadrons that fought alongside the AVG. But I confess that it took a great deal of concentration for me to slog through the Philippines campaign, about which I knew very little. So my conclusion is this: the more you know already, the more you will learn from this account. -- Dan Ford

Rating:
Summary: Christopher Shores/Brain Cull
Review: This book, yet another in the wonderful series of air war accounts done by Christopher Shores and Brian Cull is a great review of the early air war in the Pacific Theater. Mr. Shores and Mr. Cull use interviews with the participants as well as the actual unit reports to bring an idea of the constant struggle that the air war represented. Rather than being dry, these books are easy to read and a great resource.