Aerial Interdiction: Air Power and the Land Battle in Three American WarsBy Eduard Mark

Aerial Interdiction: Air Power and the Land Battle in Three American WarsBy Eduard Mark

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Aerial Interdiction: Air Power and the Land Battle in Three American WarsBy Eduard Mark

PDF Ebook Aerial Interdiction: Air Power and the Land Battle in Three American WarsBy Eduard Mark

This analytical work by Dr. Eduard Mark of the Center for Air Force History examines the practice of air interdiction in three wars: World War II, the Korean War, and the war in Southeast Asia. It considers eleven important interdiction campaigns, all of them American or Anglo-American, for only the United States and Great Britain had the resources to conduct interdiction campaigns on a large scale in World War II. Dr. Mark proposes what he considers to be a realistic objective for interdiction: preventing men, equipment, and supplies from reaching the combat area when the enemy needs them and in the quantity he requires. As Mark notes, there has been little intensive scholarship on the subject of interdiction especially when contrasted with the work done on strategic bombardment. In the wake of the Persian Gulf War, the reader will no doubt be impressed by the comparatively low performance of weapons in these pre-Gulf war campaigns. DESERT STORM showed that recent advances in technology had enabled interdiction to reach new levels of effectiveness, especially in night operations. Yet, as the reader soon discovers, interdiction in the pre-Gulf campaigns sometimes profoundly influenced military operations. As is often the case in military history, the effects were often serendipitous-not as planned or anticipated, but present nevertheless. By the middle of the Second World War, aircraft were already demonstrating that they could have a devastating impact upon a military force’s ability to wage war. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, for example, complained bitterly during the North African and Normandy campaigns about air power that, in his memorable words, “pinned my army to the ground” and otherwise denied his forces both supplies and the ability to freely maneuver. The aircraft and weapons that caused the German commander such problems were, by today’s standards, primitive. The accuracy of bombing was calculated in terms of circles with radii of hundreds or even thousands of feet. Bridges took dozens, sometimes hundreds, of sorties to destroy, meaning that a simultaneous taking-down of an enemy’s transportation network was impossible. A single target also required strike packages of hundreds of airplanes. Target “revisiting” because of poor bombing accuracy meant that aircraft loss rates were often alarmingly high. Yet, even with all of these limitations, air attack still had the ability to hinder, limit, and eventually help defeat a robust, well-trained and well-equipped opponent. It is important that this be recognized, just as it is important that we recognize that modern air war, as shown in the Gulf conflict, is very different and more effective, not only from that of 1941-1945, but from the more recent Vietnam era as well. The challenges posed by aerial interdiction from the dust of the Western Desert to the triple canopy of Southeast Asia gave but a hint of how devastating an attacker the airplane would prove in the Gulf War of 1991. There, advanced strike aircraft-some of them stealthy as well-dropped precision munitions with shattering effect against the Iraqi military machine. As shocking as it might seem, revolutionary advances in precision navigation and weapons technology had largely reduced the previous experiences of interdiction to historical anecdote, not historical prediction. Today, in the era of Global Reach-Global Power, the lessons of aerial interdiction through Vietnam are instructive, for no other reason than this: they reveal how far modern airpower has come. This book, by tracing air interdiction from the Western Front through Vietnam, and by examining both its failures and successes, fills an important gap in the history of air power and enables us to appreciate to an even greater degree the profound significance that air power possesses now and for the future.

Aerial Interdiction: Air Power and the Land Battle in Three American WarsBy Eduard Mark

• Published on: 2015-09-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 10.00" h x 1.01" w x 7.00" l, 1.69 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 446 pages

Aerial Interdiction: Air Power and the Land Battle in Three American WarsBy Eduard Mark

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Most helpful customer reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Study of Interdiction in WW II, Korea, and Vietnam By David W. Bobb Author Eduard Mark has done a superb job of recounting the strengths and weaknesses of aerial interdiction efforts in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Starting with the Allied invasion of North Africa, Mark examines how the three-tiered system of Allied air operations was developed (primarily through British influence) and how that system remained in effect throughout the succeeding wars. As the author discusses the various operations in World War II, he is not afraid to state that things did not always go well regarding interdiction efforts and on more than one occasion, airmen could not deliver their promised results. At times, this was crucial, as in Sicily when controversial command decisions coupled with non-effective employment of air and naval assets allowed nearly 40,000 Germans to escape to Italy. At other times, as in preparation for D-Day, aerial interdiction played a key role in preventing or delaying German troops and supplies from reaching the Normandy beachhead. As World War II gave way to Korea and later, Vietnam, Mark does an excellent job of providing insight into how those wars differed from World War II, how political constraints hampered the effectiveness of interdiction efforts, and how the Air Force's own single-mindedness of pursuing the strategic mission overshadowed equipment and training needed to successfully prosecute interdiction missions. Also, the limited effectiveness of interdiction due to sophisticated antiaircraft defenses and topographical features is examined. In sum, Mark presents a very well-balanced account of aerial interdiction from its development in North Africa through Vietnam. His frankness in stating when things went well and when they didn't go well, along with his analysis, add to the credibility of his writing. Lastly, his use of maps at the beginning of each chapter, coupled with photos throughout the book make it easy for the reader to visualize where things are happening and how they are unfolding.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Nothing New, Original, or Important By Robert Dry Study that makes not a single significant, new, or meaningfulcontribution on any level or in any important way.

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