Introduction

During the third week of February 1944, the combined Allied air forces based in Britain and Italy launched their first round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany. Their goal: to smash the main factories and production centers of the Luftwaffe while also drawing German planes into an aerial battle of attrition to neutralize the Luftwaffe as a fighting force prior to the cross-channel invasion, planned for a few months later. Officially called Operation ARGUMENT, this aerial offensive quickly became known as “Big Week,” and it was one of the turning-point engagements of World War II.

In Big Week, acclaimed World War II historian James Holland chronicles the massive air battle through the experiences of those who lived and died during it. Prior to Big Week, the air forces on both sides were in crisis. Allied raids into Germany were being decimated, but German resources?fuel and pilots?were strained to the breaking point. Ultimately new Allied aircraft?especially the American long-range P-51 Mustang?and superior tactics won out during Big Week. Through interviews, oral histories, diaries, and official records, Holland follows the fortunes of pilots, crew, and civilians on both sides, taking readers from command headquarters to fighter cockpits to anti-aircraft positions and civilian chaos on the ground, vividly recreating the campaign as it was conceived and unfolded. In the end, the six days of intense air battles largely cleared the skies of enemy aircraft when the invasion took place on June 6, 1944?D-Day.

Big Week is both an original contribution to WWII literature and a brilliant piece of narrative history, recapturing a largely forgotten campaign that was one of the most critically important periods of the entire war.

Editorial Review

An Amazon Best Book of November 2018: In February of 1944, the Allies launched an air offensive against Germany designed to destroy factories and draw the Luftwaffe into a battle of attrition. Dubbed Operation ARGUMENT, the biggest air battle of WWII had a hidden agenda: to soften up German air power in preparation for D-Day later in the summer. The battle was also known as “Big Week,” and James Holland’s book of the same name is a top-rate World War II book, one that describes the big movements and tactical decisions at the same time that it sweeps us into the action and explores the exploits of characters on both sides. Even Jimmy Stewart appears in this book. This is a well-researched and extremely well executed historical read. --Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review

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