Turning the Tide - by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Packed with personal accounts of the action, this is a vivid narrative history of the often-overlooked USAAF campaign in North Africa and Sicily in World War II.

In 1942, the Western Allies needed to take the offensive against the Axis powers to relieve pressure on the Soviet Union. With planning for a cross-Channel invasion beset by logistical and operational difficulties, in May President Roosevelt ordered his military leaders to prepare to support the British in the Mediterranean. This led to the first USAAF units arriving in the Middle East in July, firstly as reinforcements for the British and later as part of the Operation Torch landings in French Morocco and Algeria in November.

This is the story of how, in only 11 months, the USAAF grew from these small beginnings in North Africa to become the senior partner in the region, providing aircraft and crews the other Allies were unable to match. In those 11 months, the Axis forces that had controlled almost the entire southern shore of the Mediterranean had been swept from the African continent and the island of Sicily - thanks in no small part to the efforts of the USAAF.

Using first-hand accounts from pilots and other aircrew, renowned aviation historian Tom Cleaver describes how the USAAF units that landed in 1942 faced an intense baptism of fire in combat with veteran Luftwaffe units, and how the experience gained in the skies over North Africa and Sicily was invaluable in developing the air forces that would dominate the skies over Europe in the latter years of the war.

Review Quotes

"This is a story of high drama and high heroism, told by a master of military aviation history. Once again, Tom Cleaver has given us a work that both informs and entertains, and which makes a substantial and lasting contribution to military aviation historiography." --Richard P. Hallion, former Historian of the US Air Force

"The air war in North Africa was as vicious and as consequential as any combat in World War II, but it's usually treated like a sideshow. Tom Cleaver gives long-deserved respect and attention to this theater - and to the aviators and crews who fought and died to win it for the allies." --Chris Bucholtz, author of 'P-51B/C Mustang: Northwest Europe 1943-44'

"Thomas Cleaver brings his well-honed investigative and storytelling gifts to bear in this remarkable book ... a new benchmark in the study of aerial operations in the Mediterranean during World War II." --Lynn Ritger, author of 'Messerschmitt Bf 109: Origins and Evolution'

"Cleaver masterfully weaves personal stories of pilots into the larger fabric of the war, creating a narrative that puts the reader into the cockpit as well as the history books." --James R. Benn, author of 'The Phantom Patrol' and other Billy Boyle World War II Mysteries

"Tom Cleaver neatly weaves a tight web of the varied players in the Mediterranean air war of 1941-43." --Barrett Tillman, author of 'When the Shooting Stopped'

"This is an 'all guns blazing' history of the USAAF campaign in North Africa and Sicily during World War Two." --Flypast

"This book energetically recounts how American airmen adopted effective offensive airpower tactics in their first year of aerial combat against the Axis...Cleaver's style is lively and approachable... This book is a welcome addition to historiography of the World War II air war." --Journal of the American Air Force Historical Foundation

About the Author