Assault from the Sky; A History of Airborne Warfare

New York: G. P. Putnam's, 1978. Book Club Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Good. 192 pages. Illustrations (some in color) . Glossary. Bibliography. Index. DJ has wear, tears, chips and some soiling. Colonel John Weeks began his long and distinguished military career with the Staffordshire Regiment before serving in the Parachute Regiment. A well respected author of military books and an instructor at the Royal Military College of Science, he was engaged for many years on the assessment of weapons and weapons systems. Airborne warfare is one of the more dramatic military phenomena of the twentieth-century. It is fast, dynamic and spectacular. In its short life it has brought about wide changes in military planning and thinking. This book presents the history of airborne warfare in a sharp, clear fashion, devoid of jargon, and includes drawings, maps and black and white and color photographs. All aspects of airborne warfare are covered. Beginning with the interesting pre-war period when the Russians pioneered airborne operations, this perspective study of the uses of air follows the story of assault from the sky through World War II and beyond. Each theater is taken in turn and the planning, preparation and mounting of each operation is clearly and briefly dissected, followed by a factual and critical account of that operation and its effect on related operations and battles in the same theater. Five national airborne armies and airmobile divisions are examined in special features. Their formation, training, equipment and weapons are described and illustrated in detail. Assault from the Sky is a bracing, exciting, and, above all, illuminating account of a revolutionary concept in military strategy that has changed the concept of armed conflict in our time. It is an important contribution to military history - a work that will absorb the attention of everyone interested in military affairs.