Résumé
Histoire de l’American Volunteers Group ayant combattu en Chine pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
« In August 1941 a handful of young Americans disembarked at Rangoon, Burma, the first contingent of fighter pilots of Claire Lee Chennault’s American Volunteer Group. Enlisted from the US Army, Navy and Marine Corps to aid the Chinese Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek in their bitter war against the Japanese, Chennault’s aviators were destined to gain worldwide renown as the Flying Tigers. Within the year the Flying Tigers’ distinctive shark-toothed P-40 fighters would be credited with destroying nearly 300 enemy aircraft. Chennault was an innovative aerial tactician and, recognizing his unit’s acute shortages of pilots and aircraft, decreed that his three squadrons – the Adam and Eves, Hell’s Angels, and Panda Bears – were only to engage the enemy on the most favorable terms. His strict code of war paid dividends during the hard-fought air combats over Rangoon in which the Flying Tigers consistently outfought a numerically superior enemy, thereby preventing the Japanese from gaining air superiority over the Burmese capital and allowing the British and Imperial ground troops to make their escape to the Indian border. ‘Flying Tigers’ retells the full story behind one of World War II’s most colorful fighting elite forces, from the recruitment of the first pilots, through their intial training in Burma and the savage dogfights over Rangoon, to their missions defending the retreating Allied forces. A final chapter looks at the demise of the unit and makes a critical assessment of its contribution to the Allied war effort. »
Détails produit : livre relié, occasion bon état (couverture usée, impact à l’intérieur – aucune page transpercée), photos NB, quelques en couleurs, en anglais, ouvrage épuisé.
