The Decisive Campaigns of the Desert Air Force 1942 – 1945 Hardcover – Illustrated, June 19, 2014

This book requires the readers complete attention to stay with it. The research required to put this massive amount of historical data is amazing. Anyone interested in the air war in the Mediterranean, Africa and Italy should read this book.

Ok read because it's through personal accounts the author presents the air war in Mediterranean. If you're look for a strategic or operational level type book about Mediterranean air warfare, this isn't the book for you.

A very good read.

Evans relates the large-scale accomplishments of the Royal Air Force in the Cyrenaica, Sicilian, and Italian campaigns in World War II. His matter-of-fact style, presents the Desert Air Force’s (DAF) campaigns in a chronological, military style order. I would suggest that this book is for the military aficionado—clearly not for the casual reader. It’s a dry recitation, laced with a few personal tidbits.He offers several maps, however, not enough of them and not annotated in pertinent detail enough—making it nettlesome to follow his narrative. Such especially is the case in his narrative of the Eight Army’s campaign in southeastern Tunisia. For example, on page 73 he discusses the Army’s capture of the strategic Tebaga Gap in March 1943. Unfortunately, Tebaga Gap is not spotted on the relevant map.The RAF’s command of the sky over Cyrenaica and its perfected close air support technique were the deciding factors in the Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s British Eight Army’s successful breakout at El’ Alamein in December in 1942. The key to victory was the DAF’s total quashing of supplies for Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps’ Panzeramee. In particular, it was the sinking of the two Italian supply ships in the harbor at Tobruk, Proserpina and the Tergestea that was the death knell for the retreating Afrika Korps. Allied air power had won the air war over El’ Alamein.Following, it was the DAF’s supremacy of the air that enabled allied armies to crack the Nazi’s Gustav strategic defensive line at Monte Cassino in May 1943; and the Gothic Line in the Po Valley in April 1945.Overall, I rate this book four stars and a fine addition to a military historian’s library.

An excellent and very readable summary of the activities and structure of the Desert Air Force. Recommended!

Having only read a few parts of the book, due to having several large books full of information needing reading, this book seems to give a vital slant on what many people didn't realise was happening until perhaps several years after the war ended, unlike modern days with the internet and Satellite TV's allowing cameras to be in the midst of battles anywhere in the world.

For reading, of course...I don't like ebooks; I like the smell and texture of the paper.

This was a birthday present for my brother ... didn’t disappoint

I feel this is more akin to a "Voices...." type volume. A good addition to my library but the Shores 3 volume Mediterranean Air Wars has it all.

What the DAF accomplished was astounding. I found it a very informative and interesting read.